January 28th, 2009 Meeting Summary
-- see also the
November 19, 2008 meeting summary
- In Attendance:
Herb Bone, Marymoor R/C Club; Barbara Dickson,
neighbor; Greg Helland, SODA, FOMP President; Michael Hobbs, Eastside
Audubon, FOMP Secretary; Norah Gaynor, King County Parks; Jack
MacKinnon and Christina Merten, Marymoor Community Gardeners Association;
Tony Andrews, Sammamish Rowing Association
- Fencing at Marymoor West on West Lake Sammamish Parkway
Norah
reported that neighbors across from Marymoor West have requested that the
entrance area there be visually improved. The existing chain-link fence is
in poor condition and everything looks "trashy". Barbara has previously
complained about the headlights of cars exiting Marymoor West shining across
West Lake Sammamish Parkway and into the eyes of people trying to turn out
from her neighborhood.
Norah is interested in making improvements. However, there is a planned
widening of West Lake Sammamish Parkway, and Norah wants to be sure that any
improvements are not quickly destroyed by the widening project.
Norah did express willingness to remove some or all of the derelict
fencing, plant a few well-placed bushes, and perhaps install some
barrier rocks along the edge of the road.
- East Link Light Rail to Redmond - Draft EIS
Michael attended
the January 27th public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
for the East Link Light Rail, and gave a bit of a presentation to the group.
The East Link project will extend light rail across the I-90 bridge to
Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Overlake. While the current funding only
covers the construction of those sections, it also covers design of the
extension from Overlake to downtown Redmond. Since construction is
unfunded, this section will probably not be built for at least 15 years.
However, the Draft EIS contains 4 different configurations for the route to
Redmond. All alternatives would affect Marymoor Park.
Alternatives E1 and E4 would enter downtown Redmond northwest of Marymoor
Park, and would not cross any of the park itself. Alternatives E2
(there are 2 sub-alternatives) would cross Marymoor's north edge on a
right-of-way along the south edge of SR-520. Approximately 2 acres of
the park would be expropriated for this purpose, and there would be
mitigation.
Running the light rail along the north edge of Marymoor might not be a
very big issue. However, in all alternatives, there will be
major changes in the area northeast of the park which may affect access to
Marymoor from the east.
Almost the entire area outside of the park, north of NE 65th St., and
bounded by East Lake Sammamish Parkway and SR-202 could become parking and a
large maintenance facility (end of the line). With alternatives E1 and
E4, Michael believes this would result in the only eastern access to
Marymoor being from NE 65th St. - that is, the road that leads
north from the east park entrance towards Whole Foods would be closed.
With options E2, Michael was told that there would still be a street through
there.
After presenting this information to the group, Michael asked if anyone
could think of objections to the line running along the north edge of the
park. Everyone seemed to feel that this was benign. Noise
shouldn't be a problem, as the rail line would presumably reduce traffic on
SR-520, and the trains should be fairly quiet themselves. The rail
line would interfere with the existing, though unmaintained, equestrian
trail - perhaps that could be mitigated elsewhere. There should be
room between SR-520 and the velodrome without conflict. A few trees
would need to be removed.
It was agreed that Michael would write a comment letter, to be circulated
to the FOMP Board for comments, that would express concern about east access
to Marymoor, and request good access between the Marymoor Park and the
Redmond SE Station.
If anyone is interested in the Draft-EIS or in making their own comments,
the EIS is available at
www.soundtransit.org/eastlink. Comments are due February 25, 2009.
They can be submitted by email to
eastlink.deis@soundtransit.org
or by mail to Sound Transit, Union Station, 401 South Jackson Street,
Seattle, WA 98104.
- Possible habitat restoration resource
Greg has been in contact
with a Dr. Warren Gold, who teaches at UW Bothell. For one class, his
students conduct restoration projects over the course of a school year.
Greg has been hoping to find someone to undertake a tree replacement program
for Marymoor. While not a perfect match, Greg is hoping that the class
project might be a way to fill this need.
Michael mentioned that there were sites within Marymoor that would be
very reasonable for class restoration projects. One he called to mind
is the site immediately east of the new maintenance facility, on the north
side of the Marymoor Connector Trail. There is a wonderful spot,
perhaps an acre, with some nice trees at the back edge, but with a tangle of
Scott's Broom next to the trail.
So perhaps it is worth trying to get multiple teams of students doing
projects at Marymoor - undoubtedly there are other small locations begging
for attention.
- CIP/Project Updates
- Marymoor Connector Trail: The trail is open from the west
entrance to the model airplane field (some striping work is waiting for
better weather). In terms of landscaping, Norah would like to replace
the rip-rap rocks at the west end section with turned-rail fence. The
planting project designed by Terry Brady is still being mulled over.
