Beacon Hill is the last undeveloped ridge line in the Spokane Area. It is an incredible piece of open space, valued for its views, character, proximity to Spokane neighborhoods, and great trail system. Beacon is also a conglomerate of properties: city parks, conservation land, utilities and private property. The trail system is heavily used and well known, yet at the same time not formally recognized as a community recreation resource. Our goal is to bring this trail system above board, recognize it, and preserve it to complement new development in the area.
A multi-trail network that will encourage trail users from all around the region to visit is envisioned. When complete, the project will connect John Shields Park (Minnehaha Rocks), Camp Sekani and the Centennial Trail. It will formally recognize an existing twenty miles of trails, as well as create an estimated ten miles of news trails.
Landowner Outreach:
Pete has asked Penny to call and to set up a meeting with himself and his assistant to make a plan to contact the neighboring parcel owners that Pete is acquainted with. The "Executive Summary" document was share, highlighting the second page which has bullet point about benefits to landowners and liability protections for landowners. Discussion was held regarding whether any of the non developed Beacon Parcels would be eligible for Conservation Futures purchase. There are certain criteria that must be met; this can be looked into at a future date.
Land trust:
Pete's development plans continue to be adjusted although he plans on breaking ground in 2009. He wants to continue to support community trail access, with ideas like the possibility of a combination STA park/ride that might also act as a North trailhead. Pete corrected the critical parcel map by adding one more of his parcels to the "yes" category. Molly and Mike have not had any additional contacts with the landowners.
Publicity:
Susan brought up the idea of whether to ramp up publicity on the Beacon Project. Initially, we have wanted to not do a lot of publicity due to the need to establish contacts with the landowners. The over all feeling was that we've made a very good effort at this point. Susan has been contacted by a local TV station in regards to the upcoming design charette, and it was discussed to pursue that and other ways to publicize the charette in the fall.
Wikispace update:
The wiki space
This "wiki" is where the draft Beacon Project plans resides. We've take the Shafer Butte plan as a template for writing a Beacon Porject proposal that will be one of our products.
Everyone is encouraged to look at the draft and help edit/write sections.
Please contact Lisa Brietenfelt (lookoutlisa at gmail.com) if you need an invite to join as only allowed members can edit pages. We did provide a printed version of the draft today to meeting attendees.
Design Charette:
The Beacon Project has been selected from all the RTCA projects in the state of Washington for a design charette sponsored by theASLA ( American Society of Landscape Architects). The goal of this workshop will be to explore and generate ideas for community connections and trailheads. At the end of the workshop, there is an open house for the public to attend.
Angie spent a little time introducing the charette concept, which is a two day intensive workshop, attended by a wide variety of invited community members, usually about 30 people. The local ASLA will host it, and the planning group will be in charge of obtaining the venue, sponsors, food, housing and publicity.
Susan, Penny, Lisa B, Angie and Heleen from SCRHD will be part of a separate charette planning group. Potential dates are Oct 15/16 or Oct. 23/24.
If any member of this Beacon Project wants to either be part of the planning group or a participant in the actual workshop, please let us know.
Grant Funding for Trail Markers:
Penny has written a grant request for the Spokane Parks Foundation, asking for $2000 to fund trail markers within Camp Sekani.
GIS Update:
Dan Webber and Penny are getting continuing assistance from Dr. Brooks at WSU in the GIS database. Now, they are working on the trail inventory. This inventory lists characteristic of each trail within the system, noting such factors as type of use/user; ability level; condition of trail, etc. We hope to use this information for both a future map, and for management purposes. In addition, we will be getting some more assistance from SCC in filling in the gaps in the Sekani trails.
Sekani Bike Park update:
See trail markers above. Mountain Gear has underscored its commitment to the Beacon Project with its offer of $500 to fund a kiosk in Camp Sekani. Life Scout Matthew Nelson is working on a new kiosk for his Eagle Project. He's working directly with Mike Aho for design and placement. Dan and Chris A are continuing to put together skills area plans, and will have some build days in the future. Also, Mike A has flagged in a designated dirt jump area, with fill dirt donations welcomed.
Wrap up, next meeting next steps:
Meetings will be moved to Wednesday nights. Both Lisa B and Mike B have conflicts with Tuesdays. Next Meeting, May 14.
A separate charette planning session is March 12, 8:30 AM at the Public Health building.
Penny and Pete will meet to look at contacting adjoining parcel owners.
Everyone should have a look at the draft in the wiki, and add their comments.