Phoenix Parks Board Approves Stetson Hills Trailhead as Organized Advocates Demand Harder Mountain Trail Closures and Threaten Legal Action

Thank you. First, consent items will be provided to the board in writing are not intended for a formal presentation. Unless a board member would like these to be voted on separately, we can vote on them together. Not hearing any, I need a motion to approve items 2A and 2B, please. I move to approve 2A and 2B. A second, please. Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Our first presentation today is our annual update on the Phoenix and Trail Heat Program.

Again, this is just information and discussion and just a presentation to the board, and no action will be taken on these items at this meeting. So I'll go ahead and turn over to Jared. Good evening, Chair Moya, Parks and Recreation Board members. The 2026 annual Trail Heat Safety Program update will cover this past heat season and include mountain rescue data.

In addition, staff will share updates on several initiatives underway to enhance communication, improve trail information, and strengthen measures to expand hiker safety efforts. I would like to recognize and thank our partners in the Phoenix Fire Department. And with that, I'm pleased to introduce Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Jared Rogers and Assistant Fire Chief Mark Gonzalez to provide this presentation. Thank you, Brandi, and thank you, Chairman Moya and members of the board.

Excited to be here to offer the annual heat safety update. As you will remember, our current policy is as shown on screen. The trails that are affected by the policy are the Camelback Mountain trails, trails, the Pias-to-Wapeak summit trail and associated trails, and then down at South Mountain we have Holbert, Mormon, and the Hau'a Pal Loop trails, as well as the National Trail from Pima Canyon.

So any day the National Weather Service issues an extreme heat warning day, those specific trails are closed to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. So those trails are still available earlier in the morning and then later in the evening, but not during the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On extreme heat warning days when the National Weather Service issues one, this slide just demonstrates how we go about the closures. We communicate the closure through a variety of ways.

We have email lists that go out to those that have signed up for it. We also reach out to hotel partners to let them know about it. And on the website, we have prominent banners that help get the message across that trails are closed that day. We also work with our public information officers to make sure that social media messaging is out there. And the news media also covers the stories pretty consistently and helps spread the word as well.

The park rangers during rescues, you can see at the bottom there some of the roles that they have is to place signage and make sure that the gates are closed. And they complete their duties at other open locations during the closures and check on the restricted locations as well. And then at the end of the closure, they removed the signage and reopened the gates at 5 p.m. 2026 was the second most days of extreme heat warnings, the 2020 at 48. So this year was right up there.

And the last seven years have had five of the most extreme heat warning days issued. 2026 was also interesting because in March, it was the first time this March that we had an extreme heat warning day in the month of March. The first of March, previously the earliest that there had been one was in the month of April. On this slide, what we're seeing here is the number of extreme heat warning days over the course of the last 20 years.

And as you can see, in the last seven years, we've had the five highest total number of extreme heat warning days. This slide shows along the bottom daily temperature, and then on the left is the number of hikers. What this slide demonstrates, not completely, but hikers do tend to self-regulate being out on a trail on extremely hot days. So you can see as the days get hotter, we have less hikers at the prominent trails that are affected by these restrictions.

And we believe that's a combination of awareness because the heat restrictions are advertised and that people just tend to stay out of the extreme heat for obvious reasons.

This chart shows the average number of extreme heat warning days over the past 20 years This helps us as we planning to understand what months of the year tend to have the most and as would seem obvious June July and August tend to be months with the most days with August being consistently the month with the most extreme heat warning days With that I happy to turn the time over to Assistant Chief Mark Gonzales Mark Gonzales Good evening and thank you for having me For all of our new board members welcome and thank you for your service My name is Mark Gonzales I an Assistant Chief with the Phoenix Fire Department and I oversee our Special Operations Division Technical Rescue Operations falls under that, and these are the teams that climb up the mountains with additional equipment, water, and medical gear to rescue our community members who cannot make it down on their own due to a medical event or physical injury or any other reason.

We partnered with the Parks Department a few years ago, and we've worked together to decrease the amount of mountain rescues overall, but especially during the hottest summer months of May to the end of September.

Camelback Mountain, Plastoway Mountain, and South Mountain have the most difficult trails in our city parks, and after sending multiple firefighters to the hospital for ascending these mountains multiple times during the hottest days, we worked through this board to establish the temporary trail restrictions we have in place. So thank you for your support, keeping our community and our firefighters safe. This first slide is specific to patient count.

We have learned that reporting on the number of mountain rescues doesn't always paint the full picture. Many times, while ascending the mountain to treat a patient, we run into more patients who require evaluation and sometimes rescue, treatment, and transportation. This slide is specific to incidents during the month-or during the summer heat warnings made to September timeline on our three most difficult mountains.

At the beginning of the year, we did notice a 50 percent increase treadline in the mountain rescues January through May, but with some mild heat in May and June and with most of the excessive heat warning days in July July and August, our numbers return to our average rescues per month. With a drop in September from 13 to 4, we do believe the trail restrictions have a positive impact on those numbers.

