Parks committee recommends study of North Dry Canyon as first step toward coordinated management

The Redmond Parks Committee on Jan. 20 recommended that staff include a planning-level study for the North Dry Canyon natural area in next year's capital improvement program, with staff saying the study would guide signage, trail identification, safety improvements and fuels-management decisions.

Jessica McClanahan, director of public works, told the committee she could add a high-level placeholder to the CIP to reflect the committee's recommendation and bring a final CIP package to council in early February. "The plan would be to really discuss the scope of what the committee is thinking," McClanahan said, describing a live spreadsheet staff used to show timing and funding trade-offs.

The suggestion followed public advocacy for an early study. A resident (Speaker 6) told the committee the canyon is "a real heavily used area" and said budgeting a management plan now would help the city prioritize maintenance and replenishment work.

An advocate presenting a suite of proposed projects urged four priorities: a comprehensive natural-areas management plan that includes fuels management, boundary identification and gateway signage, trail-system identification and rehabilitation, and updated electric-bike rules with signage. The advocate said these ideas were vetted with local users and groups, including "Friends of North Star Canyon."

Staff offered planning-level cost placeholders to illustrate impacts. McClanahan said a reasonable starting budget to create a management plan could be about $100,000; she also described a larger, implementation-level fuels-management package with an order-of-magnitude estimate near $990,000. McClanahan cautioned that the larger fuels package involves external partners and funding uncertainty and recommended the parks committee focus its formal recommendation on the planning study.

Committee members debated whether to call the work a citywide "natural areas management plan" or a site-specific "Dry Canyon plan." Several members favored a Dry Canyon-focused study that could still inform broader natural-area practice across the park system. Members also discussed staging smaller items (signage, trail identification, modest parking improvements) into later years once the study provides scope and priorities.

Speakers raised safety and usage concerns, including damage from motorized vehicles in natural areas and the need to balance protection of open space with access and amenities. Members noted that a multi-year ecological process would be needed to address invasive species and long-term restoration.

Next steps: staff will carry the committee's input to the CFO and budget-development committee and include a planning-level placeholder in the CIP packet presented to city council in early February. There was no formal roll-call vote on a CIP motion recorded in the meeting; the committee reached a clear consensus in support of recommending a planning study and to present that guidance to city leadership.