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Redmond council hears parks master-plan update, schedules work session to review 200-page draft
Summary
City staff summarized a yearlong parks master-plan update, reported 705 formally engaged residents and recommended work-session review before council adoption; council asked staff to return with detailed options and potential updates to the Dry Canyon master plan.
City staff presented an update on Redmond's parks master plan, telling the council the parks committee has worked on the document since December 2023 and that the plan now is entering land-use and adoption steps with the planning commission.
"Our parks committee has been working on our parks master plan update since December of 2023," Maria, the city's special projects and natural resource program manager, said. She and Parks Division Manager Dusty Hood and Public Works Operations Manager Josh Wedding described the plan as a high-level planning document to prioritize programs and capital improvements across the urban growth boundary.
Staff recapped outreach: inventory and condition assessments, a community survey, three stakeholder discussions, two tabling events (including Music on the Green and National Night Out) and a draft-plan review. Maria said the outreach formally engaged 705 individuals. She noted recently acquired Pershall and Elkhorn properties and the potential to incorporate the city's wastewater plant site if it relocates outside the urban growth boundary.
Councilors praised the outreach but said they needed more time to study the roughly 200-page draft before any adoption. "We really do need to delve into it and make sure we understand it, before adoption," the mayor said, and multiple councilors recommended a work session to review the document in detail and to separate master-plan guidance from operations and maintenance decisions.
Members of the public urged careful treatment of Redmond's Dry Canyon natural area. Public commenter Eve Ponder said the canyon is "the heart of Redmond" and asked that the Dry Canyon master plan be updated and the natural area receive distinct management strategies.
Council directed staff to schedule a council work session to walk through options and to return with any recommended edits or amendments for planning commission review and final presentation to council in mid-December.
