Friends of Marymoor Park

June 28th, 2000 Meeting Summary

-- see also the May meeting summary

Bobbi Wallace highlighted upcoming major events, including the Heritage Festival.  Beth Brooks of WOMAD gave a run-down of their upcoming event.

Kelly Petchuiy of Festivals Inc., the company which produces the Bite of Seattle and the Taste of Tacoma among other festivals, presented a preliminary outline of a food festival that they are discussing to be held at Marymoor starting in 2001.  This would be a large event, with 90,000-100,000 attendees over three days.  It would be a similar format to the Bite and the Taste, with food booths, including beer sales, and two concert stages.  Concerns were raised over the size of the event, specifically as to parking and traffic.  There were also concerns about the crowded event schedule at Marymoor, and whether there would be too many major events in August, were the event to be held in that month.  Kelly will be provided with the guidelines for large events developed by FOMP in 1999.

Greg Helland solicited comments concerning the East Lake Sammamish Trail.  All comments were supportive of interim use of the trail using the existing railroad grade as the trail.  Specific support for this option was given from the SkiForAll and the East Lake Sammamish Audubon Society representatives.  The Board of FOMP then voted unanimously to have Greg write an official comment on the draft EIS from FOMP in support of that option.

Greg Helland gave an update of the work done by SODA with regards to developing a self-regulatory association for professional dog walking services that use Marymoor.  Bobbi Wallace indicated that the Parks service has rules on commercial enterprises using park facilities, and that these services must register with the park system.  She also indicated that the park system is developing rules concerning the number of dogs that a single person may bring into the park.   Michael Hobbs reiterated his concerns, also voiced last month, that limits must be placed on the number of dogs, and that once all of the park rules are in place, there must be enforcement or the rules mean nothing.

There have been no funding proposals presented.  Grant money is still available.

The final discussion involved a proposal by a representative of the Marymoor Velodrome Association to change the layout of the anti-commuter gates to make access to the velodrome easier at rush hour.  The plan involved changes to the velodrome parking lot to allow it to be bisected.  The rush hour gates would be reconfigured to allow traffic from either direction to reach the velodrome lot.  Gates and medians within the lot would prevent through traffic.  Ernie Grillo, a cyclist who was instrumental in getting the gates originally installed, was adamant that any changes would still have to absolutely prevent through traffic, and there was agreement voiced by many others on that point.  Access to the velodrome lot is beneficial for users of the velodrome, the climbing rock, the cricket pitch, and the existing and future playing fields located in the area.  It was acknowledged that the plan would not solve all of the park user inconvenience caused by the gates, but it would be better for a significant number of park users.  Bobbi Wallace stated that funding from the county for this effort would be unlikely.

These notes were made by the webmaster, Michael Hobbs, and they 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.