By Parker Leavitt | The Republic
Scottsdale will pay more than $30 million to acquire 415 acres of raw desert in what could be the final expansion to the city’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve, a project that began two decades ago and now spans roughly 47 square miles.
City leaders on Wednesday announced successful bids in two Arizona State Land Department auctions of trust land in north Scottsdale, east of Pima Road and north of Dynamite Boulevard. Scottsdale was the lone bidder for the properties, which are zoned for residential development but will instead add to the preserve.