Ground broken on a new era
The Vindicator | Casey Stinnett — Principal River Ranch, LLC investors Bill Sjolander, Greg and Gary Angel and Eddie Gray, were joined Tuesday by Will Carter representing Congressman Brian Babin’s office, Dayton Mayor Caroline Wadzeck, State Rep. Ernest Bailes, County Judge Jay Knight, FLNB CEO Kelly Stretcher, Janet Wahrlich and Logan Sullivan for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the new master-planned community going in south of Dayton.
River Ranch, LLC officially broke ground midday Tuesday on the long awaited development of a master-planned community on the old rice fields south of Dayton. When completed the development will include some 14,000 homes, plus schools and parks.
The ceremonial groundbreaking attracted a large crowd of well wishers. Among them were State Rep. Ernest Bailes, County Judge Jay Knight, and Dayton Mayor Caroline Wadzeck.
Should those 14,000 homes match the number of members the U.S. Census Bureau says is the national average per household, 2.58, that will add 36,120 people to Liberty County’s current population of around 86,000, an increase of 42 percent.
Arguably the biggest thing to happen to Dayton since the Texas and New Orleans Railway first laid its tracks there, the River Ranch development will very likely bring changes to much of Liberty County.
Wadzeck gave a fine speech before the groundbreaking, closing it with a blessing for the future residents of River Ranch, “May your walls know joy; may every room hold laughter, and may every window open to great possibilities.”
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