The community hasn’t had clean running water in more than three decades. The former freedman’s town is without pipes, sewerage, trash collection or street lights. Nevertheless, Bryant said he loves living in Sandbranch, and many others feel the same.
Now, a man named Derek Avery says he’s the one who will bring running clean water to the community. A local developer and community advocate, Avery is running to unseat John Wiley Price, the county’s District 3 commissioner since 1985. To be certain, taking the longtime commissioner's place is more than a tall task for Avery. Price declined to be interviewed about Sandbranch, but he has said in the past that it would be wasteful to spend government money on bringing water to such a small community and that it would make more sense to entice residents to move out, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Asked why it’s taken so long to get running water to Sandbranch, Avery told the Observer Tuesday: “It’s been a political will issue. It’s as simple as that. People didn’t want to take it on. They felt like it was too complicated to do or they just didn't value Sandbranch. … It’s complex, but we have people that solve complex problems. I mean, that’s what I do every day.”
He said one of the first things he would do is write a letter of map revision to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This could lift the community out of the floodplain and bring about opportunity for development.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ruled in 2003 that Sandbranch was in violation of Dallas County floodplain regulations, halting hope of development. But, Avery said the community can be lifted out of the floodplain. “Once it’s out of the floodplain, that excuse is gone as far as being able to revitalize the area. It takes all the extra restrictions off when it comes to building or even getting permits,” Avery said."We’ve moved the political obstacles out of the way so that we can actually get this done.” – Derek Avery, Dallas County District 3 Commissioner candidate
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He said he would also put together an infrastructure bond to fund whatever needs to be done in the community. “We could easily put the money together with multiple ways,” Avery said. People have tried to bring water to the community in the past. Those efforts have since lost momentum, but he said things will be different this time.
“We’re doing it in a way that is going to be more effective. We’ve moved the political obstacles out of the way so that we can actually get this done,” Avery said.
He said pipes and infrastructure could also be installed in the community without disturbing the floodplain. “So, in all actuality, it being in a floodplain was irrelevant for them to have water and sewer this whole time,” Avery said.
Working in the community has been an eye-opening experience for Avery. “There’s a misconception that they don’t want water. That is an absolute lie,” he said.
Even though Sandbranch is unincorporated, Avery said it should get help from Dallas County because residents there pay county taxes.
Avery said Price often downplays the issues facing Sandbranch, saying that not many people live there and the community isn’t very large. But Avery said about 200 families in the community are served every Saturday with bottled water. He added that he’s put together a team of people to ensure this gets done. This team includes a civil engineer, a project manager and a grant writer.
Bringing water to Sandbranch is an $8 million fix, according to Avery. On top of that, he wants to set up a $4.5 million fund for residents so they don’t have to pay water bills for ten years. He said this is important because many Sandbranch residents are on fixed incomes and can’t afford another bill. He also wants to freeze taxes for legacy residents in Sandbranch.
“We’re going to protect the legacy residents,” he said. “We’re pretty much taxing them and they essentially have no representation because the county officials aren’t fighting for them.”
