Nov. 20, 2002 – A plan to expand the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve needs only President Bush's signature to become reality, Delegate Donna M. Christensen said in a release issued Wednesday.
She said the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill expanding the park's boundaries on Tuesday. It had earlier cleared the House of Representatives. "We are grateful to our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for passage of this measure," she said.
The bill also had already been passed by the Senate, Christensen's aide Brian Modeste said, but it got tangled up in congressional maneuvering and had to be acted upon again. The bill was necessary because the owner of property bordering the parkland on the south wants to donate 15.5 acres to the park and another neighbor to the west wants to donate part and sell part of an 8.5-acre parcel.
The 8.5 acres includes a 4,800-square-foot house that could be used as a visitor center, something Salt River currently does not have.
"It is wonderful that Salt River can now be fully developed as the resource it was meant to be," Christensen said in the release. She said the building can be used for maintenance and enforcement functions in addition to serving as a visitor center.
Modeste said that $1.5 million to purchase part of the 8.5-acre parcel is included in an Interior Department appropriations bill now making its way through Congress. He said he expects it to be approved in January.
Christensen sponsored the legislation expanding the park boundaries. Modeste said this was necessary in order for the Interior Department to expend the money to buy the additional land.
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