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Committee presses staff to scope North Dry Canyon natural‑area work after concerns it has been overlooked
Summary
Members urged the Parks Committee to put North Dry Canyon on the CIP radar, noting the 160‑plus‑acre natural area has had less planning attention than other canyon segments; staff agreed to draft a scoped project sheet and cost estimate for committee review.
At the Parks Committee meeting, multiple members expressed frustration that the North Dry Canyon natural area — described in the meeting as roughly "160 plus acres" — has not received the same planning and funding attention as the central and southern canyon segments.
A committee member said the natural area "feels like it's assumed those natural areas ... will just kind of be managed by themselves without any real thought" and warned that once natural area is developed "it's really hard to rewild that." Staff acknowledged the concern and said that while trailheads and some access improvements exist, the in‑between natural area has not been scoped on the CIP spreadsheets.
Maria Ramirez and other staff recommended the committee develop a brief scope statement and an estimated cost so the item can be added as a project on the CIP spreadsheet. Staff flagged that funding for the kind of general‑management work the natural area needs would likely come from the city general fund rather than SDCs (which are tied to developer growth projects). Committee members suggested the committee could draft the scope prior to the December meeting so staff could prepare a cost estimate and include it for scoring and prioritization.
No formal action was taken beyond a direction to staff to work with committee members on a project sheet and bring it back for discussion; committee members emphasized the importance of preserving natural areas in future priority decisions.
