Partnership between county, church brought new park to life

ALAMO — Sister Gerrie Naughton didn't want the 30-acre plot of land surrounded by colonias to turn into another subpar housing development.

When the strip of land on Tower Road went up for sale a decade ago, Naughton convinced her ministry at Sisters of Mercy to buy the land and hold onto it until an opportunity came along.

"I didn't know what it was going to become," she said Thursday. "But my vision was that it would become an oasis in the middle of the colonias."

Standing under the shade of a pavilion, Naughton said the newly opened park wasn't entirely what she envisioned when she first bought the land.

But in a community with little else it could be proud to call its own, she said, it's close enough to the "beautiful place" she wanted.

Tito Palacios, Hidalgo County's Precinct 2 commissioner, unveiled the $1.4 million project Thursday at 1429 South Tower Road in Alamo.

The site's multi-purpose center was developed as a one-stop shop for county services. It houses community meeting rooms and satellite county offices, including a site where sheriff's deputies can meet with residents.

The surrounding park, meanwhile, is well suited for a variety of outdoor recreational activities. It includes a walking trail, solar-powered lighting, soccer fields, playgrounds, a regulation basketball court and picnic facilities.

Naughton sold the land to the county when officials came to her seeking a park, but she asked to be involved in the planning process along with other area community activists.

Palacios, whose precinct has a similar complex at the intersection of Earling and Raul Longoria roads in San Juan, said his office and the community members it worked with both wanted a park to instill pride in the surrounding colonias.

The park is in a high-crime area that is turning around because of increased patrols and community walk-throughs by Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies, the commissioner said. With the park offering another way to keep children out of trouble, he said, it should improve the quality of life in the region.

Palacios disagreed with Naughton sometimes on what the park should contain, he said. But they never disagreed on what they wanted it to be about.

"We came to realize that we both wanted to do something good for the community," Palacios said. "We never lost sight of what we wanted to create."

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.