The Splashicana Water and Adventure Park in Corsicana has been treading water after years of delays. On Friday, construction crews were getting ready to open phase 1 of the park; a feature called Altitude H2O that sits in the middle of a spring-fed lake.
It's coming years after the original 20-acre, $16-million park was scheduled to open.
"Well, you know it has been a thorn in some people's side," admitted Managing Partner John McClung. "It would have been nice to stick with the schedule that was planned, but that didn't happen."
McClung said probems with funding and finding contractors contributed to the years of delays -- $750,000 of that funding came from the Texas Department of Agriculture with a condition that the project provide 51 full-time jobs.
McClung said he's met that requirement.
Next weekend is the projected opening for 'Phase 1,' a floating slide and trampoline lake feature. Some have wondered if it's replacing the original grand water park plan.
"They don't know the whole story," said McClung, a Corsicana native and former city councilman, who admitted there have been times when he felt in over his head.
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"Yeah, sometimes I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and think, 'What did I do here?' But I've always been excited about the project from the very beginning, because to me, it just puts a new face on Corsicana, a very public face on Corsicana."
A Corsicana city spokesperson declined to comment on the project when asked if it was what the city expected. McClung wants to be clear, it's not finished yet.
"My hope is that this time next year you come down and go, 'Wow, what we saw this year in 2019 looks so much different than we saw in 2020,'" McClure said. "They'll be proud of it when it's done."
