West Granite Creek Park threatened by paved parking lot plan!

ACTION ALERT: The Prescott City Council will discuss whether or not to turn West Granite Creek Park (WGCP) into a permanent parking lot on February 11 at 1:00pm. This study session will be followed soon by a Council vote!

Please contact City Council members and plan to attend the meeting. They need to hear from everyone who wants WGCP restored to a natural, car-free park and Greenways Trail before that study session. Even if you have already contacted one or more councilmembers, please do so again. If you haven’t yet, this is the time. You can email them - find instructions here. You can also call or talk with them directly if you see them around Prescott. They need to hear from as many supporters of our car-free park and trail as possible!

There has been a lot of misleading information circulating, so make sure to emphasize:

• Parking was not allowed inside WGCP when the community garden operated there. Garden leaders were allowed vehicle access for delivery of supplies only, and had to open and close two gates in order to do so.
• ADA (disabled) access is designed into our restoration plan (see the ramps for strollers and disabled in our rendering below).
• All seven parcels that make up WGCP are zoned NOS (natural open space).
• Restoration includes ample parking, much of it closer to the splash pad than parking in our park (click on the two graphics and do your own measurement from where "Better Parking" is labeled to the bridge over Granite Creek).
• This open space park has been treasured by many Prescott citizens since it was built as a car-free park and trail 25 years ago, much of the work done by community volunteers.
• The fiscal irresponsibily is extreme - to spend $500,000 for a parking lot that would destroy this park that cost our community more than $14 million (clean up and park and trail creation) is an astonishing waste of money.
• See below for more reasons why restoration makes sense and please research extreme claims that make the parking lot plan out to be necessary.

The City’s plan to permanently pave West Granite Creek Park (WGCP) as a parking lot would sever our Greenways Trail and destroy our natural community park. Already, cars speeding in and out of WGCP pose a serious danger to children, bicyclists, and pedestrians, even before paving. 

Our coalition has a better plan:

Parking could be shifted to nearby paved areas and these amenities added to tie-in with and compliment the Splash Pad (click rendering to left for details): 

Let's build a park instead of a parking lot! Would you like to help? We'd so appreciate it. Most important is to tell City Council members you want our park restored to car-free (see above). We're also seeking pledges from businesses ready to assist with restoration, old photos and documents from our natural WGCP, and eventually lots of hands to rebuild our park and trail. Please email our VP, Sue Knaup at sue{at}onestreet.org and let us know how you'd like to help. Thank you!

How did we get here?

This once beautiful, natural flood plain riparian park, which is designated open space, was created by an impressive collaboration of nonprofits since the 1980s as part of Prescott’s car-free Greenways Trail system. WGCP was established as a riparian natural park and car-free Greenways Trail and is protected by Resolution No. 3274 of City Council in July 2000 as part of the West Granite Creek Park Master Plan. 

In fact, the car-free Greenways Trail through WGCP was the very first project of PAT back in 1997 when we identified this trail section as paramount to connecting the east and west sides of Prescott for bicyclists and pedestrians. We joined many volunteers to build it with donated materials (click slideshow for photos).

In 2021, the City removed its own barriers at the end of Granite Street to allow parking in WGCP. Representatives from PAT and other concerned nonprofits as well as residents of the nearby Dexter Neighborhood were told repeatedly for three years that this parking was temporary and the City would soon replace the barriers and restore the park and car-free Greenways Trail as it had been.

Instead, in 2023, without consulting those of us who care for and helped to create WGCP, the City paid for a design to permanently pave WGCP as a parking lot (find it linked below). The City’s plan to turn our park into a permanent paved parking lot would sever this section of our car-free Greenways Trail and destroy this natural riparian habitat and community park.

With cars removed, our park and Greenways Trail can be restored to their natural car-free splendor, with a beautiful new advenure trail leading to the Splash Pad. Our kids rely on us to create safe designs like this. And the black hawks, coopers hawks, and other rare birds and animals who live in WGCP rely on us to protect their habitat. Please connect with us and find out how you can help.

More Resources:

West Granite Creek Park Master Plan July 2000 - the most comprehensive document on protection of WGCP as a natural riparian park.

West Granite Creek Parking Lot design - the City of Prescott's current plan to permanently pave WGCP as of November 2023, 95% complete. Note the title of the document on the side of each page: "West Granite Creek Parking Lot"! 

Granite Creek Corridor Master Plan 2020 - page 37 describes the parking plan and mistakenly assumes that Prescott Farmers Market will be moving to WGCP.

City of Prescott budget FY24 - "West Granite Creek Park Improvements" page 238 - misleading description of the design to pave it as a parking lot for $500,000 (see link above): "Improvements to West Granite Creek Park including a large pavilion and grass gathering area." Thankfully this item was removed for fiscal years FY24 and FY25 (underway now). The paved parking lot design is poised to be included in the FY26 budget, to be drafted at the end of 2024 likely with similar rosy wording, unless we permanently protect our natural park from this and future threats.

Hilton/City Development Agreement 1-31-19 - details the agreement between the City and the owner of the Hilton project; most of our concerns lie in the references to the "Park Area" that shows the entire WGCP area.

Daily Courier article 6-2-19 "$1 million slated to go toward city improvements to West Granite Creek Park" - City's early concept to pave WGCP for 90 farmers market stalls, parking, an access road, and a 2,000 square foot event center. Since, this has been cut to $500,000 for paved parking, though the paved farmers market stalls continue to be mentioned.

APS investment in WGCP - Newsletters: June 1999, January 2000, July 2000, Summer 2001 - details completion of cleanup and their investment in WGCP's car-free trails and riparian revegetation.

Our Coalition (so far): 

Community organizations: Dexter Neighborhood residents, Friends of Granite Creek Park, Green Mountain Center for Sustainability at Prescott College, Parents for a Car-free West Granite Creek Park, Prescott Alternative Transportation, Prescott Audubon Society, and Prescott Creeks.

Businesses pledged to contribute to restoration: Biel Foreign & Domestic Repairs, Chain Reaction Physical Therapy, Dunn's Tire & Automotive, EMI Printworks, Frontier Dog & Co, Granite Orthopaedics, High Gear Bike Shop, Ironclad Bicycles, Madshirtz, Powersports Outlet, Restored Hope Hand Therapy, Soul Ride Bike Shop & Taproom 

To add your organization or business, please email Sue Knaup at sue{at}onestreet.org

Letters of Support:

• Dexter Neighborhood - reactions to paving plan
• Friends of Granite Creek Park
• Green Mountain Center for Sustainability at Prescott College
• Parents for a Car-free West Granite Creek Park - 74 parents signed on so far; (also a personal letter from one parent)
• Prescott Alternative Transportation
• Prescott Audubon Society
• Prescott Creeks