The Flagstaff City Council humbly acknowledges the ancestral homelands of this area’s Indigenous nations and original stewards. These lands, still inhabited by Native descendants, border mountains sacred to Indigenous peoples. We honor them, their legacies, their traditions, and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Approval of January 08, 2025 Minutes
Motion to approve Minutes as is or approve with amendments.

Co-chair Mariah Zavala motioned to approve as is and Commissioner Cherylee Francis seconded. The vote passed unanimously.

Inclusive Wayfinding, Flagstaff Downtown Business Alliance
Executive Director, Hunter Hebert, of the Flagstaff Downtown Business Alliance (FDBA) will provide a presentation regarding part of the Flagstaff Vision and Action Plan planning process that took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. A compilation of feedback received from community and stakeholders will be reviewed. FDBA may need further input and will notify the Commission on next steps.

Mr. Hunter Hebert provided a presentation on the Wayfinding for the Flagstaff downtown area.

It is to develop public space improvement and activation strategy that engages locals and visitors as it celebrates the creativity and culture of Flagstaff, including Native/Indigenous traditions. A walkable downtown. This would be Wayfinding Gateways connectivity and could look like different things.

To be successful, organizers need to speak to local culture and local traditions. Hunter provided some examples from other areas of the country. The Alaska example where work was directly done with a local tribe. They found a symbol of a fire bag that they use for ceremonial purposes. This was used for a master plan for their trail head signage. Another example included Lafayette, LA., where the French language and Cajun culture were intertwined and endangered from being lost. So, there was a large push to preserve the culture, and so there's a lot of this in the downtown. Museum de Lafayette is a Lafayette Museum. The street signs were both in French and English. It does two things, it gives you a glimpse into what the community holds important, to preserve their culture and their language. It also makes downtown look a little different, more special. Many of these types of preservation can be rolled out in different ways.

Hunter is sharing this idea and planning of Wayfinding to gain support. He feels there is quite a bit of support at City Hall as this has been identified over and over as a project that is worthwhile. Think about how to plug in, what can be done to make this feel more like Flagstaff than just a sign on the road. Wayfinding, how do we really bring it home and make it feel like it belongs here? Funding for the project still needs to be identified.

There was much discussion around what would be important to Indigenous nations and cultures, including history with Indigenous nations nearby. Input was given around the sacred mountain, San Francisco Peaks, and this would be a good way to educate locals and visitors. Especially around informational signage downtown. In wrapping up discussion, the Commissioners provided direction that they support this effort and would like to be more involved as the planning develops. They also requested an update in the future.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Update on Greater Observatory Mesa Trail Plan
Open Space Coordinator, Sylvia Struss, will provide an overview and update on the plan for the Greater Observatory Mesa Trail. Visit the following link to find out more about public input, public meetings, and the current draft plan. https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/4870/Greater-Observatory-Mesa-Trail-Plan

Sylvia Struss, Open Space Coordinator, provide an update on the Greater Observatory Mesa Trail. Sylvia made her introductions and provided information on earlier attorney work with DNA, having lived in Chinle and moved to Flagstaff. Now working for the City of Flagstaff as part of the PROSE Division.

Sylvia shared a map of the observatory area, including surrounding areas. This was all historically tribal lands and more recently became Arizona State Trust land and in 2004 purchased by Flagstaff citizens with bond funds. There is a conservation easement on the land which requires to preserve the land for conservation purposes, while also providing passive recreation in that area. It is the trails that go up Mars Hill from Thorpe Park, up from Railroad Springs, or a service road 515. As part of purchasing this land, it had to allow small game hunting on the property. It is checkerboard ownership. She also showed areas of Forest Service land and Lowell Observatory land, and Flagstaff Trail Initiative.

Through a public survey several years ago regarding Flagstaff trails, along with 1700 comments there also comments about Observatory Mesa. Five recommendations were devised and objectives to design based on community feedback/input:

• Construct a new stacked loop system so that people could ride or hike in and do loops.
• Connect Fort Valley from the north to Observatory Mesa.
• Adopt some of the unauthorized trails on Lowell Observatory property
• Evaluate unauthorized trails to decide which one should be closed and naturalized, and which should be adopted.
• There is a commuter route from Fort Valley on the Foots Trail to connect.

There is not a lot of archeology on Observatory Mesa. There's several springs and cattle tanks or wildlife tanks. There are a couple of sensitive areas for wildlife, such as Gothic, an American kestrel nesting, and there are certainly wildlife corridors, mostly in the northwest and southwest sections. There is a lot of unmanaged recreation, including 15 miles unauthorized trails. Public meetings and planned development were started in 2021. In 2022, they had the first public meeting and online surveys and then presented to the different commissions. In 2023, a second public engagement and then a third draft. The third public meeting in 2024, these are the general comments that we received from the public. They wanted more bike friendly alignments. People also wanted to leave the space quiet, as it is, and don't want it to become a mountain biking destination. There were also concerns about the springs and the wildlife. There could be some adaptive mountain biking and are in pending progress.

The plan was sent to about 13 tribal nations with White Mountain Apache responding and not having any concerns. Questions from the Commission included naming the new trails and Sylvia can come back for input on those. Much gratitude expressed for a thorough presentation and the work being done in Open Space. Commissioners also stated that Wayfinding might be helpful here as well, especially to preserve important vegetation, plants, etc. Concepts to be presented would be helpful.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS TO/FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS, STAFF, AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEM REQUESTS

Ms. Grater, NAU student journalist, made a statement that she wanted to ask questions about recent ICE concerns. Ms. Toehe will provide direction on how she can do that; Request for Commissioner Francis to give information on the last chapter meeting about the new casino at the Horseman’s Lodge site; Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission (NNHRC) providing Know Your Rights symposiums and interest for IC to bring awareness here on this subject. NNHRC was trying to work with FUSD and were not able to secure a place in Flagstaff; Murdoch Center offering their space for free to nonprofit organizations – promote a non-profit or to host a workshop; Information given on National Congress of American Indians who wrote a letter to the current administration regarding DEI, statements about taking funding away from tribal people, and the relationship with the federal government. Not a race but a political entity and unique set of peoples in the world. Government to government relationship with treaties in place with the United States.

ADJOURNMENT

Co-chair Darren Lance adjourned the meeting at 12:30 PM.