Prescott Valley, Arizona, has long been a haven for nature lovers and mountain bikers, according to Skyler Barton, assistant to the town manager.
The area is typically around 15 degrees cooler than Phoenix. “People want to be in the outdoors here,” Barton said.
From 1,500 people after incorporation in 1978, the town is now home to more than 50,000.
As the town began developing, the community also began keeping an eye out for ways to preserve space for its wildlife, including the pronghorn antelope, a beloved local fixture, according to Barton. The town found an opportunity for that conservation with Glassford Hill — 2,284 acres of diverse landscape that sits between Prescott Valley and its sister city, Prescott.
The 2023 purchase of the land, now on its way to becoming Glassford Dells Regional Park, was a collaborative effort involving the town, city, county and state, all of which helped to foot the $6,255,000 price tag. The project’s successful outcome earned it a 2024 American City & County Crown Communities Award, as an example of what municipalities can achieve when working together.
Intergovernmental agreement
Ideas for preserving Glassford Hill for passive public recreation began in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2022 that Prescott Valley, the city of Prescott and Yavapai County would join forces to attempt to acquire the land, signing an intergovernmental agreement to establish a cost sharing mechanism and ensure equitable participation and transparency. The agreement reserved 1,317 acres for Prescott Valley and 967 acres for Prescott.
“There’s always competition between municipalities when it comes to open space,” Barton said. “But we as municipalities could very well not be the highest bidder when it came to just getting the land. There was the value and auction aspect of it.”
Representatives from all parties began meeting to craft the vision for the project. The municipalities also began looking for funding at the state level to purchase the land, eventually securing $3.5 million from Arizona’s 2023-2024 state budget.
“It just seemed like the stars aligned,” Barton said.
“Residents and visitors may never fully comprehend the challenges and the collective effort that went into securing this land,” Prescott Valley Mayor Kell Palguta said in a statement following the 2023 purchase at auction, “because the work that has been done, the dedication poured into this endeavor, was never about recognition or personal accolades. It was about something far greater — it was for the community and for generations to follow.”
A natural heritage for ‘generations to follow’
Glassford Hill sits close to the city of Prescott’s Granite Dells Park, and combining the two into Glassford Dells Regional Park created 4,100 acres of recreation space that will integrate expansive hiking and biking trails.
Prescott Valley is in the midst of a community engagement project regarding use of the land, with plans circulating for a botanical garden, farmers market, dog park and more, according to Barton.
“Generally, each municipality is coming up with their own plans, but the goal is to integrate those,” Barton said.
Mostly, the land will remain untouched.
“I think the public’s main priority is just to conserve land,” Barton said. “I think the public really wants to see natural spaces within these, and I think they’re happy that there’s not going to be development going up on there, that these open spaces are going to remain.”
The open space will also enhance the town’s tourism efforts, according to Barton, as the town looks to attract nature lovers from the nearby Phoenix metro.
Lessons in collaboration
“First, is that you don’t live on an island,” said Barton, asked about advice for other municipalities interested in pursuing a similarly collaborative project. “As a town, you can’t operate as efficiently on your own. There are partners out there. You just have to build those relationships to make things work and get to the ‘yes.’ I think that’s how this project happened.”
Those collaborations will continue on as the town and city work to manage and foster the new space together, Barton said.
