Friends of Marymoor Park

August 28th, 2003 Meeting Summary

-- see also the July 2003 meeting summary

SRA ROWING CROWING

SRA Rowing crews did fabulously at the Junior B (under 16) National Championships, winning Gold the Girls Quad, Gold and Silver in Girls 2x, and Gold in Boys 2x.  Outstanding.  More details can be found at http://sra.webstrikesolutions.com/Newsletters/NewsSum03.htm.

PARKING

Passes

Fall passes, good through the end of 2003, are now available for $33.

Starting in late December 2003 there will be annual passes available for $100 and 3-month passes available for $30.  These are rolling calendar punched passes, which means that they are valid for 12 and 3 months respectively from whenever you purchase the pass.  They are punchmarked to show the expiration date.

All of these new passes are static-cling, and are to be put on the front window.

As before, any organization wishing to make some money can buy at least 20 passes at a 10% discount for resale at face value.

Machines

Six solar powered single-day pass machines will be going in soon.  Additional hard-wired machines will go in later.  These will replace the current envelope system boxes, and will issue dated passes.

Enforcement

Parking enforcement strategies are still be evaluated.  The current thought is to use a system similar to Seattle City parking lots where notice is given that if payment is not received within X days, there will be an additional fee, and where unpaid fees can be turned over to a collection agency.

CONCERT ISSUES

Norah Gaynor, Barbara Dickson, and Bill Illi reported their recollections of the neighborhood meeting in July to discuss Concert Series issues.  This meeting came after the first 5 or so of the Series concerts.

Commander George Potts attended from the Redmond Police Department.  There were somewhere between 30 and 50 people at the meeting.

Traffic was not noted as a major issue with any of the concerts except the sold-out Norah Jones concert, which was held on a Wednesday night and drew a mostly young crowd.  There was very little carpooling to this concert, and speculation is that most attendees were singles coming straight from work.

Sound levels were a major issue with neighbors, and some concerts were considered much worse than others; the Blues Festival was considered to be the worst of those early concerts, since it ran all day and featured lots of bass.  The sound check and the opening act at the Jackson Browne concert were also cited as being loud.

The Redmond Chamber of Commerce representative noted that other neighbors, such as those in the NE 80th area of Redmond, have reported liking the "free concerts" they get.  She also noted that Redmond hotels and restaurants are benefiting.

It was emphasized at the FOMP meeting that residents who experience extreme noise levels, with bouncing floors and rattling windows, SHOULD call Redmond police.

Barbara reported that some of the neighbors were very upset.  This "small but vocal" group apparently included a lawyer who wondered who was going to pay for the drop in property values caused by the concerts.

Barbara also reported that many people were surprised to find out that the contract runs for 5 years with an option for 5 more years; they had thought 2003 was just a trial season.

Apparently, the meeting was quite contentious

PARK REZONE ORDINANCE

Barbara asked about a proposed ordinance that would add a definition for a "Large Active Recreation and Multi-use Park", would allow rentals, retail and service uses related to park uses and restaurants in Parks, would allow campgrounds, RV parks, amusement and recreation services, and outdoor performance centers within certain areas of LARMUPs.

More information about this proposed ordinance can be found at http://www.metrokc.gov/ddes/legnews/#parks.  FOMP Secretary Michael Hobbs (that's me) is trying to find out more information.

The next meeting will be September 24.

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.