The Vistoso Trails Pond Comes Back First, and the Ramadas Wait on a Grant Rule

The 2.5-acre pond at Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve is being rebuilt to hold reclaimed water again. Its new target finish is mid-February 2027, up from January 31, because fall rains slowed the work. Most of what people will picture sitting beside it is on a separate track. The ramadas, the benches, the trail links north of the pond and the restroom near the old driving range all depend on a federal grant application. On October 7, Town Council sent that application back to staff to be reworked.

In 2025 the Council chose to build the pond first and add amenities as money came in. Federal grant rules now keep that sequence in place. For anyone in Honeybee Ridge who uses the preserve, or who heads to nearby Honey Bee Canyon Park, that order explains the fences and detours this fall. It also explains what the pond area will and won't have when the water goes in.

The pond almost became a desert garden

The pond wasn't always part of the plan. The Vistoso golf course closed in 2018. In February 2022, The Conservation Fund bought the roughly 202-acre property with help from more than 600 community members organized by Preserve Vistoso. The land went to the Town of Oro Valley that July under a perpetual conservation easement. According to the Arizona Daily Star, Preserve Vistoso raised $1.8 million in five weeks, and the Town held the ribbon cutting on July 15, 2022.

By then the old pond had stopped working as a pond. It was an empty 2.5-acre basin left over from the golf course. The Town's pond project page lays out how close it came to staying dry:

The April 2025 vote set the order that still governs the site. Restore the pond first, then add amenities "in later years as funding became available." Council also asked staff to keep costs down by doing work in house, bidding it competitively and reusing existing infrastructure where possible. The $2,033,939 project total covers the pond, a memorial garden, a small parking lot and an accessible connection to the existing path.

What KE&G is building behind the detour signs

Contractor KE&G started construction on August 10, 2026. Trails near the work zone were closed, and detour signs were posted to keep the rest of the preserve open. Most of the system being installed will be invisible once the pond is full:

• Water source. The pond and nearby landscaping will run on reclaimed water from an existing connection. An enclosed setup with a wet well, intake screening and a skid-mounted pump with filtration will fill and manage the pond.
• Moving water. Recirculation keeps water flowing through the pond, and diffusers on the bottom add air. Together they keep the pond a managed feature instead of standing water.
• The basin. A reinforced linear low-density polyethylene liner sits between geotextile layers. Pipes are sealed where they pass through the liner, and an overflow structure sends high water into an adjacent wash.
• Sharing the supply. A water-level sensor coordinates filling with reclaimed water demand across town so the system isn't overloaded. The first fill starts slowly to protect the new liner.
• What you'll walk on. An 8-foot concrete trail circles the pond. Drip irrigation will water trees and planting beds, with sprinklers for future turf.

Why the finish line moved

Weekly updates from August through early October describe the same pattern again and again: rain, a pause, then grading resumes. In late August, crews broke up the old liner and demolished the concrete walls around the basin. By the week of September 30, they had removed trees around the perimeter and installed aeration sleeving. In the update for the week of October 7, crews were pumping water out of the basin and spreading mud to help it dry. The pump skid had arrived, and the wet well was due the following week. A liner consultant will inspect the basin once it has dried enough.

The old liner also caused trouble. ILoveOV's summary of the October 7 meeting reports that it turned out to be plastic, not clay. The new liner's supplier wants more of it removed, and Public Works Director and Town Engineer Paul Keesler expects a change order for that work. The same summary puts the original scope about $17,000 over budget, with a $176,000 change order still under negotiation. It quotes Keesler telling residents the project is not stopping.

The schedule now has three reference points. Keesler expects to finish in mid-February 2027, and the contract deadline is May 11, 2027. Sod goes in last. At the same meeting, the chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board said Bermuda sod does best when it's laid in spring.

The $500,000 vote and the grant that went back for rework

On October 7, Council made two separate decisions, and the gap between them explains the next year at the pond.

