June 25, 2025 Meeting Summary
-- see also the May 28, 2025 meeting summary
- Welcome and Introductions: Anne Oneha, Marymoor Park Customer Services Coordinator, filling in for Justin; Dave Hennings, Marymoor Park Maintenance Supervisor; Greg Helland, FOMP President; Michael Hobbs, Marymoor Bird Survey, FOMP Secretary; Glenn Eades, Eastside Audubon Bird Loop, neighbor; Shai Hinitz, MAR/C; EmilyAlexander, Marymoor Velodrome Association
- Marymoor Park Maintenance Team - Dave Hennings:
Greg asked about 2025 priorities, as well as priorities if/when the levy passes
How they operate: Dave’s team covers Marymoor and a few additional small sites (40 acres, 40 acres, 20 acres), plus 1 mile section of trail from 132nd-148th.
At Marymoor, they work with multiple community partners, which is unusual for Maintenance Districts. Also, Marymoor has many facilities that are unique within the park system. The team comprises 35 staff, right now, which is the largest for any parks district in King County Parks. Events can take that up to 70 people. So more than a 1/3 of KC Parks maintenance staff is in the park.
COVID caused a lot of issues, with staffing challenges continuing for a couple of years after that. This had limited the more ambitious goals for the park. He'd had the goal of trying to catch up on lots of deferred maintenance to make the park look less old/shabby. A lot of that has now been corrected, and they have plans to tighten processes to be more efficient without letting things slip through the cracks.
Current projects:
- They are working on a lot of signage updates. There was a lot of signage standardization designed in 2019, so they have been surveying and assessing how compliant they are with those standards, and figure out what still needs to be done.
- The windmill needs a lot of work right now, stuff they didn’t get around to last year. It needs a few repairs, plus painting. These old buildings cannot withstand rough treatments like power washing, so they need careful treatment.
Looking forward, they have put forward many potential and necessary projects. These are presented to the Capitol Projects team – they need to make a case for each one – and there are nearly $20 Million in total projects, not all of which can be funded. The water line needs LOTS of work, as done Clise, and so many other pieces. They age of the infrastructure here is an issue for Marymoor. The traffic flow design, especially with regards to pedestrians, needs lots of reworking, especially in light of the new Light Rail.
He also mentioned the boardwalk, and it’s very old and will be very expensive to replace. It may not be the top priority, but it may well become a top priority in the somewhat near future.
Michael asked how more routine maintenance is planned and how staffing levels are set. Dave replied that there is no specific aesthetic plan for the park. They have a budget that has to cover all of the normal, everyday maintenance. Parks, in toto, has done a lot of work in the last decade to streamline detailed line-item budgets. Thus, many things are done the way they have always been done, and Dave doesn’t need to tweak things much. They know the scope of work, and they do it just the way they previously have. They do track the “assets” in the park, now, and this is new. It will allow them to be predictive rather than reactive to “asset” degradation. This allows smoother budgeting. They also now have a Parks Specialist II who can do more gardening than has been done in the past.
Anne asked about Fox Tail grass in the Dog Area. The grass has barbs on the seed pod that can cause skin irritation in dogs. Seattle had to temporarily shut down a dog area to eradicate this grass. This has become a bit of an issue in the Dog Area around Lot D. The grass is very hard to identify except when the grass is “in seed”. Parks doesn’t have the resources to manage this by hand, and chemical application is not possible in a Dog Area. Parks’ plan is to use push mowers to cut the grass, bagging the trimmings, and then they have what is essentially a turf vacuum cleaner that they use to suck up the small bits. They then apply a citrus-based pesticide that they hope will kill the roots. Dave has noticed that this grass seems to prefer evergreen trees, so they will be trying to mulch and/or tarp around those trees to defeat the grass there.
Glen asked about the European Hawthorns in the East Meadow. Parks has started to do injections into those shrubs to kill them. They have a specialist who does this work, and he did what he could with the tools they have, just a few weeks ago, and he will be back in the fall to see how things have gone, and to hit trees again as necessary.
With regard to any issues that park users are facing, Dave said that we can email, or call him on his cell, but best for Dave would be to bring issues to Justin, who meets with Dave weekly.
Dave also announced that he will be moving to a different district in KC Parks end of October, and they are working to find a really good person to take over at Marymoor.
- CIP/Project/Facility Updates:
a. Eastside Audubon Birdloop: – Hawthorn control continues to be their focus. Glen expressed pleasure with the treatment that has been done recently by Parks.
b. Marymoor Community Gardens: – Gardens are growing great, but they have been having with vehicle break-ins; MCGA has been notifying their members to make sure they don’t leave valuables in their cars and to lock their cars when working in the garden. Some gardeners have seen at least one suspicious person who then fled in an expedited fashion, which in itself was even more suspicious.
c. R/C Field (MAR/C): – They are having a great summer. Their training program has a waiting list. Their events have been very successful and have been well attended. They are happy with their new structures. Next event is July 12th, a “Scale Event”, with planes that are scale models of real airplanes. The event is the same time as the Electrify Expo, so MAR/C has asked for Parks’ help in saving their parking lot for model airplane club visitors.
Shai mentioned that they have one large Cottonwood that is within their flight area that they would like shortened, pruned, or removed. They realize that this would require mitigation, and would suggest that trees could be planted along the south end of their parking lot. They also have some dumpsters they would like moved slightly. For both of these, it was recommended that they talk to Dave about them.
MVA has an event every weekend through July. MCA has some big events that require Parks assistance.
d. Cascade Music Collective and Seattle Event Solutions (Concert venue): – 24 concerts, as listed. Season going fine so far, though last week had less than wonderful ready.
e. Concessions Updates: – Lot K concession is open. They open at noon, weekdays, earlier on weekends. The Lot D vendor has passed their health inspection, and they will be opening Sunday.
f. Cricket Facility Proposal: – Orcas were a sponsor for the Big Back Yard 5K. Race participation was lower this year, partly due to poor weather. FOMP members expressed some concern about the ORCAs, who are bringing a proposal to the KC Council, was a sponsor for the run. It could be construed as trying to buy favor with the council. Shai would like KC parks to clarify to the press that the ORCAs does not have a done deal at Marymoor, and Parks doesn’t even have a proposal from ORCA to review. Greg will convey that to Director Jimenez.
g. Sound Transit - Sound Transit is running trains late on concert nights. CMC/SES has a shuttle for ADA attendees. This is a trial run at this point. Parks has set up a traffic counter on the trail, which should allow an assessment of how many attendees arrive by train.
- Other Business: The July and August FOMP meetings will be on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays, due to conflicts with concerts.
Next meeting TUESDAY, July 22nd, 2025 in Clise Mansion
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These notes do not constitute an official record of the meeting. They may have inaccuracies and omissions. If anyone has any complaints about the content of these notes, they should direct them to Michael Hobbs at fomp@marymoor.org, and he will endeavor to correct them.
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