The City of Redmond is finalizing the purchase of a 36-acre piece of property that will be used as a community park, according to city documents.

The property on NW Pershall Way went on the market in December. Owners Jason and Tonya Rosebrook are asking $1.1 million for the property, which includes an equestrian facility and plenty of open space that could be used as is, or developed for use as ballfields, according to city documents.

Redmond’s recently updated parks master plan found that the city has a parks deficiency of approximately 30 acres and the new purchase will address those needs, according to the city.

“We knew that in the parks master plan, acquisition of new property was really important,” said Keith Witcosky, city manager. “When this popped up on our radar, we aggressively went after it.”

The property is outside the city limits but within the urban growth boundary. The city expects to close on the sale in the first week of May, and development for some areas of the park will take five to 10 years, Witcosky said.

“Our mayor and our council were really looking toward the future,” Witcosky said. “With this park, they are setting the stage for the future population.”

The final sale was negotiated to $1.03 million because the city will pick up some of the costs for cleanup of the area, he said. The current estimate for the cost of cleanup is $30,000 to $40,000.

The purchase will be funded mostly through the parks system development charges that are collected on new residential property developments in the city. About $934,500 will be paid from those charges, and the remaining $115,500 will come from the parks capitol projects subfund.

The 36-acre property is the largest city acquisition of park assets since the city acquired land in the Dry Canyon more than five years ago, Witcosky said.

It is also in close proximity to the Canyon Ridge Subdivision and the Dry Canyon Subdivision, both of which have been recently approved and will bring an estimated 740 mixed housing units to the north end of the city.

“There’s lots of development going around just east of (the property), and it’s exciting that we are going to be able to create this incredible community park in an area that is going to grow so much,” Witcosky said. “It couldn’t be a better location. Fifteen years from now, Redmond is expected to grow to (a population of) 50,000. The mayor and city council were so forward thinking to pursue the acquisition of this property to prepare for the future population.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, acolosky@bendbulletin.com