This slide compares the number of patients rescued at the Three Mountain Trails, or excuse me, the Three Mountains in the summer months. The yellow box shows the restricted timelines of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., where we have the majority of mountain rescue patients. This next slide shows the number of incidents at the three mountains for the past season. Again, the yellow box shows the restricted timelines of 8 to 5, where we also have the majority of our mountain rescue incidents.

To close with a recap of the 2026 season, we had a very hot July and August with a total of 64 mountain rescues during the summer season compared to 88 the same time last year. We had 47 excessive heat warning days that resulted in trail restrictions on those three mountains. We had four mountain rescues on restricted trails during the restricted time this year, compared to seven during last year. We had six mountain rescues on excessive heat warning days on non-restricted trails.

We had ten mountain rescues that resulted in multiple patients being rescued. We continue to partner with the Parks Department, the Phoenix Police Department, for helicopter extractions. We use drones to confirm patient location and condition. And we recently put e-bikes into service for low-grade trails to decrease patient contact time. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Jared. Jared H. Thank you, Mark. We really appreciate the partnership, as Brandi mentioned, with the fire department.

They're really integral in helping keep hikers safe. So on the slide here is some of the outreach efforts this last summer. Park Stewards and CERT, or the Community Emergency Response Team, team up to go to some of our popular trailheads through May through September of each year. And in the boxes there you can see some of the efforts that they were able to make.

131 total shifts, 246 different volunteers, volunteered for a total of 896 hours and engaged with over 19,000 hikers, distributing over 17,000 water bottles, cooling towels, over 600, electrolytes and countless conversations with people to remind them of safe hiking practices. And those locations are shown there where those outreach efforts happen.

Also we excited about some other recent developments We working on electronic safety message signing at trailheads Shown in the bottom left and right images there is the sign at Paestewa Peak that allows us to display electronic messaging that designed to get people attention right before they get on a trail and maybe think about some things that they hadn previously These are starting to be rolled out in the next couple of weeks We have currently these electronic signs at both Echo Canyon Trail and Paiso Wapeak.

We have eight other locations that are currently under design and rolling out through next year. We'll have those in place. Also, North Mountain Park is being renovated and any new big renovations like that will also have the new electronic signage. We're also excited to have got some advertising in the Arizona Office of Tourism State Travel Guide.

They print over 275,000 of these guides, as well as digital maps or digital ads that will prominently display take a hike, do it right messaging and allow people to learn more about safe hiking in Phoenix. Also very excited about this development. We were previously at Parks Board to talk about this some time ago. The State 48, we have a collaboration with them beginning just next week on October 26th. There will be a T-shirt that's available for purchase.

$5 of each purchase will come back to the City of Phoenix to parks to help fund hiker safety messaging and take a hike to it right. And also on the bottom bullet there, you can see that we are-we currently have an RFP out to get new trail map designs so that we can have electronic and print map and maps on site to help people make maybe better hiking decisions as they're beginning their hikes.

And with that, I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to present this year's heat safety program. As always, thank you. So you said lots of good information. I do have several speakers. So we'll go ahead and take the speakers first, and then I'll open up questions to the board members. Reminder, if you have not spoken, that you do have two minutes once you start your conversation with us. So we'll go ahead and go with the people online first. We have Tracy Gardner online.

Okay, how about Dana Chappelle? Thank you. Dana? Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, go right ahead. You have two minutes. Thank you. Yes, I just wanted to make a brief comment regarding the presentation on Trails Heat and Safety Program, if I may. Go right ahead. Can you hear me? We hear you perfectly fine. Okay. I just want to read this statement. After reading Mr. Rogers' Annual Trails and Safety Program update, I just want to make this brief comment.

While I fully support this program and commend his efforts to reduce heat-related rescue incidents, I'm surprised and a little disappointed that his report did not recommend or mention our previous research proposal. When I spoke to Mr. Rogers, he seemed very supportive and enthusiastic about forming a small task force to research our proposal, especially since Assistant Fire Chief Mr. Gonzalez has also endorsed the concept.

Since similar off-grid hydration and rescue structures are already being located in Japan and the United Arab Emirates, we believe placing a similar small off-grid heat relief, hydration, and first aid structure can only further reduce the total number of heat-related rescue incidents here in Arizona. I strongly urge the Parks Department to form a small task force to consider and further study our proposed concept. Thank you very much. Thank you. And now we'll go to Orla Bobo. Orla? Yes.

Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go right ahead. You have two minutes. Thank you. Perfect. Okay. Good evening.

My comments today are based on four years of independent research data analysis and due diligence Consider this question Why are we prioritizing unrestricted recreational access over the safety of our first responders and the residents who depend on them The number of mountain rescues occurring in Phoenix warrants immediate changes to our trail safety policies This is not simply a hiking issue it a citywide public safety issue By failing to establish and enforce appropriate trail operating hours and meaningful safety ordinances the city is not only placing first responders at unnecessary risk but also ...away from Phoenix residents who depend on immediate emergency response.

