City buys 32 acres to expand Aspen Park

Five years of planning have finally paid off for the city of Brandon and its park advisory committee with the city’s recent land purchase intended to expand Aspen Park and its recreational possibilities.

The city purchased 32 acres adjacent to Aspen Park’s southern border from James and Darlene Petersen for $573,300. The announcement came at the Oct. 16 city council meeting. 

“We have been working on this a long time. It’s awesome to see it finally come to fruition,” said Jon Jacobson, president of the park board. “The Petersen family deserves a lot of credit for their commitment to the community.”  

Aspen Park has a few major infrastructural needs that the city and board will tackle first – namely, another access to and from the park. The sprawling 55-acre park, which consists of nine ball diamonds, an outdoor swimming pool, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a remote-control race track, and the city’s water and sewer treatment plant, has a single outlet. 

“It’s a true bottleneck and a safety problem, especially in extreme weather conditions,” Jacobson said. “Acquiring more land gives us the ability to create two more entrances and exits to the park.”

The projected spring completion of First National Bank Field @ Aspen Park strengthens the need for another outlet, as well as more parking – another priority the land purchase paves the way for. 

While the committee hasn’t determined the specifics of what’s going to occupy the expanded park land, ideas have been floated, ranging from a building for indoor practice fields or hockey rinks to a pickleball court. 

Additional fields are a certainty, as well as paved parking and perks for the neighborhood.

“We want to make sure we have a walking and biking trail through the entire park. Aspen will still need to serve as a neighborhood park,” he said. 

This fall the city and park board will work together to firm up a master plan for developing the land, and they’re open to ideas. 

“This is obviously really exciting for us,” he said. “Not that we want everything and the kitchen sink out there, but if someone has an idea they’ve been thinking about, we would totally be open to that. Maybe it doesn’t work for Aspen Park but it works somewhere else. Maybe it’s an idea we haven’t even thought of.”

The Petersen land currently consists of open fields and a former gravel pit. 

Bryan Read, Brandon’s city administrator, said the city welcomes the additional park space.

“We’re very satisfied with the purchase. It allows us the opportunity to significantly expand a major park in town,” Read said. “It’s not often you get to purchase 30 acres for parks. It gives us a nice place to do some master planning.”

 

Five years of planning

Expanding Aspen Park has been on the park committee’s agenda since 2012. 

“The growth of Brandon as a community has come with a lot of pressure to provide more fields,” Jacobson said. “From an operational and maintenance standpoint, maximizing the number of fields in one location makes sense.”

The city made its first Aspen Park land acquisition in 2015, purchasing 11 acres from the late Gene Johnson. 

The committee has spearheaded several improvements at Aspen Park, from adding fabric framed shade structures over spectator bleachers at the ball diamonds to upgrading the storm sewer system to keep fields from getting soggy. 

The committee is currently working with the Brandon Valley Baseball Association on providing new concessions and restroom facilities at First National Bank Field. The facility is the city’s contribution to the BVBA’s $1.18 million project. 

“We heard a few complaints about the restrooms,” Jacobson said. “When other towns come here, that’s how they judge Brandon – by its facilities. We wanted to make sure we did this project right.”

The committee also worked with the Brandon Valley Hockey Association to help fund utility improvements for the upcoming refrigerated rink, located just east of McHardy Park. The group is now working toward installing new playground equipment at Stoneridge Park this fall and budgeting for a splash pad at the city pool. 

“It’s a series of water features kids can play in, but there’s no standing water,” Jacobson said. “We’re trying to take a pragmatic approach to enhancing the aquatics experience.”

The park board has anywhere from $300,000 to $1.5 million annually for new improvements throughout Brandon’s parks system, which includes Aspen, McHardy, Sunrise, Pioneer, Tallgrass, Van Buskirk and Stoneridge parks. 

That budget also covers connecting concrete segments and widening walkways on major roads like Redwood and Splitrock boulevards. 

“The city council’s been great. As we have successes, the council is seeing those and increasing our funding so we can accomplish more things,” Jacobson said. 

Expectations for Brandon are high, he added.

“People expect us to have facilities like Sioux Falls, and we just don’t have that kind of budget,” he said. “Every time you buy a tank of gas in Sioux Falls, it’s going toward Sioux Falls parks, not Brandon’s.”