*** County moves Sage Hills parking ***

Wenatchee, Washington -- 10/05/2005
The Sage Hills trail system in the foothills west of Wenatchee
has long been a backyard playground for mountain bikers,
hikers and runners.

Now, they’ll have to park their cars a little further away to
reach the up-and-down trails, wildflowers and commanding
views of the Wenatchee Valley.

On Tuesday, Chelan County commissioners banned street
parking in the Sage Hills Drive cul-de-sac that has served as
a trailhead for several years. The move came after property
owners complained trail users were parking on their land
once the three trail parking spaces in the cul-de-sac filled up.

Officials say visitors will now have to use a pull-out near the
intersection of Number One Canyon Road and Sage Hills Drive.
The distance between the intersection and the Sage Hills cul-de
-sac is about a quarter-mile.

Commissioners had considered banning street parking along
the entire stretch of Sage Hills Drive but backed off after county
Public Works Director Greg Pezoldt surveyed residents last week
and determined the sore spot was in the cul-de-sac.

Don Lester, whose family maintains the privately owned
Lester Trail at the end of the cul-de-sac, said he was pleased
with the county’s decision. He said a family member who lives
at the spot has had to endure people parking in her driveway
and on her land. Unleashed dogs also have created problems.

The Lester family had threatened to close the Lester Trail,
which leads to the rest of the Sage Hills system, if a solution
couldn’t be found.

Hans Slette, director of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust,
a group working to protect the area, said people risk having
their vehicles towed or being issued a ticket if they park in the
cul-de-sac.

“They’re going to get stung if they park there,” he said.

Slette said the land trust hopes to develop another trailhead
near Day Road, about a half-mile to the northeast from Sage
Hills Drive, next year. The Chelan County PUD plans to demolish
a water tower in the area, and the land trust hopes to take advantage
of PUD equipment to create the trailhead, which would include
parking and vegetative screening, he said. PUD project manager
George Velazquez said later that no decision has been made on
whether the utility can help. He hopes to tour the site soon.

Lester, who grew up in the Sage Hills area and still lives there,
said use of the popular trail system has increased in recent years.
He noted some of the use is coming from people who are living
in dozens of new homes located in the mouth of Number One
Canyon and on both sides of upper Fifth Street.

“It’s more attractive to the aficionados, plus there’s a natural
tendency (to use it) with more people mountain biking,” he said.
“We’ve also had an increase in the number of people walking.
They just want to get up there for the scenery of the valley.”

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