The SpokeSman • TueSday, June 14, 2022 A5
Opinion
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YOUR VIEWS
LETTERS AND COLUMNS
Will progress spoil Dry Canyon park?
BY RICHARD LANCE
Guest commentary
T
hink of Redmond parks
and what name pops
up? Probably the Dry
Canyon Park. Occupant of
Redmond’s unique geograph-
ical feature, the 4 ½-mile-long
linear space provides a park
corridor down the center of
the city’s footprint.
Recreating in Redmond’s
premier park provides a range
of experiences: you can walk
the wild northern part formed
by eons of ancient volcanic
eruption and river erosion;
visit Hope Playground, play
pickleball or picnic in the cen-
tral portion; continue south
past the amphitheater to where
the canyon ends and do a lit-
tle BiMart shopping, or get a
good workout by traversing
the entire length.
What’s new with the Dry
Canyon Park is that it is being
used more heavily than ever.
This is not surprising given
Redmond’s rapid growth, and
it makes the city’s decision to
do a detailed plan for the Cen-
tral Canyon park timely.
This is not the first plan for
the park. Meeting many times
with a diverse citizen’s advisory
group and the general public
between 2013-17, the city com-
posed the Dry Canyon Master
Plan (DCMP) for the entire
canyon, and adopted it as part
of a new city wide park system
plan in 2018.
Two things stand out in my
memory about the DCMP:
1) You can’t expand the can-
yon, so keep as much of that
finite space as possible green;
2) Do not locate more parking
in the canyon...utilize parking
resources to the west, and link
them effectively to the park.
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YOUR VIEWS
Mayor responds to
councilor’s comments
Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file
A runner makes his way along a curvy section of path while exercising along the Dry Canyon Trail in Red-
mond in July 2020.
Which brings us to my big-
gest concern about the new
planning process. Will it heed
these guidelines, or decide they
are unrealistic?
It would be easy to do the
latter. That is the path of least
resistance. As another member
of the city parks committee re-
cently opined, no new parking
in the canyon was a nice idea;
but not a realistic one.
With Redmond’s expansion
happening on the city’s west
side, new residents are located
further from the Dry Can-
yon. They will usually drive to
the park, and look for parking
close their destination.
Already one can see parking
happening in high use areas,
where it was never intended.
Without physical barriers,
people get creative and park
where they can.
The initial consultant docu-
ment, a Central Canyon Map
of Opportunities and Con-
straints (O&R), suggests ac-
commodating this, by paving
several unofficial parking areas.
It also suggests that more car
circulation in the central can-
yon might be allowed. While
this may seem logical, it takes
us away from the DCMP.
Is there a realistic alterna-
tive? Yes! The city recently
talked to Redmond High
School administration about
using part of the school’s large
parking lot, for every day park
user parking. RHS said “yes”,
opening an area with ample
space that will meet current
and future park user needs.
There already exists a paved
walking path going from that
lot to the Central Canyon park.
There’s your potential out of
canyon parking solution. Let’s
call it the West Gateway Alter-
native (WGA).
For it to work, the city would
need to make substantial ad-
ditions and improvements to
the existing infrastructure. This
large commitment could be
aided by the involvement of
community volunteers.
Will the WGA feature prom-
inently in the city’s forthcom-
ing Central Dry Canyon Park
Plan? The initial Map of O&A
seems to lean the other direc-
tion — towards more cars and
parking in the canyon.
The West Gateway Alter-
native will become a top plan
priority only if Redmondites
vigorously support it, and the
guiding master plan principle
of keeping more cars/parking
out of the canyon.
That won’t be easy, because
the city will not permit citizen
plan input, until the consul-
tant’s draft concept plan is re-
leased this summer.
If you are concerned and
wish to register your opinion,
be prepared to offer input when
the city tells you it is time.
In the mean time, if you’d
like to learn more about, or
discuss the above, contact the
author.
█
Redmond resident Richard Lance has
been a city Parks Committee member
for 20 years and a Dry Canyon Park
advocate for 30. Contact: lerich@
bendbroadband.com or 541-604-
9159.
I am compelled to re-
spond to some misconcep-
tions that Ed Fitch misstat-
ted in the June 7 Spokesman
story ”Wide open race for
mayor.”
The statement that I “mis-
interpreted” the city charter
is a false statement. There
is one city attorney, and it is
not Ed Fitch. I always seek
the attorney’s opinion when
I rule on council protocol.
For example, Ed has violated
the Oregon Open Meetings
Law on several occasions.
Our attorney has informed
him as such, as have I. Just
because he doesn’t like the
law doesn’t mean he can vi-
olate it. He then blames me!
He has not been city attor-
ney for years. And since his
tenure, we have written new
ordinances that cover coun-
cil roles and responsibilities,
and we also now have coun-
cil rules which cover council
behavior.
As Ed pointed out, he
was mayor more than 20
years ago, and only served
a very short time (He was
force to resign as he moved
outside city limits). Red-
mond’s population at that
time was about 13,400. It
now exceeds 36,000 resi-
dents. It is a different city.
In addition, we still suffer
from some poor decisions
during his tenure; closing
the old Juniper Golf Course
and putting Redmond in
debt for millions of dollars
to build a new one, selling
prime airport property to a
private developer and clos-
ing a needed railroad cross-
ing (which he now advo-
cates opening).
Councilor Fitch seems to
forget that the council is a
deliberative body made up
of seven members. By dem-
ocratic procedures, the ma-
jority rules. Ed’s problem is
that he finds himself on the
wrong side of votes on many
of the issues he pushes.
I am sorry that Ed feels
there will be friction as the
election approaches. Actu-
ally, there has been friction
ever since I soundly defeated
Ed in the 2018 election and
he was subsequently elected
to city council. My thought
is that he believes his way to
victory is to denigrate those
councilors who disagree
with him. My advice is to
look in the mirror and see
who is on the wrong side of
many issues not related to
core functions of city gov-
ernment.
George Endicott
Mayor of Redmond
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