Consultants present Glassford Dells conceptual master plan; survey shows strong interest in East Gateway amenities

Consultants from The Planning Center presented a conceptual master plan for Glassford Dells Regional Park to the Prescott Valley Town Council on Nov. 6, showing three primary areas: a South Gate trailhead and parking, an active East Gateway at the base of Glassford Hill with playgrounds and a pump track, and a summit viewing area with trails and passive amenities.

Daniel Bradshaw, a principal landscape architect, described the gateway concept and emphasized the plans are conceptual illustrations to establish scale and placement. Brian Underwood, a principal planner, summarized public outreach: an April open house (about 100 attendees) and a statistically valid survey conducted June–July with nearly 1,900 responses. Underwood said about half of survey respondents had never visited Glassford Hill; the proposed amenities reduce that non‑user share to roughly 15% and increase the projected 1–3 times per month user group substantially.

Underwood said the East Gateway received roughly 79% approval in the survey. Households with children showed stronger support for active amenities such as a playground, splash pad and a pump track; the summit viewing area logged about 62% approval in the materials. Planning visuals showed a potential ropes course (possibly two levels), a pump track for bikes, playground, splash pad, community garden, dog park and an 18‑hole disc golf layout staged across roughly 40 acres of the East Gateway.

Staff and consultants emphasized the conceptual nature of the plan. Bobby (town staff) told council the next steps would include using the conceptual plan to seek grant funding and to include design and engineering in future annual budgets. He said engineering and design will determine what ultimately fits on the site and that operations for manned amenities (such as a ropes course) would require either town staffing or an operator under a public‑private partnership; any fee structure would be determined later.

Council members raised concerns about preserving open space, construction impacts, traffic and prioritizing lower‑cost amenities such as shaded picnic areas and trails. One council member noted survey respondents’ top priorities included open space acquisition and passive recreation. Staff said the plan could be phased, with initial attention to Trails, trailheads and ramadas as potential early‑phase items and that the town has discussed Cooperative Extension and other partners; staff confirmed outreach with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.

Several council members reiterated that the rendering is a vision and not a funding commitment, and that council approval of budget allocations would be required to proceed to engineering and construction. The consultants and staff recommended using the concept as a roadmap for grant applications, future budgets and phased implementation.