By next year, Woodbury residents will have access to trails in the northeast corner of the city thanks to a $1.34 million grant from Washington County.
At the last county board meeting of the year, county commissioners voted to finalize the agreement with the city to reimburse it for the purchase of Dale Woods as part of the county's Land and Water Legacy Program -- a program separate from the state's Legacy Amendment funding.
The park is just southeast of Interstate 94 and Manning Avenue, in the largely undeveloped northeast corner of Woodbury.
Voters approved the fund four years ago, to help the county buy parkland and open space. The Woodbury purchase is the first matching grant project to be completed, said Jane Harper, manager of the Land and Water Legacy Fund. Two other city projects are in the works, and three county park projects have been completed so far.
The fund will have up to $20 million but for now, "we have funding to pay the debt service on approximately a $5 million bond," Harper said.
Woodbury paid 62.5 percent of the total cost of the 41 acres -- $2.18 million -- and the county is covering 37.5 percent, or $1.34 million. The entire parcel comprises nearly 66 acres; 24.6 acres are being dedicated as park space by the developer, Dale Properties, said Steve Kernik, environmental planner for the city of Woodbury
The long-range goal is for the park to be used as a buffer zone between a future business campus directly north of the land and residential development directly south of the land, according to the city's land use maps.
A temporary parking lot and wood chip trails will be installed in 2011, Kernik said. As development occurs around the park, new roads will allow better access to the land, he said. A parking lot and picnic spaces will be added when that happens.
