The City's own agreement says these hours require a public meeting
The City told the Council its 2013 agreement with the Echo Canyon HOA requires sunrise-to-sunset hours. The agreement says the hours are set by the Parks Board, that they were "currently" sunrise to sunset in 2013, and that they cannot be amended except at a public meeting — a sentence the City's report leaves out.
When we asked why Echo Canyon stopped opening at 4:30 AM, Parks and Recreation told us the official hours are sunrise to sunset, and that years of earlier access were the result of a contractor leaving a gate open.
We obtained the agreement the Department was referring to — City of Phoenix Contract No. 135336-0, the 2013 development agreement with the Echo Canyon Estates Homeowners Association. Paragraph 14 begins:
“The hours of operation for the Park are established by the Board and are currently from sunrise until sunset. The Board will not amend the hours of operation for the Park except at a public meeting after reasonable notice to the EC-HOA.”
The agreement does not fix the hours at sunrise to sunset. It says they “are currently” sunrise to sunset — a description of where things stood in 2013 — and then says who may change them and how: the Parks and Recreation Board, at a public meeting.
On September 10, 2026, the Department submitted a written report to the City Council stating that the agreement “states the Echo Canyon Trailhead shall be open from sunrise to sunset.” The second sentence of Paragraph 14 — the public meeting requirement, the part of the paragraph that constrains the Department — does not appear in that report.
Then comes the part that does not reconcile. The same report tells the Council that the Department “does not intend to open any City trailhead gates before 5:00 a.m.” Sunrise in Phoenix in September is after 6:00 AM. A 5:00 AM opening is not sunrise-to-sunset.
The Department might answer that opening early is permitted — that sunrise-to-sunset is a floor, and opening sooner is a courtesy to hikers. But 4:30 AM is also before sunrise. If opening before sunrise is within the Department's discretion, it was within its discretion at 4:30. If it is not, the Department is doing it anyway, every morning.
Either way, the agreement cannot be the reason the hours changed. It treats 4:30 and 5:00 exactly alike. The only thing that distinguishes them is a sentence in the Department's own report — that it “does not intend” to open before 5:00 a.m. That is a departmental preference. Paragraph 14 says the hours are established by the Board, at a public meeting.
We have published the agreement in full. Paragraph 14 is on page 4.
Documents
- Development Agreement, City of Phoenix & Echo Canyon Estates HOA — Contract No. 135336-0, executed January 24, 2013 (PDF)
- General Information Packet, Item No. 1 — September 10, 2026 (PDF)
- GOOD|GOAT response letter to the Mayor and Council — September 21, 2026 (PDF)
Follow the full case: Echo Canyon Trailhead hours.