May 22, 2019 FOMP Meeting Summary

Welcome and Introductions. Attendees: Norah Robinson, King County Parks; Greg Helland, FOMP President; Michael Hobbs, FOMP Secretary, webmaster; Amy Dunn, AEG Presents; Glenn Eades, Eastside Audubon, neighbor
CIP/Project/Facilities Updates:
- Birdloop – Will be doing some blackberry clearing WSW of their maintenance sheds. Also working on spreading their chip mulch. With the increase of volunteers for EAS, they will be holding a work party in July, which had previously been a down month for them.
  Michael reported that a baby Western Screech-Owl was photographed in a nest box near the east end of the boardwalk.
- Community Gardens – Damaged road has been repaired by the Parks crew. MCGA would like to add a few plots to the SE corner of the garden. This will go forward, contingent on review by the Parks archeologist.
- MAR/C – Steve Guty is moving to Austin, TX, and has resigned from MAR/C, and from the FOMP board. Al Watson is filling in as acting head of MAR/C. Brian Kelly will be the new FOMP representative.
- Maintenance Items –
  - Dave Hennings has officially replaced Dennis Burgart . Contact info for Dave: 206-472-3088, David.Hennings@Kingcounty.gov
  - Tree removal – The group recommended Red Maple and American Basswood to replace some of the lost trees in the Historic District. This area was planted as an arboretum of American trees, and new plantings must come from a pre-approved list of appropriate trees to maintain the historic nature of the site. Most of the species are native to the east coast of the United States.
  - Velodrome repairs – some cracks are currently being fixed. Track is closed intermittently.
- Sound Transit –
  - Tree replacement – Most of the trees removed for the Light Rail right-of-way will be replaced nearby along the corridor in clumps, rather than in a line. Since they need to plant several times more trees than they cut down, more trees will also be planted in the Historic District.
- Cut-through Traffic – This issue resonates very strongly within FOMP. Greg is very much interested in getting data about the amount and timing of cut-through traffic currently, as a baseline. This will be useful if (as we assume it will) cut-through traffic increases greatly. Data would be very useful if approaching King County Council with a request to change road access to prevent cut-throughs.
- Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration Project – At the meeting of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee on May 16th, the various options were presented. These include the status quo option, a small side channel option, and a large side channel option. The side channel options would include clearing the flood channel in the Transition Zone to allow better function during flood conditions, and building a side channel that would run from a little north of the Rowing Club down to the south end of the Transition Zone roughly following the historic river channel to the west of the current channel. With either the small or large channel option, there are three additional choices for water cooling. One would be simply to tie in some of the cooler groundwater into the new channel. A more intensive model would add cool water pumped from deep wells. The third option would be a bit experimental, and quite a bit more expensive (but would potentially offer significant cooling that would keep the entire river cool enough for salmon). It would involve a water intake at the surface of Lake Sammamish a couple of miles south of the park, with a pipe and pump system that would draw water down to the bottom of the lake, through heat conductive aluminum piping to cool the water, and then pour that water into the new side channel. Stakeholders were each allowed a brief time to express their thoughts on the options, and to indicate which option choices each person found desirable. It was generally noted that there is no significant solution to perceived increases in lake level and flooding. Reducing lake flooding in any active form would cause flooding downstream and/or would dewater wetlands around the lake, neither of which is permissible.
- Cottage ADA Entrance – Construction starts June 23rd. During construction, all access to the office will be via the rear ramp.
- Synthetic Turf Replacement – Fields 1 & 2 (Soccer 5 and 6) June 3-August 15. The turf needs to be replaced about every 10 years. This time, Cricket and Unified Lacrosse lines will be included. Construction staging will close one bay of Lot K, which will make parking there more difficult during this period.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 26th, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the Art Barn

May 22, 2019 Meeting Summary