The City of Redmond is looking 20 years into the future as they unveil their Park Master Plan
(Adding video: Special Projects Mgr. unveils 20-year Master Plan)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- What will the City of Redmond look like in the next 20 years.
The Redmond City Council received an update from the Special Projects and Natural Resources Program Manager, on the Parks Master Plan; what Redmond will look like in the next 20 years.
For decades, Redmond had been a city of innovation, but now it is embarking on a new kind of transformation: its parks master plan.
The plan, sought to reimagine how the city’s open spaces could foster connection, sustainability, and joy.
At its heart was a vision to connect every neighborhood through a vast network of green corridors, bike trails, and community parks, over a 20-year period.
Maria Ramirez, who is the Special Projects and Natural Resources Program Manager, says the plan is comprehensive and innovative.
“Some of the specifics that come out of this plan are high population areas and the lack of a park being accessible and available to them. The plan provides a policy, of a park, a half mile radius from your home. It also provides a policy goal of trying to provide four acres of developed park space within 1000 residents.”
There is some push back as it relates to how the city plans to reimagine the dry canyon area, some residents say, planners need to take into consideration how they utilize the space.
“Our Dry Canyon is one of our largest, features in the Redmond, and it has a number of developed park sites, but it also has a natural area. We would specifically like to see some things like where there's park funding, park staffing; management plans specifically identified for those kinds of areas, because a natural area is significantly different from the undeveloped area and it requires different skill sets for the public employees to manage those kinds of spaces,” said Redmond resident, Eve Ponder.
Ramirez says the community will be involved in developing open spaces.
“We ask the community, is this still accurate or, is this still requested, and if not, what else would they like to see.”
The Mayor and the Redmond City Council said they were quite comfortable adopting the parks masterplan. They need a little bit more time to dig a little bit deeper and really find out the formatics of the plan. They'll schedule a work session and then come back on December 17th, and make a decision.
