Here’s the latest information on the Fire Mountain Reservoir Reserve (which we used to call the Fire Mountain Water Tower Park).
On May 13th, several Friends of Fire Mountain met with City Staff and Councilman Chavez to report the results of our survey. Of the 400 surveys distributed, we received 97 responses and of these, 89% were positive (and two of the negatives wanted ONLY a dog park, no people park). In order of popularity, here are the most-wanted features:
- Nature walk/jogging Trail
- Childrens’ playground
- Picnic area
- Open play fields
- Dog Park
On June 26th the Friends of Fire Mountain met with representatives from the Water Department, Parks and Recreation, Engineering, and Councilman Rocky Chavez. The Parks Development Manager and staff had walked the site and reported concern about the following issues:
Security
Including separation of Water Dept access and use and park users
Final location of entrance for public access
Potential Safety Matters
Steep hills
Rodent Holes
Broken sidewalk
Low hanging telephone lines
Utility vaults
Valve cans
Pipes
Each of these topics must be addressed, defined and budgeted, primarily to avoid City liability. As we expected, the timeline has been pushed out. Here are some the steps that interested Fire Mountain residents will be urging the City to undertake:
1. City Staff to have internal discussion about the design of Reservoir Reserve before they proceed with the “Public Process” which is their mail-out announcement of a public meeting regarding the use of the property
2. The issue should be placed (with the support of City Staff) on the agenda of the Parks and Recreation Commission,Utilities Commission and the Water Department to determine a course forward
3. Budget for this specific location should be recommended for next year
4. City council approval!
This will ONLY to allow us access to the property. The improvements will come next!
When we asked “what can we do to move this along”—the answer was RAISE MONEY. So, we will be investigating funding via grants. This would be a wonderful time for any of our neighbors with fundraising or grant writing experience to step forward.
Look for more info coming soon!
Friends of Fire Mountain 