Richard Lance

It’s been 25 years since the city of Redmond got fully on board with a grassroots public movement to transform the Dry Canyon into a city park.

Now the Dry Canyon Park is the crown jewel of our park system.

The city is now revising it’s master plan for Dry Canyon and it’s entire park system. Do you have ideas to share? I hope so. With your suggestions, we can create a richer vision for our future parks.

This piece will focus on the Dry Canyon. At the end, I’ll outline ways you can participate.

Let’s start at the north end of the Dry Canyon Park. Once you go beyond the dog park/disc golf course, you’re in the preservation zone. The idea is to keep it a “natural area,” where people can experience nature right in town.

The north end is in danger of being loved to death. We are exploring and enjoying it on foot and wheels in rapidly expanding numbers. In doing so we’ve created more paths and unintentionally eroded the landscape.

It’s good that so many of us enjoy this area. Still, should we consider restoring some beauty and tranquility here? It would involve restoring native vegetation, limiting path access, and promoting recuperation of some of the land. It could educate and inspire us.

A movement towards creating some natural open space is a possibility. Would you support it, even if walkers had less access there? Dogs and bikes not at all?

Further north, big changes are coming. The current sewage treatment facility will close in 5 years or so. This 30-plus acre site will then become part of the Dry Canyon Park.

What’s your vision for this exciting addition? Should it be restored to a natural area? Should it be an active recreation area, especially if bike access is restricted in a nearby natural, open-space area?

In about ten years or so the park will range northward, to where the canyon ends at Pershall and 19th streets. The city already owns a 20 acre parcel that will then become a community park.

While it offers a variety of opportunities (walking paths, dog park, athletic field, etc.), there’s a problem. The city’s current transportation plan calls for a Northwest Corridor “improvement.” It would relieve future traffic congestion by re-routing Pershall straight through the park. Do you believe the city transportation plan be changed to avoid this?

More information: Details on May 30 public meeting

Let’s take a trip south now on the paved Dry Canyon path. Once we cross Antler we enter the central canyon. This area is zoned “enhancement.” The skate park, Hope Playground, and the tennis and pickleball courts reflect that.

One thing we’ve all been wrestling with is the increased use of the 3-mile, paved canyon path by electric bikes/scooters/skateboards traffic. Legally, the state controls where they can go. And parks access is permitted. It’s also a safe way for non-auto travelers of all ages to get to in-town destinations. But how shall we manage the mix of traffic and resulting safety concerns it causes? We certainly need some creative solutions here.

Shifting gears, let’s look at expansion of the Dry Canon Park in the central and south canyon areas. Did you know that more than half of the land between the tennis courts and Bowlby ball fields is privately owned? Should the city increase it’s efforts to acquire this land?

Let’s continue our stroll where the paved path crosses under Highland/Sisters Highway and passes the amphitheater and Legion Park. Surely you’ve noticed the big fenced off area west of the paved path. Should the city be talking to the owners about this eventually becoming part of the Dry Canyon Park?

Finally, do you think we could improve our signage? Would better signs (perhaps with a distinctive Dry Canyon logo) help new comers and visitor find their way into the various parts of the park? Would new signage in the park itself be useful in telling the story of the canyon’s geology, history, wildlife?

This concludes our tour of the dry canyon. Maybe reading this has touched some thing you feel strongly about. Maybe it’s jogged your own ideas. Please share them. Here are a couple of ways to do so.

Attend the parks master plan open house. This is an opportunity to meet city staff, parks committee members and other residents to share your ideas/questions. You can share spoken or written word. The meeting is 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, in the council chambers at City Hall.

If you can’t make the open house or want to submit longer, more detailed input, email city parks planner Maria Rodriguez at maria.ramirez@redmondoregon.gov. She really wants to hear from you.

I’d also be happy to receive your questions or concerns at the email listed below. I’ll see that they are included. Thanks for reading and participating.