A Bend resident and rock quarry owner who had offered to buy Arnold Irrigation District’s lava field in Deschutes River Woods has withdrawn his offer, saying his plan to build a house there was not worth the trouble.

Kevin Peterman, owner of Able Supply, said Friday he had wanted to buy the district’s property at the end of Comanche Circle to build a home there to live in. But because of his business, he said, neighbors assumed he would conduct surface mining on the site.

“I had no intention of surface mining,” Peterman said in a statement, noting that the zoning would not allow it and that he had not planned to seek to change the zoning.

Arnold Irrigation District representatives could not be reached for comment.

For the past several months, the district’s board has been considering selling 86 acres of the lava field, located in Deschutes River Woods, adjacent to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Peterman made an offer to the district but had not actually bought the land.

Residents, some of whom attended an irrigation district board meeting last month, had questioned whether he would turn it into a rock quarry. On Friday, Peterman said he would look for another site for a home and questioned why people assumed he would mine the land when he said he did not plan to.

“It’s just not worth all the trouble,” he said of the property. “This ain’t for me, evidently.”

Residents sought to get land trusts to buy and conserve it. They have argued developing the property could harm the ecosystem and property values.