Some changes are being considered. Some planting will happen (plants are
already purchased), but probably fewer trees will be along the trail
than in Terry's original plan, and the plantings will be less linear and
less of a tree corridor. A revised plan is expected in February, with
plantings being done next month or early March
Herb had some questions about some plantings that have already gone in
at the east end. Norah indicated that those new pines were planted as
part of the original project plantings.
- Ballfields 1&2 Multi-use Project: Turf is in,
lights are up, but the project is not quite finished. Some fencing
needs to be installed, as does the backstop pad, some signs, painting,
and a higher net on the freeway side. Greg reminded her that the
season starts at the beginning of March...
- Pet Garden: Norah had promised the gates and fences would be
up, and they're not. She gave us cupcakes as a consolation.
- BirdLoop: Boardwalk extension work delayed until spring
by high water.
- Clise Mansion Electrical: Fixtures installed. Final details
are being completed.
- East Lake Sammamish Trail: Gina Auld will attend the
February meeting and give a PowerPoint presentation
- Marymoor Map: Matt's final invoice exceeds the expenditures
previously authorized by FOMP by $1893.75. There was a lot of
discussion about the nature of communications and contracts involved in this
project. The FOMP Board made a decision to have Greg contact Matt.
- Event/Activity Updates:
- Returning events for 2009:
- Evergreen Gala - March
- Tour de Cure - May
- Run with the Cops - June
- Flying Wheels - June
- Crossfit Challenge - July
- Large co. picnic (500) - July
- Possible large volleyball tournament - July 24-26
- Superjock n Jill - Labor Day
- Cyclocross - September
- Other:
- Jack had several issues regarding the Community Gardens:
- In 2008 they donated 4726 lbs of produce to the food bank.
This was quite a bit less than 2007, but May/June was very cold and wet
- Jack reiterated a request that any topsoil that might be excavated
from the site of the new Sammamish Rowing building be available for the
garden.
- Jack wanted to know dimension of turnaround at the NE corner of the
Pea Patch. Apparently the gravel path along the north edge of the
gardens needs to be able to accommodate Aid Car access to the Pet
Garden, with a turnaround at the east end. The MCGA wants to
convert all of the rest of the east end of the garden into plots, as
they have a waiting list for plots. Norah said she'd get an answer
from Karl
- Jack also wanted clarification on the distance from east from wall
that needed to be kept as part of the Pet Garden (i.e. how close the
plots could get to the wall). Norah was sure there had been a
decision on that previously, and she would try to find what the answer
had been.
- Christina asked Norah about the lighting for the tennis courts,
as she has often seen the lights on when nobody is playing. Norah has
been working on this issue, and has people gathering some data on light and
court usage. Currently, lights are activated with a push-button.
If the button is pushed at any time after 4:00 p.m., the lights stay on
until 10:00 p.m. This sounds outrageous, but apparently the largest
energy usage is in turning the lights on, so more electricity would be used
if the lights were short-cycled. Norah is investigating whether
two-hour or three-hour slots might be more efficient (i.e. the lights would
go off at 6, 8, and 10, or at 7 and 10). Christina mentioned that, in
the winter, Grasslawn only lights half of the courts, under the presumption
that demand for the courts is diminished in winter. Alternatively, it
was suggested to have two push buttons, each controlling half of the lights.
Norah will continue to investigate.
- Herb asked about the status parking enforcement at Marymoor.
Norah responded that a proposed ordinance was drawn up by Parks, sent to the
County Executive, and it is now before King County Council, who are expected
to act on it within the next month or so. It would authorize parks
people to write tickets. The proposed fine would be $35, but the fine
payment can be used towards the purchase of a parking permit. Thus if
you got a ticket, you could pay the fine, or, for the same amount of money,
you could buy a parking pass good for a few months.
- Barbara showed us the notices she received (because she's a neighbor) of
two permits pending for the Sammamish Rowing Association's new boathouse.
There was general surprise that nobody except neighbors had been notified of
these permit applications. One is the shoreline permit and the other
is the conditional use permit. Numbers are L090005-KL and L090006-KL,
and the comment periods for them end in February - one on February 12 and
the other on February 21. Both of these dates are prior to the next
FOMP meeting. The FOMP Board voted to have Michael send a letter to
the City of Redmond requesting an extension to the comment period to allow
FOMP to review the application materials.
The contact person for commenting on these permits is Kelsey Larson,
klarson@redmond.gov, 425-556-2409.
- Norah then gave us a tour of the Clise Mansion, to show off the
new lighting systems. She even gave us a tour of the upstairs, which
many of us had never seen. It's a nice facility.
Next
meeting, Wednesday, February 25, 2009
These notes were made by
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.
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