Numerous trails snake through 9 acres of land mere feet from the hustle and bustle of Ware Road and Business 83 in McAllen.
Inside the wooded sanctuary lies numerous species of plants and animal life that call the area home.
"The habitat here is fantastic,” President of the Valley Land Fund, Jim Tabak said. “It's been neglected for awhile and we have to restore that. This would be a wonderful feature and attraction to McAllen."
McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez told Action 4 News, despite the enthusiasm of the Valley Land Fund to restore the Botanical Gardens, there still is not enough information there for the city to make a final decision on the gardens.
Cortez said, unfortunately in these economic times, they have to be smart about new projects and in the end it is going to come down to money.
"We're not interested in creating a situation where we're going to have allocate future funds of the city to maintain a facility," Cortez said.
He added that the City does not want to see the Botanical Gardens fail.
He said if the funds are allocated to restore the gardens—city officials want to make sure that the Botanical Gardens can continue to support itself once that money runs out.
Tabak told Action 4 News these are all issues they are working on, “we're going to provide additional information to define exactly what we're going to do, what the cost will be, and what the future looks like."
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