More than 20% of Phoenix's 2026 recorded rescues occurred before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. That's 34 rescues during early morning, evening, and overnight. Extreme heat does not discriminate between trails, yet the city restricts access to only a select few for a handful of hours while leaving countless other trails open under the same dangerous conditions. If public safety is truly the priority, how does the city justify this inconsistency?

We need expanded trail closures, lower temperature thresholds, enforceable opening and closing hours for every trail year-round, and specific city ordinances with meaningful penalties for violations. Accountability must come from the city, its parks department, as well as citizens. Without clear, enforceable policies in place, accountability will never exist, allowing mountain rescues to continue rising.

I'm asking this board to prioritize first responder safety, responsible emergency resource allocation, and meaningful enforcement over unrestricted trail access. The consequences of inaction are not limited when they affect every neighborhood in Phoenix. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're right here, Jerry. I've come in. Okay. Thank you, Jerry Van Gas.

You know, all last spring, all we heard from parks and fire was, get out as early as possible and hike before the heat comes down on the mountains. Hikers at Echo Canyon had been doing that on their own for 10 years or more at 4 30 a.m. The gates were opened by ranger. Midsummer, August 1st, all of a sudden, unannounced, no public input, the rangers were told by management to not open the gates till 5 a.m., taking away a valuable half hour of hiking time.

When you only have from five to eight, three hours to do Camelback Mountain, I mean, the rescues are going to go up because of this, you know, inept policy change. Our attorneys at the Center for Law and the Public Interest have filed numerous record requests since mid-August. Only one has been responded to. And they would answer a lot of questions like, where was the public notification? Why was $100,000 spent on quote automated gates five weeks after they claimed they were done with the job?

Those gates are still open manually because they don't work. That's ineptness. And we're-we filed one more lawsuit-not a lawsuit, that's coming, a record request today. And if we don't get those records, we will file a lawsuit. Thank you. John Bodden. Hi, my name is John Bodden. I'm a Phoenix native, third generation. I'm also a volunteer park steward. Also live just a couple blocks off of South Mountain. I'm on South Mountain trails five to seven days a week.

Whether you want to know it, like it or not, it doesn't matter what the heat is. But the first thing I really want to come here to say really is that I want to thank the board for adopting the program that's in place right now and really just tell you to continue it. It's obvious from the stats that rescues are going down. I believe they're down by 10 year to date over last year. I believe in the safety subcommittee last meeting or a couple of weeks ago that Fire Chief Gonzales-Mr.

Gonzales, I'm probably using the wrong assistant. There we go. But I think you stated that rescues were down by 33% on hot days. So it's working, regardless of what that caller just stated when she called in. And I'd like to talk really very briefly about real-world stuff, because we talked about a lot of stats in here. Myself, like I mentioned, I am on the trails every day. I'm a park steward or volunteer park steward.

I've been involved actually with Just last year, my friend called me up and said, hey, my father is out hiking on the trail. He's tracking by GPS. Can you run out there and check on him? I did. In the meantime, somebody else had found him. He is an 80-year-old man. He was out hiking. He got mixed up on the trails because the trail signage had changed and ended up falling down. He needed help. Crews got out there. It was great to see what they do.

I will tell you, though, in talking with them, they said, why is an 80-year-old guy out here? I said, man, when you're 80 years old, you're going to hope you're out here, right? And they said, you know, you're right. And I'll come out here every day and rescue Native Phoenicians just like you guys. So thank you. Appreciate it. Good evening. Thank you, Chairman Moya and committee members, and thank you, Assistant Chief Gonzales and Director Rogers. My name's Ann Ender.

I am a public safety advocate as well as the president of Operation Blue Ribbon. In August, the woman that you just heard a few minutes ago and I met with Councilman Robinson and his staff to discuss the escalating number of mountain rescues in 2026. Our primary concern, first responder safety. Drawing on months of data, we have data and analysis.

We presented evidence on rescue demand, incident timing, trail specific patterns, days with multiple Multiple rescues, operational implications, and recommended actions. The data presented in this report demonstrates that mountain rescue activity in Phoenix is a persistent operational responsibility rather than an isolated seasonal issue. In fact, we show that there have been 167 rescues year to date, including a troublesome trend of night rescues, which raises a fundamental question.

If our parks are closed at night, why do our trails remain open? Emergency resource availability is affected whenever a prolonged technical rescue consumes specialized personnel and equipment that may be needed simultaneously elsewhere in the city. Our responsibility, pardon me, our recommendations identify policy options that are designed to reduce first responder exposure while preserving public access whenever it can be maintained safely.

In fact, we asked Councilman Robinson to initiate a complete hard closure, meaning access denied, not restricted, which means that only limits it, of mountain trails through October, which is now November, because our hoist helicopter is out of service. Thank you very much. Is it working now? Oh, I've got the magic voice, I guess. I don't know. I'm so loud anyways. I probably don't need it. So I do have a couple of questions.

I appreciate the presentation tonight from Director Rogers and Assistant Chief Gonzales. I applaud and look at the patient count by year and do see that they're down from their highest months, it looks like, from 2021 on. But I do still see it concerning the numbers at Camelback Mountain and South Mountain, quite frankly.

