POST FALLS — Plans for a sports complex and a neighborhood park will move forward in Post Falls thanks to a deal between the city and a developer.

The agreement between the city and Copper Basin Construction will allow for a future 25-acre, multi-use sports complex on the north end of the Tullamore subdivision on the south side of Prairie Avenue and an 8.3-acre neighborhood park in the development west of Highway 41.

"It's a win-win for the development, the developer and the city," said Dave Fair, Post Falls parks and recreation director.

Mayor Ron Jacobson said the neighborhood park — between Hope and Early Dawn avenues and east of Charleville Road — should have been completed several years ago under Vision First, the original developer, but then the Great Recession struck.

"Families bought in the development in anticipation of the park going across the street," Jacobson said.

Fair said work on the neighborhood park should start this this month and be completed next year. It will include a play area, grandstand, picnic tables and basketball and pickleball courts.

"The residents have been wanting a park and we understand that," Fair said. "They've been a good group to work with."

City Administrator Shelly Enderud said the phasing of subdivision projects has changed since Tullamore started and the parks are now required to be built earlier by developers.

With the Tullamore site, neighborhood parkland was deeded to the city by Columbia State Bank, the second owner of the site, in 2015. Copper Basin, as the latest Tullamore developer and owner, acknowledged it is obligated to help construct a park, city officials said.

Under the real estate agreement, Copper Basin will grade both sites, remediate the Post Falls Highway District gravel pit south of Prairie Avenue that will be the future sports complex and construct the city's portion of Charleville Road and Killdeer Lane.

Other work by the developer up to $150,000 in value includes constructing a parking lot on Bogie Drive, utility work for restrooms, construction of an amphitheater and hard surfacing of trails.

The city will be responsible for irrigation, turf, landscaping, shelters, the restrooms and playground.

"This allows each party to concentrate on their strength and for us to save on mobilization and engineering costs," Fair said.

The remaining development cost for the neighborhood park would be funded with city impact fees and is estimated to cost $496,450.

Copper Basin owns a 17-acre site at the intersection of Cecil Road and Prairie Avenue the city will acquire for the future sports complex.

The construction company also owns an adjacent 8-acre parcel the city will buy for $345,000 to make it a 25-acre site for the sports complex.

The agreement calls for Copper Basin to hire a contractor before Jan. 1, 2018, to remediate the existing gravel pit along Prairie for the sports complex.

Fair said the agreement will allow the city to meet long-term levels of service. He said the development cost for the sports complex is estimated at $1.6 million, which will be paid for with impact fees, grants and sponsorships.

"We're about three years out from starting construction of the sports complex," he said, adding five or six fields are planned. "We can't apply for grants until we have the design of the sports complex. We want to be able to stretch our dollars."

Fair said softball will be the "cornerstone" sport planned for the complex, but baseball and soccer are other possibilities.

"It's a revenue source not with just leagues, but we're looking at it for tournaments and generating tourism dollars within the city," he said.

Post Falls has been looking at obtaining a softball complex since 1997 when it first became apparent the privately-owned Quad Park would be closing.

The city tried to purchase Quad Park twice, looked at several other sites around the city and it even considered its land application site on the Rathdrum Prairie.

Site location, land cost and development cost have been challenges in finding a suitable site, Fair said.

"During the past year we have continued to work with Copper Basin Construction to see if we could meet both of our department's level of service needs — a neighborhood park and a sports complex," he said.