2) parkrun

parkrun is a free, locally organized and volunteer-led group run, meeting every Saturday morning in public parks around the globe – 1600 park runs worldwide. Started in 2011 in Michigan. 16 in USA. FREE. Open to all ages and to families, though most runners are adults. Walkers are welcome, and even walkers are usually done within an hour. Hand-timed. Register once, bring your bar-code, and they scan it at the finish line. All volunteer. Also have runs in Renton (averaging 50/week), and soon in Des Moines, WA. Runs are every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Because it is international, foreign company employees know about Parkrun.

parkrun would like to host a regular run at Marymoor.  Their planned route would be using the Connector Trail and other trails north of Marymoor Way. They have a proposed 2.5K route that would be run around twice. If Saturday morning events would preclude that proposed route, there is a possibility of running other trails in the area. They suggested that parking could be in the recreation area grass-and-gravel parking lot, or possibly with arrangement in the Chinese church to the NE of the park. They described as a group run; very low impact, no garbage generated, etc.

Norah had several concerns. While conceptually, parkrun is an appropriate kind of event for the park, this is likely to run into a lot of problems due to congestion from other park users. The Velodrome Shelter area is very highly used, and she’s worried about the start/end of the race being centered there. Also, the route would cross three major parking lot entrances. The concern is that 9 a.m. on Saturdays is an extremely busy time at the park. KC Parks rules require any group of 25+ to get a permit, and while that can be waived, Norah is not certain that this won’t cause problems. Even with a route staying away from the roadside trail, there’s still a major likelihood of congestion.

We made several suggestions for alternative sites in the general area, including the unpaved trail on the west side of the slough, and the trail along the south edge of Bear Creek Parkway at Redmond Town Center. Partly within Marymoor, the Connector Trail east of the model airplane field, and then south on the East Lake Sammamish Trail could also be worth checking out. Michael suggested the Redmond Watershed Reserve, Laura recommended the winery district in Woodinville, etc.

3) Sound Transit

Several FOMP members, and Norah, are scheduled to attend a March meeting to discuss mitigation wetlands required by the project. While Laura does like using the triangle area across Marymoor Way from the Velodrome, she would also like to see mitigation north of Marymoor Way, when removing wetlands from the area north of Marymoor Way. The only site possible that would be large enough for mitigation is the NW corner where the TOPS tennis facility might go. Another possibility that has been raised it to piggyback the mitigation with the Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration project west of the slough, west of the north end of the Dog Area. For trees, everyone wanted to make sure trees were replaced just slightly south of the tracks where possible (for instance along the north edge of the velodrome).

4) CIP/Project/Facilities Updates

a) Birdloop – Work party scheduled for Saturday, 3/8

b) Cultural Resources –  For any organizations or park users that have a project that would include soil disturbance, contact Norah so she can quickly start the process to getting approval/denial from Cultural Resources

c) Maintenance Items – Cottage roof - replacement roof will match maintenance and art barn, and chimney will be removed.  Roof changes have been approved by KC Landmarks last week.  Design for new front porch (with ADA entrance) in the works

d) Cut-through Traffic – Sound Transit may help with traffic studies

e) New parking fee collection machines – Predicted installation, summer 2018

f) Dudley Carter Sculptures – New funding assigned.  Should have a vendor chosen shortly

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 28th, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the Art Barn