And I noticed in the report—sorry for the prologue, but I think this will get to my questions—is in the report it says that no changes to the program are recommended at this time. But then in the report, it does discuss about extreme heat continues to pose significant challenges to the public and first responders during mountain rescues.

So I had a couple questions with regard to I noticed in here and this is more for I think Assistant Chief Gonzalez is in the patient count is that just members of the public or does that include when a first responder may need to receive medical treatment or emergency care subsequent to performing their duties in an emergency rescue situation Board member, chairman, thank you for the question. These are just patients that are utilized, the EPCR, how we track patients.

So if we did have a firefighter that was a patient, we would have also tracked that as well. So those are total patients. Just going off my memory, I don't think we had any firefighters this year so far become ill and have to be a patient. Okay. I appreciate that, Chief Gonzalez. That's actually good to know because I think, as some of the folks mentioned, my concerns—I'm new to the Parks Board since this program was implemented.

And while I have obviously significant concerns for public safety, I also want to be mindful of the safety of our first responders. I come from a family of first responders, so that may be why I have that significant interest.

And a second question to Chief Gonzales is, are response times impacted, meaning response times for non-mountain rescues impacted with regard to if a mountain rescue is ongoing and you get general medical or fire calls, Do these mountain rescues impact those response times, or are there crews set up that this is what they solely do? Board member Fotinos, Chairman, thank you. Great question. Yes, it would…response times elsewhere, I think is what you're asking me.

So, other calls, everything else, if they're committed to a mountain rescue. We did run some numbers. I don't have them in front of me. We did present them to PSNJ, and I think they average about an hour on a call committed to those things. We do have units in the system that would—they're called adaptive response units—they would then move to the areas where we are experiencing outages, but that would be managed by our alarm room.

So there is something in place, and yes, if they're working on something, they're not available for something else, but we continue to manage that through our alarm room to make sure that our response times are adequate across the valley. Thank you for that.

And I guess this next question again, last one for Assistant Chief Gonzales, and it could be for Deputy Director or Vice Director Deputy Parks Director Jared Rogers is really at this time the true recommendation that this is enough to keep the public and first responders safe? Or is there anything that you would like the parks board to be doing? Board member Fotinos, chairman, members of the board, we are seeing positive numbers. We're seeing a decrease in mountain rescues.

We are seeing progress with the campaign and the education. So we are happy to be a partner. We're happy to have a seat at the table. We do lean on you all for that policy, but for right now, we're seeing good things. Mr. Chair, thank you. I have a technical question and that is on the graphic that has the well in the patient counts on the different graphics particularly though. But first of all, thank you very much for this report. The information is really helpful. It's great.

But patient counts. Are they exclusively heat related incidents or could it be for anything? Thank you. Board member Porter, chairman. They are for anything. These are just patients in general. Great. Thank you. So, you know, I can imagine that maybe in those shoulder months, there would be people who are spraining an ankle or something like that. All right.

And then I guess, you know, because there was just now a question and this issue has come up before, and I think in some of the public comments, there's kind of a built-in supposition that there should be zero, like, we should be able to do that.

We should have a zero patient count or maybe a zero burden on the resources of our first responders to respond to an incident on the trails And I guess I would ask Jared I mean I don recall zero being a goal We would love zero right Any day where there no rescue is a victory but we never had articulated any kind of metrics for rescues that I recall Is that your recollection Yeah, board member Porter and Chair Moya, yes, I would agree. I am not aware of a stated goal of zero.

Obviously, that would be great. And actually, these numbers about rescues by hour would be even more valuable if we knew what are our total counts in terms of hikers in the year, because it has seemed like our mountain trails are getting more and more popular. So we may actually be doing better than just lower counts. We may be seeing a lower percentage of, like in a year, of hikers, you know, rescues to hikers. So that would be, you know, helpful data, I would think.

And then I guess I just want to comment that this came up, it was very hard work. I think Chairman Moya can agree with me. It's going to be very hard work for this parks board and the parks department to work with our first responders to come up with a program to really work on reducing, particularly for me, the burden on first responders on very hot days. I know for me, my concern was on super hot days, should we be asking our first responders to have to risk their own well-being?

We had had that terrible incident where I think one crew had to do three different rescues in a day, and many of them wound up hospitalized. It was a terrible day. So, thinking about that, we've never had data about this other issue that's kind of swirling around in the comments about the extent to which it burdens the whole system of the first responders' ability to respond to things beyond what's going on on our mountain trail.

And I would only say that if that is going to become an issue, like we're being asked to further reduce from what we've already done, then I think we need to see real data because there are lots of options other than saying close all the trails. You know, there are many options in between, but we would really need to see data on what the impacts are of mountain rescues on the response times for incidents beyond the mountain rescues. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Emma, did you have a question?

Go right ahead. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Regarding-first of all, thank you for that report. It's super informative. Regarding the events, there were three events with multiple rescue. Do you have any additional information about those multiple rescue that maybe can be-can lead to additional education? Is it related to one organization? Is it related to one group? Can you elaborate? Do you have any additional information? Board member, chairman, I do not have additional information.

