What is hoped will be a “legacy opportunity” for Woodland has been approved for what was once a dump and could soon become an environmental preserve.

Acting Tuesday night, the City Council agreed to a $1-a-year lease agreement with the Davis-based Explorit Science Center to develop the old Regional Park on the city’s eastern edge to become an Environmental Education Center.

A similar agreement with Tuleyome may be coming soon as a year’s worth of legal work and grant applications seems to be coalescing around the 166-acre site.

The site is not open to the public, although it is still being maintained to some degree by the city.

Beyond all the legal language in the agreement, the work comes down to Explorit and the city working together to create the center where people will be able to hike trails and learn about native wildlife at the facility located east of County Road 102 and south of CR25.

Talks have been underway since 2015 but efforts became serious almost exactly one year ago when the potential for grants became available from the state government to build the center and set up outdoor programming at the site.

Three grants nearly totaling $1.127 million have been secured from the state to build a trail and interpretive signage, turning a 22-acre former barrow pit into a seasonal and permanent wetland and create outdoor educational programing.

Woodland’s Community Development Director and Assistant city Manager Ken Hiatt said he hopes to see the initial phase of construction as soon as this fall and that — with luck — a 3 1/2-mile trail and parking areas will be in place by spring of next year.

The 10-year lease agreement was needed, Hiatt told the council, so Explorit could begin raising additional money to build an education center on a 2.5-acre site within the next five years.

“I think this is a legacy opportunity for our community,” said Councilman Tom Stallard. “There will be be some revenue sources to offset development costs … I think this is wonderful. It’s right on the doorstep of our community.”

“This will be a gem for our city, for our community and the region once it’s completed,” agreed Mayor Enrique Fernandez. “It’s not easy to get over a million (dollars) in grant funding. Kudos for their hard work.”

“It will be an attraction to come to Woodland and for those who live in Woodland,” concurred Councilman Angel Barajas.

The park once served as the city’s dump when it was first purchased in 1935 but has had other uses over the years. The landfill was capped in the early 1990s and now provides rolling terrain suitable for hiking, biking and cross-country running trails. In the 1980s and 1990s a landing strip was created by the Woodland-Davis Aeromodelers for their radio-controlled planes. The drainage area also served as a landing area for model seaplanes.

Other portions of the park were used for riding horses and rodeos.

The site was declared surplus by the council on Sept. 8, 2008. The perimeter of park on the north and west is recommended to be reserved for future roadway improvements along CR102 and CR25.

The park has also been identified as having high biological value since it’s a foraging habitat for the endangered Swainson’s Hawk

However, it’s the landing strip area that’s important, because that’s where the science center will be located since it overlooks the drainage pond and has the best vistas. Once completed, the center would have outdoor and indoor spaces for visitors, learning labs, classrooms, lecture halls, and even be able to host banquets and community gatherings of up to 200 people with a kitchen to serve small and large events.

There would also be a large covered outdoor space for an outdoor classroom, theater and activity area.