Time is RUNNING OUT for Your Feedback on the Smith Rock Master PlaN
UPDATE APRIL 27, 2023
Listen to Smith Rock Park Manager Matt Davey give the Master Plan some context with historic and data-driven info in this interview done in the Source Weekly’s Bend Don’t Break podcast released today.
April 12, 2023
Didn’t make the Smith Rock Master Plan meetings on Monday, April 10? Don’t worry, you can catch the Zoom meeting presentation or go read it for yourself and then comment. We’ll also supply direct link buttons at the bottom.
For those of you that are reading this for the first time, the purpose of the new plan is to update the vision for the next 20 years of development of Smith Rock State Park. Kind of a big deal. The end of the public feedback period is May 15, 2023, at 5:00 PM.
The main themes discussed in the plan and at the meeting included the issues the public ranked as most important back in 2018:
parking
visitation/overcrowding
trails
education & experience
park management
camping/The Bivy
What follows is a summary slideshow of the presentation of proposals in the 20-year, mostly unfunded plan. OPRD HAS ASKED US to remind the public that these are development concepts and management strategies that provide a menu of options that will be implemented and evaluated over time, and adjusted as needed.
THE PROCESS:
Here are the currently known remaining stages of the Master Plan Adoption and subsequent schedule for the funded Welcome Center project.
May-Sept 2023: Master Plan rolls out for adoption by the State Park Commission, local land use authorities, and then into State Rule
2023/2024: Schematic design and plans development scheduled for a new Welcome Center
2024: Deschutes County land use permitting for the new Welcome Center
2024/2025: Engineering documents development for the new Welcome Center
2025/2026: Construction for the new Welcome Center