Development Plan

Red Mountain Center will be an area where park visitors can get oriented to and learn about the park, have a snack or meal, rent a bike, or sign up for a tour.

The building complex housing Red Mountain Center will be the architectural focal point of the south side of the park, and will house a wide variety of visitor services and community and administrative functions. It is proposed as a single building or a complex of several buildings

The North Gateway will be the primary vehicular access point for those reaching the park from Wenonah / Ishkooda Road. The north entry will be part of a comprehensive traffic management and neighborhood revitalization effort to better connect and improve the relationship of the north neighborhoods to the park.

The gateway will include four elements: 1. a new intersection at Wenonah / Venice Road, 2. a connector drive, 3. an arrival court, and 4. a parking lot. To provide a more distinctive parkway-like character to Wenonah Road, a segment of the road system in this vicinity could be redesigned so that a new east west parkway road would be located on park property with a new four-way intersection at the park entrance.

Mine No. 10 will demonstrate the story of mining on Red Mountain in a system of walkways, gathering spaces, and structures that follow the route of the No. 10 mining operation up and across the mountain, linking the park north and south.

The Mine No. 10 complex occupies about 15 acres, divided into 4 on the north and 11 on the south. The complex is designed to get visitors out of the valleys on both sides of the mountain and up to the mine and the top of the mountain. In so doing, visitors will gain access to the Round the Mountain Loop, Challenge, and Ridge Trails, opening up the rest of the park to exploration. Part of the interest and enjoyment of the Mine 10 experience will be to move around the site, climbing the terraces and viewing the complex and distant prospect from different vantage points.

Parking lots will be developed as simple linear features that relate to the scale and form of the industrial operations that shaped the site.

The parking lot’s layout responds to the constraints of steep topography and the scale and magnitude of the mining operations. Parking lots are aligned parallel with the slope of the mountain for ease and economy of terracing and for convenient access to the Round the Mountain Loop. All parking areas are located on the major trail system near important features for convenience and ease of orientation.

The Redding Commons will occupy the valley between Sand Ridge and Red Mountain, extending for 46 acres and 1 mile, providing the expansive level open space that major municipal parks typically deliver. Amid a wooded setting, the Commons will contain a large event lawn and picnic areas connected by trails with the park’s major recreational venues, Mine 10 (#3), Redding Lake (#14), the Folds (#12) and the Knoll (#7).

The major South Gateway is located at the present intersection of Lakeshore Parkway and Sydney Road to provide high visibility and access from the regional and interstate road network.

To create a safe intersection for the potentially high volume of visitor use, the proposed configuration of the Gateway will require building South Park Drive, a new access road to the park from Lakeshore, and realigning Sydney Road to the north. This will create two four-way intersections: Lakeshore and South Park Drive and a new four-way intersection of realigned Sydney Road and South Park Drive.

The Knoll is the southern anchor of the Commons, and is a strongly defined promontory on Sand Ridge with a grade difference of 70’ from the Commons level. The strategic location, along with the clear circular form of the ground and the open meadow on the top provide a setting for potential park-related facilities. Imagined as a cleared, open area in early phase development, The Knoll could be developed to house structures and even lodging in later phases.

The mine openings are culturally-rich, mysterious, and spatially-interesting features along the north side of the mountain. They will be developed to varying degrees to serve visitor use and to preserve the cultural legacy. Mining sites that lend themselves to development include Mine No. 11, due to its relationship with the adjacent mining camp, and Mine No. 14, because of its position at the far east of the mountain and its interesting arrangement of structures and earthworks. These sites and others could be developed over time as subordinate focal points as visitor use increases, to distribute visitors across a larger number of spaces.

The Round the Mountain Loop Trail (RTML) is an 6.8 mile-long, 12’ wide, paved trail comprised of 22 segments that are defined by relationship to topography or cultural resources, construction type or experience. It is intended to be used as a complete experience by itself or in combination with other trails. The Loop will link the major attractions and connector trails in the park allowing visitors to design a wide range of experiences in different ways at different times.

The west anchor and trailhead on Zurich Road for the Round the Mountain Loop, Ridgetop and Challenge Trails.

The Lafarge Quarry on the north side of the mountain presents important short-, middle- and long-term possibilities for park and trail development. The Quarry options could be pursued in three stages, as part of a longterm partnership to secure the best outcome for the park, the Quarry property, and the community.

Stage 1: Access
Secure access for a Round the Mountain Loop (RTML)-Highline connection which would enabling development of the western leg of the RTML, Challenge, and Ridge Trails across the ridge and the north side of the mountain.

Stage 2: Limited Recreational Development
Develop the eastern, unused end for recreational purposes such as unprogrammed open space or a soccer or ball field complex, including parking, bathrooms, and planting.

Stage 3: Quarry Park with Lakes and Full Recreational Development
Negotiate a long term agreement to develop the quarry as open space to serve the park, and especially the northern communities.

As part of the West Quarry (#10) development effort, the unused and more level areas of the Lafarge property could be developed into a series of multi-use ball fields with parking and and facilities. This effort would focus on delivering safe, well-designed organized recreation fields for the underserved communities on the Park's north side.

The Folds will be the location for a wide range of active, adventure-based recreational activities such as ropes courses, a canopy walk, zipline, mountain bike training zone, and forest playground, threaded together on the hillside above the Commons. The Folds includes the Adventure Sports Nodes (#13) and the Ridgetop Meadow.

The Adventure Sports Nodes would exist as discrete sections within The Folds (#12) and contain a wide range of active, adventure-based recreational activities such as ropes courses, a canopy walk, zipline, mountain bike training zone, and forest playground, threaded together on the hillside above the Commons.

Redding Lake will be a 20-acre dammed water body forming one of the five focal areas of recreation in the park, providing a different mode of recreation for a different cross section of visitors.

Redding Lake is located in the valley between Red Mountain and Sand Ridge at the east end of the Redding Commons. The proposed dam will impound a lake some forty feet deep at the deepest, with 0.4 miles of shoreline. A perimeter path will connect the lake with the Round the Mountain Loop (RTML), north and south Commons trails, the east Folds and the Sand Ridge trail system. The perimeter of the lake will be a natural edge of emergent grasses except in areas expressly designated for visitor use and recreational access.

The East Gateway at Frankfort Road would formalize the entry point currently in use by the Friends of Redmountain as a tour starting point. This would provide easy access for visitors coming from Lakeshore looking for a more direct route to Redding Lake (#14) or a quick connection to the Challenge Trail (C).

Following the edges of the ridgetop strip mines, the trail provides views to the Jones and Oxmoor Valleys and the steep and rugged strip mine pits along the top.

Weaving in and out of the Folds on the south side and along the steep north side, the trail provides a more immersive natural experience for hikers and mountain bikers in search of a more challenging route.

Combinations of sidewalks along streets and perimeter park trails that provide access for the community and connections with other regional facilities. This would greatly improve the safety and pedestrian access for northern neigbhorhoods and provide an attractive boundary definition.