Norah Robinson, King County Parks – Marymoor Park
lead; Greg Helland, FOMP President and SODA rep;
Michael Hobbs, Eastside Audubon, FOMP Secretary and
webmaster; Laura
Hall, Marymoor Community Gardener's Association, FOMP Board;
Marceil Whitney, TOPS;
Chick Hodge, TOPS; Travis Roach, TOPS; Shane Berry, AEG Live;
Glenn Eades, Eastside Audubon, neighbor
A study
is ongoing within King County Parks to assess the impact of Marymoor on the community.
Among many other things, they are assessing the highest and
best use of the Clise Mansion, and park in general.
The study is also analyzing the impact of the
concert series, Cirque, etc., and the effects on local economy (both
positive and negative). Mostly conducted through
questionnaires of municipal officials/employees.
Glenn
expressed a desire to see the Scope of Work. Greg was one of the
interviewees for the first step. Trying to quantify values
and impacts. Results could be useful in funding, grants,
partnerships, etc.
a) Birdloop – Dennis Burgart (Park district
maintenance coordinator (replaced Andy)) is
planning part 2 of the pavement project.
Part 2 will remove the crumbled pavement and
replace it with gravel. Moving forward,
there will be a complete review of the trail
system at Marymoor.
EAS is doing additional plantings along the
Interpretive Trail. EAS and Parks are also
working on a formal agreement to have their
own gator for EAS projects, as has been done
with SODA.
b) Noxious Weeds – European Hawthorns are being
eradicated in the East Meadow, and being replaced with
native Douglas Hawthorn.
Also, Mole Plant (a.k.a.
spurge, a.k.a. Euphorbia Lathyris)
has been found in and near the East Meadow.
This plant is toxic. The juice causes
serious skin irritation. It will be
carefully removed.
c) Community Gardens – The new pathway
construction started 2017-01-26. All four garden
division paths will be excavated, sight lines straightened,
borders constructed, and then filled with hogs fuel (heavy
cedar chips).
Plot rental renewal
going well, with good resubscription rate
and 12 new gardeners.
Two big work
parties are planned: Earth Day April 22, and May 6.
Shane again offered assistance from AEG for work parties
etc.
d) Venue Seating area flooring – Replacing
existing plastic, but no added wings on the side. New
surface will be better and more durable. Work to be
done in or around May.
e) TOPs Tennis Facility – Traffic study completed,
and the quick summary is that the TOPS project should not
make things significantly worse. The number of
additional vehicles is relatively small, and the timing does
not tend to conflict with other users.
Interestingly,
the traffic study found that a roundabout at the location of
the first stop sign could make large improvements traffic
delays. They are exploring a variety of
reconfigurations that might help alleviate many of the
traffic issues that the park faces even without the tennis
facility.
Water availability is still a potentially
stalling or blocking issue for the tennis facility project.
Also still to be negotiated is the legal agreement between
Parks and TOPs. This has many possible sticking points
that need to be negotiated.