WARWICK—After several anxious months, the city has secured the money it needs to buy a 41-acre swath of the former Rocky Point Amusement Park for use as open space.

About $1.4 million of that money will come from the state Department of Environmental Management, with an additional $800,000 from a combination of local accounts, officials say. The money will match a $2.2-million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to complete the sale.

“We will have 41 acres of shoreline access to some of the most pristine real estate in the city,” Mayor Scott Avedisian said. “I think that’s a really good deal for us.”

DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan said the land was too valuable to pass up. “You don’t get too many chances to buy that much waterfront property for the average Rhode Islander and their kids,” he said.

Earlier this year, the city feared it would lose its chance to buy the land from the U.S. Small Business Administration when a development consortium backed out of a deal to build condominiums on the land. Prior to its withdrawal, the consortium had agreed to pick up the city’s half of the tab so as not to lose out on NOAA’s longstanding match offer, which expires this September.

The SBA, the court-appointed receiver of the former amusement park, promised it was working to secure a development deal prior to the deadline, but the city had its doubts. Worried they would forfeit their chance to snap up the land, Warwick officials began working directly with the DEM to try to purchase the property apart from the development agreement.

Sullivan said the DEM made a pledge to the city: if it identified $800,000 — the first third of the match money — the agency would use state open-space money to cover the remaining portion, with the condition that the public land at Rocky Point will be available for use by all Rhode Islanders.

The city’s share of the money will come from a combination of several open-space accounts, as well as residual open-space bond issues and recreational bond issues. The remainder of the city’s share will come from fees in lieu of open-space accounts — by city and state law, developers must choose to either allot a certain amount of land to open space, or to pay a fee.

None of those accounts alone had enough cash to cover the city’s portion of the bill, but together they add up to the necessary $800,000, the mayor said.

The City Council must approve the transfer of that money and the purchase. Council President Joseph J. Solomon said he expects the council to act on the Rocky Point sales agreement at its meeting next Wednesday.

As the purchase moves forward, plans to redevelop the park 12 years after it closed have stagnated. Last month, the SBA said it had whittled the field of prospective developers to a handful, but since then there has been no word on any progress. Mark S. Hayward, district director of the SBA, did not return a call for comment yesterday.

Despite the former park’s uncertain fate, Sullivan said the designated open space will allow Rhode Islanders to hold onto a bit of its lore.

“There are some like myself that haven’t been to Rocky Point in years, but still remember the view from the vista,” he said. “Even after the buildings are gone and the smell of greasy clam cakes is gone they will be able to go and hearken back to their youth with a walk on the beach and have their grandkids see and hear the stories and play along the Bay.”

cneedham@projo.com