It's just to say that when we go to a rescue, we do run into multiple other patients. It doesn't mean they're always together, but on our way up or down, we run into additional patients. They can be together. I don't have any additional information. Aubrey, did you have any questions? If not, I have a… I don't. I don't. Thank you, Aubrey. It's just a comment, I guess. Yes, this was a lot of work. It was necessary work. Sarah, Aubrey, you were all there.

I don't think I've ever seen this chamber so full the community and their involvement and their participation. And yes, we took their input and learned a lot. I am proud to say that where this program has been going has been a very positive one. Next month will be my last month after 10 years. And I can tell you it's one of the proudest moments that we as board worked on.

However, if it's time to look at it again, why not just sit down and have that discussion as to what next I very encouraged by the numbers very encouraged first of all that there were zero incidents with our first responders I think that great as well And it keeps evolving You know we talk about communication that evolving We talk about other things and that evolving And yes I would like a T when they come out but that that that me and T But again overall I think it it very positive It moving in a positive direction I think the community is listening and we listening and continue to listen to the community in terms of zero I in agreeing with you Sarah I don think zero was a number we were all looking for I think we were looking for improvement and I think I think we are there And again we evolving But if it's a time that maybe a subcommittee to look at where we're at and future goals of the plan, maybe it's time.

What's it been like? Five years? Six years? I don't remember. Five years. Seems like yesterday. You're right. So again, thank you for the first responders help, and thank you for the entire staff to continue to work on this because the trails are enjoyed by a lot of people, and a lot of people have interest and input. So anything that we do or do not do should not be done without their input, and that would be my only other suggestion. So again, thank you very much.

So we'll go ahead and move on to item 4A. That's a discussion and possible action on an item on the Stetson Hills Trailhead Master Plan. I think that's you again, Tariq? Board member Moya, Chair Moya, members of the board, good evening again and thank you.

At this board's recommendation in June 2025, the Phoenix City Council approved the acquisition of 158 acres located near 39th Avenue, Stetson Hills Loop, and Hackamore Drive, and designated that property as mountain preserve for our Sonoran Desert. In November of 2025, the city completed the land purchase from the Arizona State Land Department.

I'm excited to introduce Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Jared Rogers to provide an update on the public input and master planning process that began earlier this year and to request the board's approval of the master plan. Thank you, Brandy and members of the board and board member or chair Moya. As Brandi mentioned, I'm here to talk through the development of a master plan and request approval of the master plan.

So the Stetson Hills master plan process, this location is near Deem Hills Park. The large yellow arrow there is pointing out it's just west of the I-17 and north of the Loop 101. It's adjacent to the Deem Hills Recreation Area, which is one of our mountain preserve parks in North Phoenix. Zooming in on the site here, in yellow is the specific area that we'll be talking about. It's the project site. We have a master plan for your approval, hopefully, at the end of my presentation.

So it's just under 10 acres. It's at the northeast corner of Hackamore Drive and Stetson Hill Loop. It's immediately adjacent to Sander Day O'Connor High School. You can see the sports fields there of the high school just to the right. And currently, there isn't any access to the Deem Hills Recreation Area. I wanted to point out the dashed red line in the lower right of the Deem Hills Recreation Area.

That's the land that Brandy was just speaking of that we were able to purchase in November of 2025 and add to the Deem Hills Recreation Area. Hiking access currently to the Deem Hills Recreation Area is found at two locations, on the east side and the east trailhead on the label here. There's 14 parking spaces, so it's very limited in its size. And then on the west side, we have Deem Hills Park. Both of these are about three miles away from the project site.

Deem Hills Park has significant parking spaces, but it also has many shared uses, pickleball courts, dog parks, soccer fields, etc. So, Deem Hills itself really does have a lack of dedicated parking for trail use. If we zoom in a little bit further, we can see that there's this 158-acre purchase that Brandy referenced before. It was previously part of the Deer Valley Unified School District's lease for Sander Day O'Connor High School.

We had conversations with both the State Land Department and the Deer Valley Unified School District to talk about the school district agreeing to potentially modify their lease to remove that 158 acres, which they never intended to use as part of their campus planning. They agreed to do that. They also have some issues with overflow parking. So in exchange for that, there's a discussion about having shared parking, which I'll reference in a little bit.

So in November of 2024, we came to Parks Board and the acquisition was approved then. And as Randy mentioned previously, in June of 2025, council approved it. And then November of last year, LAM was purchased using 3PI funds. And then in June of this year, Council authorized the creation of an IGA or intergovernmental agreement between the Parks Department and the school district.

Another key component that this will provide is a connection from the project site as a trailhead to the rest of the Dean Hills Recreation Area trails. There's over 15 miles of trails and they are popular but they are somewhat limited because of their lack of access. this project site as it develops would provide that access to the trail system. So as we began the master plan process, we began with some visioning of some of the items that we knew we needed to consider.

