Prescott Valley, Arizona, has lengthy been a haven for nature lovers and mountain bikers, based on Skyler Barton, assistant to the city supervisor.
The realm is usually round 15 levels cooler than Phoenix. “Individuals need to be within the outdoor right here,” Barton stated.
From 1,500 individuals after incorporation in 1978, the city is now residence to greater than 50,000.
Because the city started growing, the group additionally started maintaining an eye fixed out for methods to protect house for its wildlife, together with the pronghorn antelope, a beloved native fixture, based on Barton. The city discovered a possibility for that conservation with Glassford Hill — 2,284 acres of numerous panorama that sits between Prescott Valley and its sister metropolis, Prescott.
The 2023 buy of the land, now on its technique to changing into Glassford Dells Regional Park, was a collaborative effort involving the city, metropolis, county and state, all of which helped to foot the $6,255,000 price ticket. The mission’s profitable end result earned it a 2024 American Metropolis & County Crown Communities Award, for example of what municipalities can obtain when working collectively.
Intergovernmental settlement
Concepts for preserving Glassford Hill for passive public recreation started within the late Nineties, but it surely wasn’t till 2022 that Prescott Valley, town of Prescott and Yavapai County would be a part of forces to try to amass the land, signing an intergovernmental settlement to determine a price sharing mechanism and guarantee equitable participation and transparency. The settlement reserved 1,317 acres for Prescott Valley and 967 acres for Prescott.
“There’s at all times competitors between municipalities on the subject of open house,” Barton stated. “However we as municipalities might very properly not be the very best bidder when it got here to only getting the land. There was the worth and public sale side of it.”
Representatives from all events started assembly to craft the imaginative and prescient for the mission. The municipalities additionally started on the lookout for funding on the state degree to buy the land, ultimately securing $3.5 million from Arizona’s 2023-2024 state finances.
“It simply appeared like the celebrities aligned,” Barton stated.
“Residents and guests could by no means absolutely comprehend the challenges and the collective effort that went into securing this land,” Prescott Valley Mayor Kell Palguta stated in a press release following the 2023 buy at public sale, “as a result of the work that has been carried out, the dedication poured into this endeavor, was by no means about recognition or private accolades. It was about one thing far better — it was for the group and for generations to comply with.”
Elected officers and Prescott Valley City Workers pictured following the acquisition of Glassford Hill in 2023.
Permission granted by Skyler Barton, Prescott Valley, Arizona
A pure heritage for ‘generations to comply with’
Glassford Hill sits near town of Prescott’s Granite Dells Park, and mixing the 2 into Glassford Dells Regional Park created 4,100 acres of recreation house that can combine expansive climbing and biking trails.
Prescott Valley is within the midst of a group engagement mission relating to use of the land, with plans circulating for a botanical backyard, farmers market, canine park and extra, based on Barton.
“Usually, every municipality is arising with their very own plans, however the purpose is to combine these,” Barton stated.
Largely, the land will stay untouched.
“I feel the general public’s fundamental precedence is simply to preserve land,” Barton stated. “I feel the general public actually needs to see pure areas inside these, and I feel they’re completely happy that there’s not going to be improvement going up on there, that these open areas are going to stay.”
The open house will even improve the city’s tourism efforts, based on Barton, because the city appears to draw nature lovers from the close by Phoenix metro.
Classes in collaboration
“First, is that you simply don’t stay on an island,” stated Barton, requested about recommendation for different municipalities serious about pursuing a equally collaborative mission. “As a city, you’ll be able to’t function as effectively by yourself. There are companions on the market. You simply need to construct these relationships to make issues work and get to the ‘sure.’ I feel that’s how this mission occurred.”
These collaborations will proceed on because the city and metropolis work to handle and foster the brand new house collectively, Barton stated.
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