Council urged to support Knox Mtn. upgrade plan

Knox Mountain Park, the city’s premier natural recreation area, is hoping for a little extra love over the next 10 years.

Parks and building planning staff are asking that council endorse the Knox Mountain Park management plan and spend an additional $3.45 million to build and operate 20 new projects.

Among other things, park users would see improvements to the First Lookout, staging areas in Knox East and signage renewal throughout the entire park.

The money would also be used to develop an off-leash dog strategy and to decommission rogue trails, an ongoing problem in the heavily used park.

A biophysical inventory was completed earlier this year as part of the update to the management plan.

While there has been some successes — a 26% reduction in unsanctioned trails in Knox West over the last decade — 46% of trails on the mountain remain unsanctioned representing 34 kilometres of trails.

“This represents a significant impact to the ecological functioning of the park, particularly considering our dry climate where the recovery of ecosystems is slow,” the report notes.

Knox Mountain Park had over 260,000 visits last year and the road up the iconic peak has seen a dramatic increase in walking and biking alongside increased vehicle demand.

Already subject to seasonal closure, the road was shut completely during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council earlier this spring surveyed the public over how best to operate the road and despite calls from some to keep it shut for good, adopted a trial share-the-road approach where the road is open to the first lookout from noon to 8 p.m. daily.

City council will consider the staff request at the public meeting, 1:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers at Kelowna city hall.