Ashton Quintero, age 10, enjoys the playground equipment in the park built by Meritage Homes for the benefit of Los Arroyos home buyers.

David Sanders / Arizona Daily Star

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Ilka Nassar now has an extra reward to help entice her children into finishing their schoolwork: grass and monkey bars.

"This is within walking distance," Nassar said last week as her 5-year-old son and twin 9-year-old daughters frolicked at the newly opened Parque Los Arroyos. "It's a great asset for us."

The 7-acre park, which was developed by Meritage Homes as part of its 228-acre Los Arroyos neighborhood, was officially handed over to the town of Sahuarita's Parks and Recreation Department during a dedication ceremony last Thursday.

"It will be a well-used park," said Debbie Summers, Sahuarita Parks and Recreation director.

The park is complete with 2 acres of grass, barbecue pits, a covered ramada, playground equipment and walking paths. It's in the northeast corner of the subdivision, which is wedged in between Interstate 19 and the Nogales Highway.

With the new park nearby, Los Arroyos residents don't have to drive to Anamax Park, which is on the west side of I-19.

"We've been waiting for this to open," Yolanda Trosper said as she and her husband, Matthew, brought 3-year-old Paul and 2-month-old Noah to Parque Los Arroyos. "We could walk or bike-ride over here."

The park is the second in Sahuarita to be built by a developer and turned over to the town. The other is Sahuarita Lake Park, which Sharpe & Associates gave to the town five years ago. A third park, along the Old Tucson-Nogales Highway just outside the entrance to the Quail Creek subdivision, is expected to be completed by late 2008 or early 2009.

Although the town has been fortunate so far in its relationships with developers, it wasn't ready to rely on that good will. In June 2005, the Town Council adopted area design standards regarding recreational space to make sure Sahuarita residents would have plenty of options for activity.

"Our philosophy is children and parents need a place to play," Sahuarita Mayor Charles Oldham said. "The current way (housing developments) are built, they have no yards; they have no common place to play. We think it's imperative that families have a place to go to relax and enjoy open spaces."

The town's Parks and Recreation Commission determined there should be 871 square feet of developed recreational space for each lot in the form of parks, playgrounds, workout facilities and pools. Each new development must have at least 436 square feet per unit, or 50 percent of the recommended amount, with the difference being made up in the form of a per-unit fee that would go toward maintaining current town recreation spots and developing new ones.

Summers said the first development to be held to these standards was Santa Rita Villas, a 220-unit town home project just northeast of La Cañada Drive and Duval Mine Road. Summers said Santa Rita Villas will have roughly 112,000 square feet of recreational space, equivalent to about 60 percent of the town's recommendation, and the developers will pay $106,000 in fees to make up the difference.

Other Tucson-area suburbs have similar area design standards, though none is as flexible as Sahuarita's. Marana requires 185 square feet of recreation space per housing unit, but it also assesses a parks impact fee of more than $3,028 per home. Oro Valley's requirement is 1 acre of recreation space per 85 dwellings.

Michael Del Castillo, president of Meritage Homes' Tucson division, said he believes Sahuarita's requirements work well because of the options they give developers.

"We would rather put money into the hardscape," Del Castillo said, noting that his company's 1,600-home Madera Highlands community, south of Quail Creek, will include a privately run 16-acre park, even though that development was approved before Sahuarita's area design standards were in place.

Though the option to give money to the town for recreation is there, the design standards also were created to put more of the onus on developers to build the amenities themselves, said Dave Clark, chairman of the Sahuarita Parks and Recreation Commission.

"These guys are in the business of construction," Clark said. "If we have them build it, we're going to get more bang for the buck, because the construction costs are going to be less for them. It's also going to be done concurrently with what else they're building."

Sahuarita's area design standards also include recommendations for how neighborhood parks should be put together, as well as what they must include before they're turned over to the town for operation.