Peoria proposes new Mountains, Open Space and River Ecosystems division as acres transfer to city

Peoria city managers and Parks and Recreation staff on Oct. 15 proposed creating a new division — Mountains, Open Space and River Ecosystems — to manage thousands of acres of natural land that will transfer to the city as nearby master‑planned developments mature.

The plan responds to an influx of open‑space dedications city staff say will roughly double Peoria’s managed natural land from about 3,865 acres today to about 7,665 acres after minimum dedications from Vistancia North, Lake Pleasant Heights (Mystic), Aloravita and Saddleback are conveyed. “We are literally doubling this asset,” Deputy City Manager Kevin Burke told the council at a study session.

City staff say the proposal matters because many recreational and conservation activities in Peoria occur outside developed parks — on mountain parkland, river corridors and desert preserves — and will require a different management approach than traditional parks. The new division, if funded in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, would begin July 1, 2025, and initially include a manager, a volunteer coordinator and two park rangers plus contract consulting for surveys, legal work and trail planning.

Burke and Parks and Recreation Director Chris Calcaterra outlined the existing footprint the city already manages: four mountain parks totaling about 1,109 acres (Calderwood Butte 77 acres; East Wing Mountain ~400 acres; Sunrise Mountain ~300 acres; West Wing Mountain ~332 acres), more than 50 miles of trails, 3 river corridors (Agua Fria ~273 acres, New River ~300 acres, Skunk Creek ~55 acres), the 1,855‑acre Paloma Preserve adjacent to Paloma Park, 60 acres leased from the Bureau of Land Management, a 20‑acre Palo Verde cultural site and 98 acres tied to utility corridors. “When you put those all together, that's 3,865 acres that are under some sort of Peoria management,” Burke said.

City staff said recent development agreements require dedication of additional open space as neighborhoods mature. Vistancia North’s agreement calls for at least 900 acres and is currently expected to deliver roughly 1,600 acres; Lake Pleasant Heights requires a minimum of about 1,350 acres; Aloravita requires about 250 acres to serve as a connective corridor between East Wing and Sunrise Mountain preserves; Saddleback requires at least 600 acres and likewise may deliver substantially more. Staff estimate those minimums add roughly 3,800 acres to the existing inventory.

Calcaterra described how the city would use partners and volunteers to manage the expanded inventory. The department plans to rely on its Parks and Recreation Board as a citizen advisory body to help set land‑use decisions and to pursue partnerships with regional land trusts such as the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy and Desert Foothills Land Trust to enable donations, conservation easements and stewardship while providing tax and estate planning benefits to private landowners.

Budget considerations include start‑up staff and substantial professional services for surveys, cultural resource inventories, legal work and trail planning. Burke said the city would include the division in the FY26 budget process beginning in spring 2025. “The eventual staff is probably a manager, a volunteer coordinator, and a couple park rangers,” he said.

Councilmembers who spoke during the study session praised the concept and said they expect the expanded trail system to support tourism and local recreation. Several members urged careful planning for access, trailheads and buffers between higher‑intensity uses (for example, mountain biking) and quieter preservation areas. Calcaterra acknowledged competing interests — dogs, mountain bikes, trail runners and areas set aside for wildlife — and urged use of the Parks and Recreation Board and public outreach to resolve those tensions.

The study session presented the concept to solicit council feedback rather than to adopt policy. Staff said they will post a white paper about the proposal to the city website and bring specific budget requests and an implementation plan to the FY26 budget process.