So the parking lot, and talking through with the Deer Valley School District, they were looking for about 128 shared-use parking spaces that would be available during school hours, but available on weekends and after hours for for all trailhead use. And then we would have around 50 dedicated parking spots all the time that would not be available for the students but would be available for hikers. Also, of course, we'd want to make sure we have trail drinking fountains, bottle fillers.

Because the park…we had owned this site, the undeveloped site, the 10-acre site, for about 20 years, there have been neighbors that were interested in having some park amenities there as well. So we heard from them and wanted to make sure we could incorporate some traditional elements like a nature-themed play area and as I mentioned before, would have a trail connection to Deem Hills. We would want to have shade ramadas.

We'd also want to consider screening vegetation to the neighbors to the west and make sure that we're using plants that are appropriate for the Smyrna Desert. So we had a master plan process from January to July of 2026. It was led by park staff and we had a consultant. We had a steering committee of residents. We met in January, February, and March. You can see in those series of meetings, we did information gathering. We developed a vision with the input of the local residents.

In February, we presented options to them and identified the strengths that they saw in those options. And then in March, we put it out on a web survey. We put a sign on the site, the QR code that people could scan and find out more about it. There were two options presented, and I'll show those here in a minute. There was a spiral option and a zigzag option. Ultimately, the spiral option was the most popular in the result of the survey.

So the two options have many of the same general themes and elements. The variation between them was the geometry of some of the walking paths, hence the zigzag versus the spiral option. Both options include about 128 parking spaces that would be for the shared parking with the school and over 50 parking spaces for dedicated trail hiker use.

Both options focused on having that nature theme play area and both made sure that they had trail connection and natural shade and built shade to provide to the site. So, as part of the survey, we like to find out who's responding to it. We had 142 respondents, 139 of which were Phoenix residents that were interested in the project. And this is the option, the question was, which option do you prefer of the two?

They were presented both options, a chance to look at them and learn a little bit more about them, and the Spiral was overwhelmingly the most popular option.

While the parks board doesn't-isn't required-it's not required that the parks board names the trailhead, because it's not a full park, it's a trailhead, we did want to share that through the survey process we asked, and these were the choices that were presented, and Stetson Hills, which is the name of a local street, and the surrounding neighborhood was the selected name that we would intend to move forward with.

So zooming in on the final plan, after we received the feedback from the survey, we worked with the consultant to combine into one final proposed master plan that you can see on the screen here. And I'll walk through some of the elements. As labeled as number one there is a shade canopy that would be at the trailhead location that would allow people to get out of the shade just before a hike or after a hike or get out of the sun after a hike. Number two, that is the nature play area.

Number three is the location of the entrance that would be off of Hackamore Drive. And then four on the right side would be the dedicated during school day overflow parking for the school students. They have a similar parking lot that's just to the right of where that four is. And so this would kind of mirror that and their entrance would be where it currently is.

But then number five shows the area of where the trailhead parking would be located at number five and that over 50 spaces And then also number seven is that vegetative screening that was really important that we heard from people that they wanted to make sure that this wasn a new impact that they weren used to and we were doing everything we can to help visually screen that impact And then number 12 is where the trail would leave from the site and go and connect to the rest of the D Mills Recreation Area So with that, I just wanted to outline next steps.

We're currently working on the IGA with the Deer Valley Unified School District. That will carry on into next year. We're ready to move forward with assuming Parks Board approval of the master plan to the design document stage from late this year into the middle of next year. And then construction could begin as early as the end of next year and then complete maybe summer of 2028 is the way it's tracking.

So with that, I appreciate the opportunity to present the proposed master plan that's the result of an effort with the steering committee and the public and the survey that we were able to do and proud and excited for the next step for this site to be developed into something that will be meaningful for the community. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Jared, for a complete and thorough report. We do have one public speaker on this, Jeremy Becker. You're good. Thank you.

Any questions from our board members? Sarah, go right in. Do you really want to open this beautiful new center in the summer? Great question. Great question. Construction delays happen, so maybe we'll be fine. Any other questions? I have one question. It's called the Dean Hills Recreation Area. Why are we calling it a recreation area? Board member Burnwell, Chair Moya. It's a good question. It's a residual name, if you will. That's what it was called.

In the 1960s, there was a land granted to us from the Bureau of Reclamation. The hill itself was known as Dean Hills. I think he was one of the early settlers. That's the name that it's been called since then. It is a mountain preserve. It's designated as such, but it does have that name. That's what it's called. Okay. All right. If there aren't any other questions, I'd like to make a motion that we accept the Stetson Hills Trailhead Master Plan. A second. Paul, those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Looking forward to this one. Number five, call to public. We welcome citizen input. However, items brought to the board's attention cannot be discussed unless they are listed as an agenda item. Action taken as a result The result of public comments will be limited to requesting staff to study the matter or rescheduling the matter for further consideration and or a decision at a later date. We do have a couple of people speaking, request to speak.

First person is Chelsea McHale. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Chelsea McHale. When I spoke before you in August, I shared several initiatives where I hope for your support. I'm grateful for the progress that's being made, but tonight I'm not here with another request. I'm just here to remind you of the deeper meaning behind my advocacy. Many of you may know that I lost my brother Clint in a fallen Camelback Mountain and there's a safety sign with his picture and story.

