Bellevue has long shown a penchant for parks, but that relationship has looked more characteristic of a love-hate ordeal in recent weeks.
The city council last week pressed Sound Transit to study a potential light-rail line known as B7 Modified that would cross Mercer Slough Nature Park, a proposal that’s sure to draw the ire of environmentalists and people who don’t want see trains zipping over concrete pylons in their quiet preserve.
The city followed that request with three moves on Monday that advance the creation of 49 acres of new parks and open spaces.
First, the parks department unveiled a draft master plan for a new 10-acre waterfront park featuring a quarter mile of shoreline along Meydenbauer Bay.
The department also recommended plans for a new 27-acre park in the Eastgate business district, pitching “Bellevue Airfield Park” as a potential name.
Finally, the council voted Monday to pay $3.3 million for 12 acres of land for preservation in the Kelsey Creek and Newport Hills areas. Funding for the acquisition will come from King County and the 2008 Bellevue parks levy.
The draft master plan for Meydenbauer Bay Waterfront Park includes proposed zoning changes to encourage walkways and plazas that connect the park with downtown.
The Bellevue parks board will review the draft plan and add recommendations before the council approves a final concept sometime this spring.
The plan for Bellevue Airfield Park calls for two lighted, synthetic-turf soccer/lacrosse fields and three baseball fields, as well as picnic facilities, two children’s play areas, restrooms and parking.
Some of the funding for the park would also go toward expanding the off-leash area at Robinswood Park to at least 5 acres.
The City Council will consider the park master plan following the completion of an environmental review.
Residents are bound to applaud all the planning for new parks. But the idea of plopping a viaduct in Lake Washington’s largest remaining wetland to accommodate East Link won’t go over as well.
“We’ve had a pretty steady stream of messages from residents who are not very supportive of the plan,” said Bellevue transportation planner Bernard van de Kamp. “Some positive, but mostly negative.”
Another negative for the B7 Modified plan: the slew of local, state, federal and tribal agencies that Sound Transit would have to go through for permitting.
“From a regulatory perspective, it’s a pretty complex way to go,” van de Kamp said.
Mayor Don Davidson contends that B3, because it would travel on almost the entire western border of Mercer Slough Nature Park along Bellevue Way and 112th Ave. SE, may be just as harmful as B7 Modified.
Davidson also notes that the B3 route would cut through several patches of private wetlands just north of Southeast Eighth St.
Councilmember Claudia Balducci said she will need more data to decide which route she feels best about, but her initial impression is that “just looking at a map, it seems like a crossing is always going to have more impacts than skirting or going around.”
It is not clear which routing options will cause the greatest impacts to environmentally sensitive properties until Sound Transit conducts further studies.
“Pretty much anywhere you go, there will be some wetlands impacted, but I wouldn’t be surprised if B7 modified was slightly higher than the B7 scenario,” van de Kamp said, noting that the initial B7 concept calls for a light-rail station in the slough itself.
