Edmond nature preserve a step closer to reality following conservation agreement

EDMOND — City leaders have approved an agreement that effectively ends years of debate over a long-controversial piece of land near Hafer Park. The agreement comes after three epic zoning battles and a temporary sales tax approval to acquire the property.

Members of the Edmond City Council approved a conservation agreement in October that covers about 25 acres of land located between the south banks of Spring Creek as it passes through Hafer Park and an adjacent shopping center and nearby homes.

The agreement, made with the Edmond Land Conservancy (ELC), paves the way for the land to be turned into a nature preserve and public park. The conservancy is a nonprofit that works with landowners to create, improve and preserve green spaces across the community.

The agreement's particulars were developed during the course of various meetings involving the nonprofit, a design consultant, area residents and city officials held over the past year.

The meetings followed Edmond residents' decision two years ago to approve a one-year, quarter-cent sales tax to raise about $5.5 million to acquire the land.

"What's cool about it is, it's a different type of park," said Derek Smithee, the conservancy's chairman.

"Hafer Park, as beautiful is at is, is really a people first, nature second kind of park. This property will be put nature first."

What to know about the nature preserve, park coming to Edmond

The agreement assures a total of 25 acres of land between Spring Creek on Hafer Park's south edge and commercial and residential development further south will "be retained forever predominantly in its natural, scenic, and present open space condition."

Here is a look at other specifics about the nature preserve lined out in the agreement:

• It bars the construction of improvements or any use of the property that would degrade, impair or interfere with the conservation values of the property.

• It authorizes the city to build a bridge across Spring Creek that will link the new conservation area to Hafer Park and to stabilize Spring Creek's banks where the bridge is built.

• Within the new park, Edmond will build two looped trails, install a limited number of educational signs, build a rustic outdoor amphitheater/meeting area and install border fencing on the land's south side.

• The city is expected to complete designs on the improvements within 18 months and finish construction within three years.

• Edmond will spend about $1.6 million to make improvements to land it acquired for $4 million, city officials said. About $100,000 of dollars raised through the tax have been set aside for future maintenance of the area.

• No bicycles, dogs, skateboards or scooters will be allowed within the area.

Edmond debates about the land's use stretch back for decades

Initial attempts to redevelop what at one time was a farm into commercial and later commercial and residential properties goes back as far as 2005, when Sooner Land Co. LLC hoped to modify the property's zoning for single-family homes so it could build a 200,000-square-foot shopping center there.

While council members initially rejected the developer's request, a divided council authorized the zoning change the following year.

Later that same year, voters rejected the zoning change through a referendum, leaving the land undeveloped until a decade later when Poag Shopping Centers of Memphis, which had bought the retail development on the northeast corner of 15th and Bryant, proposed redeveloping the land into a lifestyle center that would include both commercial and residential properties.

Chamber and economic development officials backed the proposal, but residents didn't.

In 2017, voters nixed the council's approved zoning change again.

Then in 2021, SSLM Development LLC proposed building a mix of residential and commercial properties on the land that would have added more than 300 dwellings.

Residents organized again, this time proposing yet another petition to overturn the city council's approval of SSLM's plans. They also negotiated a deal with the developer where it agreed it would sell the land to the city if voters approved a temporary sales tax making a future park there possible.

The referendum involving the council's zoning decision never made it to a ballot, but voters approved the temporary tax in October 2021.

'OK. We are acquiring the land. Now what?'

Smithee said city leaders weren't sure what to do with the property when they approached the conservancy to seek its help.

That led to a contract between Edmond and the nonprofit to develop the property's specific plans.

As plans were considered, University of Central Oklahoma professors volunteered their time to conduct surveys to identify what types of wildlife live there, as well as what types of vegetation there aren't native and need removed.

A wild and natural environment is what everyone decided would be best, and Edmond won't need to build restrooms or other facilities inside of the new park because it will be linked with Hafer.

At about 25 acres, the new nature park in Edmond will be about half the size of Martin Park Nature Park in Oklahoma City. It is populated by horned and barred owls, rabbits, foxes, deer, bobcats, snakes and other animals.

While a house that used to be on the land is gone, an old oil and gas site needs to be addressed and some types of trees and shrubs planted by previous land owners will have to be taken out.

"The ELC really led a wonderful charge" to develop the plans, said Ryan Ochsner, Edmond's director of community quality.

Smithee said the plan maximizes the land's unique qualities as a nature preserve without sacrificing any portions of the property for amenities most parks include to support guests like playgrounds and bathrooms.

"That way, they can work in concert to where people can come to Hafer and enjoy organized activities, or have a picnic, and then cross the creek and take a nature walk.

"This is going to be a totally different park than Edmond has ever had before, and it will be a challenge for all of us to change our mindsets. A nature park is just a different kind of thing than a typical recreational park," Smithee said.

"We are excited that Edmond residents will be able to come to an area in the heart of the community and maybe see a little nature at a park everyone in the community can be proud of," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Edmond Oklahoma makes deal to create nature preserve out of 25 acres