He passed away 15 years ago and was 25 years old. Since then, I've dedicated myself to hiking safety, but behind the advocacy and action is something that isn't always visible. And this is what grief and purpose look like side by side. Grief is what brought me here, but purpose is what keeps me going. Every hiker has a life beyond the mountain. There's someone who expects them to come back. I couldn't change the ending of my brother's story.

But by telling a story maybe I can help change someone else I had people from all over the world actually contact me after seeing Clint safety sign and told me his story made them reconsider their decisions on the trail Because suddenly that danger had a face a name someone they can see themselves in Sometimes it takes seeing someone just like yourself to realize you not immune to tragedy That the power of a personal story And I learned over the years that human interest stories have a unique ability to reach people Statistics are important safety messages are essential but sometimes it a story of a real person that makes someone stop listen and think differently So I just here to remind you all that I always here as an ally And of course, I know Jared, Josh, Talia, and others know if there are opportunities to support the city's hiking initiatives, amplify awareness, or share my experience in a way that helps reach more people.

I'm always willing to do that. My brother's the reason why I started this work, but the safety of everyone on our trails today and in the future is why I'll continue to do it. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Jerry Van Gass. Thank you. Might be able to help you there, Tony. You want to see an animated group invite, have a agenda item for the half a million hikers at Camelback Mountain who have hiked there starting at 4 30 a.m. for over 10 years.

Because basically what they're hearing, and they don't I don't believe a word coming from our director or our natural resources director. They're being called liars. They know when they show up there. They see the Rangers open the gates at 430. They see me there with a box of bananas for. You know, but I know you won't do that because the Parks Department, you know, made a promise to a neighbor that they would change the hours to five.

Then they had the gall to turn around without ever telling the hikers, their own rangers, the maintenance people. They throw the maintenance company under the bus to concoct their own story to justify this. And yet they spend $100,000 of our money, 3PI money, for stuff that we didn't even ask for, to appease a neighbor. And you got goddamn gates that still, five weeks after they had posted on your own website that they work, they still don't work. They have to be operated open manually.

So, it's coming. And we want those records responded to. Thank you. Thank you. Gregory Butts. Gregory Butts, Hello. My name is Gregory Butts. This is my wife, Diane Butts. And we represent a youth track and field organization called Universal Track and Field. We, my wife and I, we retired and we recently moved to Arizona. And the first thing that we've been involved with youth track and field for over 35 years. And what I mean by youth are kids from four through 18 years old.

And we realized there's only one youth track and field organization out here. When we were in Southern California, there were six, and all of them had anywhere between 3,000 to 3,500 youth athletes participating. And we put on a couple of youth track meets, but our difficulty, our finding or reaching the kids and the parents, because we're so new to Arizona. So I remember getting an email. I think it was the Parks and Recs of Phoenix, which was a little survey.

And when I saw the survey, I thought it might be an opportunity to come and speak to the Parks and Recs and either assist us or partnering with Universal Track and Field in order to reach the parents and the kids and introduce them to Track and Field. They have, I've seen two organizations, middle school and two middle school organizations that do put on track and field, but it doesn't address the younger kids from the sixth grade down.

And so my wife and I decided maybe we can come here and speak and maybe you guys can assist or partner with us in reaching the parents and these youngsters and introduce them to track and field Thank you I sure someone from staff would have your information If not they get it from you and hopefully follow up Thank you So next we have the board chair's report.

The Parks Department is continuing to celebrate the fall season with a variety of festive, family-friendly activities happening citywide throughout October. From Halloween celebrations to fall themed community events, there will be plenty of opportunities for residents of all ages to enjoy the season together. Please join us at our upcoming Fit Phoenix Free Zumba class on Saturday, November 7th from 1030 a.m. to 1130 a.m. at the Maryvale Community Center.

This fun and simple dance fitness workout is open to everyone. It's a great chance to stay active, meet people in the community, and enjoy a supportive upbeat atmosphere. We expect a lively event full of movement, music, and smiles. We encourage all community members to join us and take part in this free wellness opportunity. For full details on event location, dates, and times, please visit phoenix.gov. That's it. So, board members, any comments or requests? Go right ahead.

I just want, I would be remiss and I apologize for not really thanking the Parks Department Director Whitfield and his staff for working collaboratively on the heat trail safeties program. I do think that the steps laid out in the report about some of the new things about new water stations, electronic billboards, that's amazing. So I want to applaud you and your team and I'm sorry that Jared isn't here. I was dismissive of all the work that the parks board has done.

I was not the parks board, the parks department that you folks, the city staff, your department has done on this significant collaboration and effort. I was not on the parks board at the time when Tony and who is now on the t-shirt, I guess I will be making. I know it was a very difficult topic and a very, I think, complicated problem that's very much—maybe not replicated in other states. There's not other states that you can go and look at and say, they do it here.