The first finished the base work. Council voted 7–0 to set aside $500,000 from contingency for the accessible trails around the pond, plus grading, irrigation and turf. Staff had estimated the added cost at about $425,000 and suggested the larger figure as a cushion. Any unspent money returns to the budget. ILoveOV reports that a grading bid came in at $82,000 against a $72,000 estimate, and that turf adds about $130,000. Ten people spoke, and all of them urged Council to finish the project.

The second decision covered the extras, and it didn't move them forward yet. The Land and Water Conservation Fund grant is a 50-50 match. The Town's October 7 presentation proposed an $815,790 package: a $407,895 grant request and an equal Town share. It listed a 0.8-acre lawn, six ramadas, restroom accessibility and electrical work, wider trail shoulders and two concrete trail links north of the pond. Council voted 7–0 to send it back. Staff are to match it to the pond vote, drop the proposed $200,000 cap on next year's match and report back. ILoveOV notes the recording shows no vote on the resolution itself, so the application has not been authorized.

Parks and Recreation Director Rosalyn Epting said the 0.8-acre lawn will come out of the revised application. She also said costs for trees, the pond trail and the restroom work have risen. She pointed to two grant rules that shape the timeline. Nothing on the list can be started before the Town applies, and the whole project must be finished before reimbursement.

Those rules reinforce the 2025 phasing. Under them, the Town can't put up a ramada now and count it toward the grant later, so listed items wait until a revised application is filed. Reimbursement comes only after the whole grant project is finished. Exercise stations along the trail would also qualify, Epting said in response to a councilmember's question. A resident asked Council to speed up the restroom near the former driving range, which has no electrical service and needs accessibility upgrades. Epting said Public Works has plans and needs to update the costs.

Two smaller grants are moving on their own schedules. Assistant Town Manager Karl Shaddock reported that the Town was accepted for a $55,000 Tohono O'odham Nation grant for restoration work and interpretive signs. He also reported a $136,000 invasive plant grant that the Town matches with volunteer hours. Separately, the Town announced in September 2025 a grant for pathway repairs, safety signage and an accessible trail loop around the pond, with construction tied to the pond work.

Epting described the finished area as a pond with a trail loop, turf, plantings, six ramadas, benches, trash cans and two added trails. She said it will have a Sonoran Desert look, not a golf course look. Based on the October 7 votes, the base work is funded now, and the ramadas and benches depend on the revised grant application.

What you can watch for from the detour

If the Town's latest updates hold, here is the likely order of what passersby will see:

1. The wet well installed, followed by the liner consultant's inspection once the basin dries.
2. Liner placement, which moves forward after the wet well is in.
3. A slow initial fill with reclaimed water, timed by the level sensor.
4. The concrete loop trail, parking lot and irrigation, leading to the mid-February target.
5. Sod last, which the advisory board chair said does best in spring.

The rest of the preserve stays open around the work. Hours are dawn to dusk, with temporary parking at 945 W. Vistoso Highlands Drive. The paved path network runs about 6.2 miles, with underpasses at Vistoso Highlands, La Cañada and Pebble Creek. Walkers, hikers, strollers and cyclists can use the improved paths, and the off-path volunteer mountain bike trails aren't permitted. A northbound multi-use path toward Honey Bee Canyon Park has been proposed but not built. Signs requiring dogs on leashes are posted at multiple spots around the preserve. This fall, Parks crews have also been clearing monsoon debris across the preserve and pruning a large tree damaged in a storm.

For an evening outing closer to Honeybee Ridge, the Town's recreation staff led a night hike at Honey Bee Canyon Park on August 21, with 23 participants on the trails by moonlight. The Town's next weekly pond update will show whether the wet well arrived on schedule.

Changes to nearby open space, like a restored pond, a new parking lot or a planned trail link, can come up when you sell a home or weigh a purchase near the preserve. If you'd like a calm, detail-focused conversation about how these plans relate to a home near Vistoso Trails or Honeybee Ridge, Gray St. Onge offers confidential buying and selling consultations.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.