San Tan Valley Owns Zero Parks for 100,000 Residents — Council Tells Staff to Start Making Deals
The Town of San Tan Valley owns no parks, no recreation facilities, and no land, despite having about 100,000 residents. At the Sept. 2 Town Council meeting, Town Manager Brent Billingsley laid out what it would cost to change that, and the council directed staff to pursue partnerships rather than wait to buy land outright.
The Town's Financial Starting Point
The town expects about $37 million in unrestricted general fund revenue this year against a $55 million budget, supporting roughly 18 employees, and builds no vertical infrastructure at present. Because the town incorporated recently, it has no financial history and no bond rating; Billingsley said building borrowing capacity requires positive cash flow, a deliberate credit-building effort, and a clean audit, which is expected to begin around October after the fiscal year closes. As one example of the town's limited credit standing, he said the town had to move $1 million into a tied account just to secure a $20,000 purchasing card, a process that took three months.
What Parks Actually Cost
Billingsley presented current construction-only cost ranges for the area, where land now sells for $120,000 to $150,000 an acre:
- Unlighted neighborhood park: $150,000–$250,000 per acre
- Lighted sports complex: $350,000–$550,000 per acre
- One lighted baseball or softball field: $600,000–$850,000
- Multi-use field (soccer, baseball, or lacrosse): $400,000–$600,000
- Splash pad: $500,000–$750,000
- Community center: $20 million–$50 million
- Aquatic center: $20 million–$60 million (Billingsley noted Queen Creek's new aquatic center cost $65 million)
These figures cover construction only, not ongoing operating and maintenance costs. The town has $1 million budgeted for a splash pad based on projected revenue, which Billingsley clarified is not money currently in hand.
The Near-Term Plan: Partnerships, Not Purchases
Rather than buy land it cannot currently afford, the town is pursuing four tracks: negotiations with Florence Unified School District (and discussions with J.O. Combs) for practice-space access; early talks with a Boys and Girls Club of Pinal County affiliate serving Casa Grande, Eloy, Coolidge, Florence, and Maricopa; a staff white paper on dual-use of existing flood basins (including HOA-owned sites) in Johnson Ranch, Circle Cross, Bella Vista, Valley of the Sun Estates, Skyline, and a Pecan Creek linear corridor for practice fields; and discussions with large developers modeled on Maricopa's Copper Sky park, which combined a detention basin with a developer/builder/town partnership. The town has budgeted a parks and recreation director position but has not hired for it, planning to wait for six months of revenue data first.
Resident Testimony
San Tan Valley Little League president Ali Day told the council the league has 388 players this fall, a 30 percent increase over last fall, and expects about 500 players in the spring. She described unsafe field conditions at Skyline Ranch K-8, which the league maintains itself, and said the league relies on Combs Middle School and Ellsworth Park in Pecan Creek South. Ironwood Crossing resident and league board member Abby Munger described a recurring season-to-season scramble to secure fields and pointed to Empire Park, an HOA-owned property already built for baseball, where the HOA has so far declined the league's offer to pay rent and handle maintenance.
Sources: SanTanValley.com, “Zero Parks for 100,000 Residents, and the Town's Plan to Fix It” (Sept. 10, 2026)