Pima County plans lake-front park with several bike amenities

September 21, 2010 • Posted by:


Pima County officials are moving forward with a plan to convert a cement quarry into a regional park, which would feature two lakes and several bike amenities.

Nanette Slusser, Pima County’s assistant administrator, said the national headquarters of the CapPortland cement company approached them about turning the land into a park, which the county is calling Corozon de Tres Rios del Norte.

The area is located at I-10 and Orange Grove Road and is at the intersection of the Santa Cruz, Rillito and Canyon del Oro rivers, which Slusser said will make a good connection for the Urban Loop.

In addition to the Urban Loop connections, Slusser said the velodrome committee is considering the area as a potential location for the track. Slusser said they also plan to include a BMX bike park.

According to Slusser, the inclusion of various features of the park is completely dependent on what the public wants.

“We don’t know what will get vetted by the community when we finally go and ask for the funding for different pieces of this,” Slusser said. “Whatever remains is what we will build.”

The plan, which will take 15-20 years, could cost anywhere between $60-100 million to complete, according to Slusser.

She said Pima County bonds will not be the primary funding source for the park. The county will be looking for money from the Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and various other federal sources.

Slusser said the water for the two lakes might be swimmable depending on the source.

“When we finish the water campus in three or four years, the water that will be coming from there will be A+ quality,” Slusser said. “In a lot of places, that is swimmable water. People swim in that. We can also use CAP water. There are several different water companies that still need to do recharge.”

Other possible amenities include an amphitheater, soccer fields, a dog park and competition area, a skate park and an remote controlled airplane flying area. Although, Slusser said the lakes would be the biggest feature.

“Having surface water in the desert is a big draw,” Slusser said.

Download the presentation about the project here.

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8 comments
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Scott
Scott

Sweet deal for the cement company - a whopping tax writeoff (or better, we don't know all the conditions) instead of being stuck with property they couldn't sell in a *good* economy without $pending to fill in the holes. On the other hand, filling these holes with water would result in *legitimate* water table recharge, and not the "pump CAP into a hole and right back out of the same hole and tell the consumers it's recharged ground water" type of phonybalony-recharge they're doing now.

Red Star
Red Star

Slusser predicts a 15-20 year implementation of this project. It's a time frame fraught with huge funding difficulty especially since it involves looking for federal sources. Which would you prefer: A velodrome in a sensible location such as described by Red Star in comments here: http://tucsonvelo.com/news/local-group-moving-forward-on-velodrome-plan/ up and running by 2013, or Huckleberry's understandably over-bundled and problematic plan for a velodrome by 2025 to 2030? Which do you prefer and why?

Mtngoat
Mtngoat

Is Pima County Parks & Rec (PCPR@pima.gov) the the department to contact with public comments on this plan?

Kevin Arnold
Kevin Arnold

So the same guys who can't support building a network of enhanced residential bike routes, with signals to help people cross the big roads, because they were not 'regional' enough, now think we need 30 soccer fields and two lakes up in the arm pit of the community. Way to go PC. The funny thing is, you'll probably have an easier time getting this by the neighbors than the little trailhead on Cat Hwy.

B4daylight
B4daylight

Charge everyone 5/1 buck(s) to park an auto/bi-vehicle. Have the money in know time. P.S. put up some long term lock to my bicycle (or else). I agree the city can build a few sidewalks instead of dirt paths for a cool 60 million. It could be worse like Minneapolis where you don't have a bike lane or two the whole lane is covered in potholes which was at one point patched.

B4daylight
B4daylight

It is federal money, so I go for the parking deal.

josh
josh

I'm all for more bike facilities, but why another bmx park essentially right down the street from the Kory Laos park? I agree with MJS, the east side needs some love, both on the infrastructure & the recreation side.

MJS
MJS

Yeah, just what we need -- another smelly fake lake and bike paths that don't go anywhere. How about doing something productive instead, like maintaining the deteriorating bike lanes and paths we already have on the east side?