Caption lakeblue: These eroded trail sections on the Echo Canyon Summit Trail at Camelback Mountain will become a thing of the past with a trail and parking lot improvement project taking place throughout 2013.
Department staff and the Parks and Recreation Board worked closely in 2012 to engage city residents in addressing two big challenges: improving the Echo Canyon recreation area at Camelback Mountain and solving an ongoing deficit in the golf enterprise fund. Residents also enjoyed two major park construction and improvement projects with the construction of Dust Devil Park and the renovation of Townsend Park. Residents also enjoyed other citywide park improvement projects over the past year.
The Parks Board approved in December a plan to improve and expand the lot at Echo Canyon and reroute the summit trail to create a more sustainable, less erosion-prove trail layout.
Caption lakeblue: The city's Aguila Golf Course hosted pre-qualifying rounds for the 2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open
Providing high-quality, affordable championship golf has been a part of the department’s mission for decades. But a slow decline in golf play coupled with the economic downturn has stressed courses everywhere, including Phoenix’s. These trends have contributed to a years-long accumulation of a multi-million dollar operating deficit for the enterprise-fund.
A Parks and Recreation Board-led Ad Hoc Committee of staff, golfers, and industry representatives held an extensive public process so residents and golfers could weigh in and make recommendations on the future of the city’s courses. The committee created a list of recommendations, eventually adopted by the full Parks Board, aimed at restoring the long-term health of the city’s course. The full list of recommendations and other background information is available on the ad hoc committee webpage. When the full City Council takes on the issue, the committee’s work will provide them crucial insight into residents’ vision for the city’s courses.
Caption lakeblue: Residents welcomed the city's newest park at the Grand Opening of Dust Devil Park in west Phoenix in November. The park's accessibility features were among the reasons cited when the department earned a Barrier Removal Vigilance Award last year from the Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department.
