WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Construction is underway on the new boardwalk at Lake Wichita.

With recent changes to the project, the boat ramp phase of the project is now on hold which caused the Lake Wichita Revitalization committee to return a $500,000 state grant.

While they aren’t necessarily losing that money for good, they plan to revisit their original plan. One thing is certain, though, and that’s that they are still banking on community support to make this boat ramp happen.

Chair of the Lake Wichita Revitalization committee David Coleman and the entire committee have had their hands full trying to determine the best way to make the entire Lake Wichita Revitalization project happen phase by phase, but some phases are taking a back seat while others move forward.

“Texas Parks and Wildlife is getting a lot pf pressure to show progress on the boat ramp project,” Coleman said. “They issued a grant to us for about $500,000 a couple of years ago, and there’s very tight time frames that go with that grant.”

With much of the committee’s focus being on the veteran’s plaza, Coleman and others decided to hold off on the boat ramp phase allowing them more time to raise the funds needed for other projects.

“What we’ve decided to do is take the boat ramp project, scale it down and make it less expensive, combine it with the veterans plaza project and start our fundraising in earnest right now,” Coleman said. “The best thing to do is to give back the grant, for now, that way they can repurpose that money because what we wanted to avoid was a situation where we waited and waited. If we didn’t get our funding then the money would be lost for all purposes, so we didn’t want to do that.”

For now, the Lake Revitalization committee is relying on community support to help them match the amount needed to apply for that grant again.

With that project scaled back, it could potentially be less than the $500,000, but for now, they will continue paddling forward with the boardwalk and veterans plaza.

The first phase will be the construction of the veterans plaza which holds a price tag of $750,000. The second phase will include the boat ramp and the final price of that is still being determined.