“Given our desire to start construction in the spring, we are officially in crunch time,” Schwartz said in the statement. “We need the community to step forward now to push this campaign across the goal.”

The Snake River Sporting Club and neighboring homeowners recently pledged to match up to $500,000 in new gifts and pledges dollar for dollar until Dec. 15, the release said.

The hot springs, 16 miles south of Jackson, closed in 1999. After a complicated series of bankruptcies and failed development plans, the Trust for Public Land acquired the parcel in summer 2016 with a mission to reopen the springs to the public.

A national nonprofit with a mission to create parks and protect land for people, the trust worked with the Snake River Sporting Club to rezone the area and transfer the resort’s previously approved development rights to its golf course area.

The trust solicited design ideas from about 2,000 residents, culminating in a plan that includes hot soaking pools, a leisure pool, a kids pool, lawns, picnic space and hammock setups. Plans also call for an adjacent 98-acre park with walking trails, multiuse pathways, playground areas and event spaces.

The project was initially planned to open in fall 2018, but increasing construction costs led organizers to delay the timeline. Construction drawings and permitting are nearly complete, and once the funds are raised, the trust aims to start construction on the park in spring.

The Trust for Public Land will hand ownership and operations at the Astoria Park to a new nonprofit, Astoria Park Conservancy, once it’s completed. The nonprofit’s first tasks will include selecting a contractor to manage the facility.

Paige Byron Curry, who leads the Astoria project at the Trust for Public Land, will direct the Astoria Park Conservancy, and Schwartz will serve as its board chairman.

Those interested in donating to the final push for the Astoria Park can go to Support.TPL.org/astoria.