Knox Mountain Management Plan
The City of Kelowna is in the process of updating the ongoing Knox Mountain Park Management Plan to provide direction and guide major decisions for the park over the next 10 to 15 years.
The City recognizes that an effective management strategy is critical to preserving the unique character of the park and creating a strong sense of place.
The updated plan will build on the 1999 Knox Mountain Park Management Plan 
and aims to engage the public with the park’s cultural and natural history, inspire actions towards a sustainable future, while addressing conflicts between recreational user groups.
The central challenge will be to manage increasing levels of recreation users while offering visitors high-quality facilities and an outstanding natural environment experience.
Update to the Knox Mountain Management Plan
In early 2010, the scope of work for the consultant team was increased to include two city owned parcels on Grainger Road (approximately 74 additional hectares) in the updated management plan. The City will be designating this parcel as natural area parkland in the OCP 2030. This new natural area park is in close proximity to Knox Mountain Park, provides physical connections to the Glenmore Highlands, and is ecologically similar to Knox Mountain. The intent is to add the Grainger Road parcel into the Knox Mountain Management Plan in order to manage both areas as one contiguous ecological and recreation resource.
The results of the environmental assessment on the Grainger Road parcel can be made available to those interested in September. (Please contact Barb Davidson to receive an electronic copy when available).
Further public input and stakeholder consultation on the management plan will occur in the fall.
Knox Mountain Signage Plan
The sign guidelines being prepared by Bufo Consulting are nearing completion. This document will form the basis of a template for signs in other City of Kelowna Parks and therefore the title of the document will change slightly to Natural Area Park Sign Guidelines. This document will also be incorporated into a larger City of Kelowna Signage and Identity Guidelines document. Once finalized the signage plan will be posted to the City of Kelowna website for information. Staff have determined that the existing funds for signage at Knox Mountain Park would be best utilized at the Kathleen Lake Loop Trail for two key reasons:
- Will let users know of the under-utilized area of the park and help spread out the overall patterns of use;
- Will be used as a ‘pilot project’ for the signage plan to ensure proper colours, fonts, graphics, etc. before installing them in a higher profile area.
This signage project will hopefully begin this fall pending staff resources.
Knox Mountain Drive – hours of operation
Currently Knox Mountain Drive is closed to vehicular traffic indefinitely due to fire hazard.
However, as a separate test initiative for the 2010 season, a temporary change in the hours that the road is open to vehicles is in effect: from the old hours of 7 AM to 10 PM, to 9 AM to 9 PM Monday to Saturday and 12:00 PM to 9 PM on Sundays. Staff will report back to Council this fall on the success of this change in hours. The intention of this change is to provide more dedicated time for non-motorized recreational use of the road corridor.
Vehicle Access Trial
In April, Kelowna City Council voted to test reduced hours for vehicles on Knox Mountain Drive during the 2010 season. To find out more about the Trial and provide feedback, see the Knox Mountain Vehicle Access Trial page.
Be sure to get involved with this important project.
See the results from Survey #1 .
Contact Us
Barb Davidson,
Project Manager
bdavidson@kelowna.ca
