Friends of Marymoor Park
 

October 25, 2023 Meeting Summary

-- see also the September 28, 2023  meeting summary

1. Welcome and Introductions: Greg Helland, FOMP President; Chris Jordan, Marymoor Park Administration, King County Parks; Shane Berry, Cascade Music Collective (attending virtually; Glenn Eades, Eastside Audubon Bird Loop, neighbor;  Shai Hinitz, MAR/C; Michael Hobbs, Marymoor Bird Survey, FOMP Secretary
   
   
2. ST Light Rail Update: Non-revenue opening October, 2024.    Revenue Date 1st or 2nd quarter 2025, with a ribbon cutting at the opening.  The station and parking lot will be ready by revenue opening.  KC still working on a deal with ST to use the parking garage on weekends/evenings.  ST uncertain what the transit use of the lot would be evenings/weekends, and don’t yet know if they would charge fees.   Marymoor Gateway Trail will need to be done by revenue opening.  Glenn suggested that there needs to be a pedestrian path plan for the park.
   
   
3. CIP/Project/Facility Updates:
   
   a.    Eastside Audubon Birdloop: Nothing new.  Still running First Saturday work parties.  Waiting on KC to mow/control the Scots Broom between the East Meadow and the model airplane field.  EAS is also very discouraged by the difficulty in getting the European Hawthorn from the lower East Meadow.
   
   b.    Marymoor Community Gardens: Water gets turned off at the end of October.  MCGA would like a small shed in the garden, but the proposal has not been submitted yet.
   
   c.    R/C Field (MAR/C): There was a brief distressing issue: portapotties disappeared, but came back two days later.  It was a mix-up of which potties were to be removed.
   
   
   But, Hallelujah, MAR/C got their permit.  Unfortunately there is a long list of issues that they have to do, mostly dealing with ADA.  But a bigger problem is that a very small, truly non-profit organization like MAR/C is required by the CPG process to deal with significant legal and insurance requirements.  “Almost insurmountable”, stated Shai. The process and the amount of burden that is put on MAR/C is as if the Park is doing this.  But this exceeds the resources of a small non-profit, non-revenue organization.  The position of FOMP is that this is something that Parks needs to take care of internally; there needs to be a discussion between KC Risk Management and the CPG director.  Shai is also upset that work can only be done between October and March because they are within 600 feet of an Osprey nest.  Michael feels that Osprey are super tolerant of activity and really shouldn’t require such consideration.
   
   d.    Off-leash area (SODA): SODA had 137 volunteers on 9/30, and 98 on 10/14 working on hogs fuel distribution!  One more work party to handle the last 5 piles.
   
   e.    Cascade Mountain Collective (Concert venue): Successful season.  Shut-down and clear-out completed 2 weeks after last show.  Unfortunately, some of the fencing, etc., that is Parks property, will be stored by Parks just north of the kids play area for a couple of months, awaiting readiness of the more secure storage area near the Art Barn.
   
   f.    Maintenance: Fields 1-4 need new bulbs in their lighting.  Moving to LED will be a large capital expense which will have to happen later.  Greg suggested that capital money could come from the state for the conversion.
   
   g.    Events Update: Events are wrapping up.  There will be a lacrosse tournament on the 6 turf fields on November 18th. 
   
   h.    Master Plan Update:  Still looking at something far short of a master plan.  FOMP still feels there should be a revised vision for the park that integrates and reconciles the 1995 Master Plan with the revenue plans that were part and parcel of putting park levies to the voters in the early 2000s.
    
   Next meeting Wednesday, November 15th 2023 in the Art Barn
   

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
and get notifications of meetings and news:
https://groups.io/g/FOMP