August 28, 2013 FOMP Meeting Summary

1) Introductions - Norah Robinson, King County Parks; Greg Helland, FOMP President and SODA representative; Herb Bone, Marymoor R/C Club, FOMP Board; Katie Oakley, Treetime; Glenn Eades, Eastside Audubon; Michael Hobbs, Eastside Audubon, FOMP Secretary; Ollie Oliver, neighbor and Eastside Audubon.

2) Treetime - Katie Oakley - Treetime is the only recreational tree climbing company in the area. Tree Climbers International (based in Oregon – 30 years, a million climbers, no accidents) has developed climbing method that is safe for both the tree and the climbers. The ropes they use have a little give, and they use helmets, carabineers, etc. Katie’s business is to bring customers on-site and have them climb trees, under her supervision. She will bring in an arborist to annually certify each tree before climbing. Katie is very excited because there appear to be several great trees for climbing in the park. Her fee structure would be $20 per climber for an open climb. She’s proposing 10% would go to Marymoor Park. She thinks she’d be at Marymoor a few days a month for a couple of hours each time. She has insurance.

She’d like to identify about 4 trees that would be regular climbing trees. Each would be certified annually by the arborist. She’d also like to put around 6” of bark mulch under each of the trees. When actually climbing, she’d string a line around the ground at the drip line of the tree, to keep bystanders out, and to make it clear that it’s an official event and not just people out with ropes. She’d like to have a fairly regular schedule, as well as working with summer camps in the area.

In discussion, there seemed to be support for the concept within FOMP. Michael volunteered to help with identifying if birds are nesting in the specific trees.

3) Possible RV Sales Show - Norah floated a trial balloon here: Parks has been approached by an RV dealer who wants to have an RV sales show on the Event Pad on two weekends this fall. BOOOO. Parks management has the final decision, but the reaction from FOMP was decidedly not positive. There were feelings expressed that an RV sales show has no connection to the park, even tangentially, is in no way entertainment, nor does it provide a service for park users. Food venders are also commercial, but provide a service to park users. Definitely the same for the dog washing company. Cirque du Soleil and the concerts and movies at Marymoor are providing entertainment, and furthermore, Marymoor is a very pleasant venue for the concerts and movies. In contrast, the people at the meeting felt that an RV sales show would be better suited to any old parking lot outside the park.

4) CIP Project/Facility Updates:

Birdloop – fencing done. [The fencing around the adjacent maintenance area has also been installed, though the gates were not yet installed.] Poison Hemlock seems to have been largely eradicated.
Garden Loosestrife Control Project - Parks wants to install an informational sign to let people know more about the Garden (Yellow) Loosestrife control. There first proposed sign was enormous - like a highway sign. Everybody wants a sign similar in scale to the Eastside Audubon interpretive signs instead. Greg suggested that Eastside Audubon might best provide feedback and guidance on this sign proposal.
Sammamish Rowing Association Boathouse - The SRA was scheduled to move their boats into the bottom floor of the new boathouse on September 14. The upper floor is still not completed. See http://sammamishrowing.org/newboathouse
East Lake Sammamish Trail Construction - See http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/capitalImprovements/parkscip/projects/eastlakesammamishtrail.aspx

Trail timeline:
- 09/1998 - King county acquired rail corridor
- 03/2003 - Published Interim Use Trail Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
- 04/2006 - Interim Use Trail completed and opened to the public
- 05/2010 - Published Master Plan Trail EIS
- 11/2011 - Redmond Segment completed and opened to the public
- 06/2013 - Issaquah Segment completed and opened to the public
Future Phases: Project timeline subject to change and dependent on budget availability
- 02/2014 - Begin construction of North Sammamish Segment
- Spring 2015 - Completion of North Sammamish Segment
- 04/2015 - Begin construction of South Sammamish Segment A
- 04/2016 - Begin construction of Parking Lot at Inglewood Hill
- 04/2017 - Begin construction of South Sammamish Segment B
- 04/2019 - Begin construction of Parking Lot at SE 33rd St.
Interpretive Lot (Lot G) Improvements - Norah would still like progress on the Lot G drainage improvements, but planning and budget are the holdup. Current annual maintenance expenses for this lot are quite high, with a lot of grading being required. The prime goal of the drainage improvements would be to lower ongoing costs.
Lighting Projects - Cottage driveway done. MacNair Filed installation of 3 lights (on hold). North athletic fields - proposed lighting between Subway and soccer complex (partially funded by grant)
Sammamish River Transition Zone - There was a Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting on August 14. Supposedly, there will be a website where meeting notes and other documents will be posted. I'll send out the link as soon as it's available. The next SAC meeting is September 25.
Park Drainage issue along north edge – Parks has gotten approval from the City of Redmond to install a 1-way valve on the culvert connecting the north end of the park to the Bear Creek drainage. WASHDOT, which owns the culvert, will also need to give approval. November 15 is the target completion date for this work, so that flooding can be avoided this winter.

5) Other - Events coinciding with the Hall & Oates concert combined to create havoc with traffic on West Lake Sammamish Parkway. Parks is working with City of Redmond to try to find solutions. One thing they’ll do in the future is to control ingress and egress in a more controlled fashion. This may mean that drivers will be restricted in the routes into and out of the park.

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.

August 28, 2013 Meeting Summary