Many of them don't have the extreme heat that we do or the geographic diversity that we have. So I just would be remiss. I just wanted to make sure that I had that and want to thank you all for all your hard work. Chairman Moore, if I might, and members of the parks board and board member Faustina, we sincerely appreciate those kind comments.

Like Assistant Chief Gonzalez said, it is a collaboration between the parks department and the fire department to keep our residents and visitors on our trails safe. So, and just so you know, the team can't leave until the boss leaves. So, just... Any other board member comment or request? If not, Director's briefing. All right, good evening again, Chairman Moya, members of the Parks Board. We'll start our Director's briefing with our Assistant Directors, and we'll start with Todd Shackelford.

Good evening, Chairman Moya, members of the Parks Board. I want to take a moment tonight to highlight some amazing volunteer work that has been happening at Encanto Park. Over the past few years, Danny Ayala has been working with an active community group called the Encanto Pickleballers. The group has raised funds to purchase new benches, a pickleball recycle station, and higher quality netting for the pickleball courts at the Encanto Sports Complex.

They even designed and painted this incredible mural on the courts. On Friday, October 2nd, the group officially kicked off their adoption of the Encanto Sports Complex. We presented the volunteers with the official adoption certificate and then they got right to work sweeping the walkways leading to the tennis and pickleball courts. They even filled cracks in the walls and then repainted the entire walkway. The space looks rejuvenated after the volunteers were done.

I would also like to recognize our very own Janet Kerchek, right here behind me, who is the Parks and Rec Department volunteer coordinator for her amazing work with this group and so many others who helped beautify our parks. All right, on Saturday, October 17th, the Maryvale Community Center hosted its annual Scaryvale at Maryvale event, a family-friendly Halloween celebration. The event drew over 3,000 community members of all ages for a night brimming with frights and fun.

Attendees enjoyed a variety of activities including a trunk or treat, costume contest, haunted house, spooky scavenger hunt, and bounce houses as well as music. With that, I will turn it over to my colleague, Brandi. Brandi. Thank you so much, Todd. Not to be outdone, the department also held our annual Festival of Frights at South Mountain Park and Preserve.

The event featured family-friendly Halloween activities, including trunk or treat, a haunted hike, inflatables, arts and crafts, carnival games, horseback riding, food trucks, as well as booths from our community partners. The event attracted around 3,000 participants. I'm also really happy to share that the Phoenix New Times is named Pioneer and Military Memorial Park as Best Cemetery in its 2026 Best of Phoenix Awards.

This honor recognizes the park's historical and cultural significance as one of Phoenix's most notable cemeteries. What makes this site unique is that it encompasses seven cemeteries that were in use during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it serves as the final resting place for many prominent figures from Arizona's early history.

I would like to recognize and thank the Pioneer Cemeteries Association the nonprofit who maintains and advocates for the Pioneer Military Memorial Park Thank you to PCA for their partnership and congratulations on this recognition During the first week of October, the South Division and Parks Development Division celebrated two ribbon cuttings. The first on October 6th at Hogee Park.

Councilwoman Ana Hernandez attended the event alongside with neighborhood kids and participants from our partners program to celebrate the new amenities, including new lighting, playground, drinking fountain, and ramada.

And then just two days later, we also celebrated a ribbon cutting over at Kee Pak Park, where we had renovations that include several new amenities that were designed to enhance the park's usability and overall community experience, including a new four square court, which I played on myself with my daughter, half basketball court, a new Ramada, beautiful new trees, turf, and an upgraded irrigation system, as well as enhanced lighting.

All right Thank you Brandi and Todd Before I go into my updates Mr Chair members of the Parks Board I want to take an opportunity just to thank our team that is here our admin team that gets us ready for our Parks Board meetings and then our public information office team as well who provide all these wonderful pictures to us So just want to make sure that I acknowledge them Like Brandi said, we've been very busy in the Parks Department on October the 17th.

We hosted a ribbon cutting at Santa Maria Park to celebrate the opening of the much anticipated new skate plaza. The event was attended by Councilwoman Ana Hernandez and numerous community members, including Cowtown Skate, who had several skateboarders in attendance doing demonstrations for us. On October 16th, staff from the Phoenix Arts Department hosted a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new playground at Deem Hills Park.

City Council District 1 Council member Ann O was joined by youth on fall break to celebrate and enjoy the new equipment and play structures And lastly the Phoenix Pride Festival was hosted on October 11th It celebrated its 45th anniversary with a vibrant two event attracting over 45 attendees Featuring more than 300 exhibitors and 150 performances on five stages, the festival highlighted themes of diversity and inclusion while raising funds for community programs.

attendees enjoyed food vendors, artistic displays, and dedicated areas for youth and VIPs. The festival culminated in a parade at the Arizona Center, attended by our Mayor Kate Gallego, several council members, and city manager Ed Zerker celebrating the Phoenix LGBTQ community. So with that, that concludes our director's update for this evening. Great. Thank you. Thank you to my fellow board members for your attendance.

And again, as always, thank you to the staff for preparing us for these meetings. This meeting is officially adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.