Land purchased for parks in south Blue Springs

Attention Blue Springs residents living in the southern half of the city – there are two city parks coming your way.

The two sites – approximately 75.24 acres north of Colbern Road, south of Mason School Road and west of Shrout Road and a smaller site of 25.81 acres north of Wyatt Road and west of Missouri 7 next to the Missouri Department of Conservation property – were purchased recently from local owner/developer Tom Williams for $2.6 million.

The purchase of the approximate 101 acres of land ensures the city will soon be able to offer residents in District 3 places to relax and play.

Mayor Carson Ross said there was more  than 100 acres of park land in both District 1 and 2, while District 3 offered significantly less.

 Now the playing field is balanced, Ross said.

“Purchasing this land helps balance the amount of park land in each of the three Council Districts, and allows us to preserve green space for District 3 before development limits our ability to purchase park ground.”

During election season, Council members stressed the need to buy what land they could in District 3 before it was acquired by developers and/or private buyers. With future development expected to increase the size of the city by about 7,000 to 10,000 new residents (mostly from the estimated population of the Chapman Farms development), purchasing land for parks was a near necessity.

However, the land purchase does not include design, construction, or the purchase of park equipment – just the land itself.

“We’ll have to come back to that at a later time and see where funds can be found,” Ross said. “We have a lot of planning to do.”

Some of the projected uses at the two sites include youth and adult football fields, practice sports fields, a skateboard park, playgrounds, a second dog park, shelters, trails, sport courts and other features.

Funding for the land acquisition came in part from a recently settled lawsuit involving multiple cell phone service providers in the city and state, according to Ross and Todd Pelham, the city’s assistant administrator. The lawsuit also has been responsible for other city additions, like four new police officers.

The largest of the two tracts is currently farm land. It had been targeted by the city for purchase for a number of years because of its location and proximity to Mason Elementary School, Ross said.

In addition, the planned future extension of 12th Street to the south will abut the east side of the smallest of the two proposed parks.

Roscoe Righter, director of Parks and Recreation, said Thursday he has been looking at several locations for about five years. When the money became available, he already had possibilities on the table.

“We prepared ahead of time for it,” he said. “It’s not like the city said we have some money and now go look for some land.”

While there are several ideas circulating for the two locations, Righter said the final plans will ultimately fit the area in question. He said he would like to remove football practice and play fields from Hidden Valley Park and move them to the larger of the two new tracts. As it is now, Hidden Valley Park can become congested.

“I’d like to have a multi-use complex where all sports programs could use it,” Righter said of the larger tract.

For the smaller tract, Righter said a more traditional, neighborhood park is in the plans, including playground equipment and hiking trails. He said neither park would be the site of any large recreational facility, nor would they be the location of a new city pool. 

Third District Council members Sheila Solon and Ron Fowler said Thursday they were excited for residents in the area.

“This is a dream that we hoped would happen for many years,” Fowler said. “We now will have park land to develop for the south end of town for everyone to enjoy.”