What’s New

Ebright is on the Web

This Web Site, about Ebright Creek, is What's New! We hope you enjoy it and find it informative!

Save Lake Sammamish Newsletter

More information can be found this month at the Save Lake Sammamish Web site. Ilene Stahl submitted an article called “Saving Ebright Creek”. More information on Kokanee Salmon can be found there.

http://www.scn.org/savelake/NL.Spring.2004/NL.Spring.2004.htm

Redesign of Ebright Creek Park

Our group is getting ready for the redesign or Ebright Creek Park. The city of Sammamish has assured us that they will be holding a public meeting to address the needs of the community for a new park. Several citizens spoke at the March 15, 2004 council meeting regarding Ebright. Some thought the park had been “shelved”. Many wanted the old design to be “tweaked”. A letter had been distributed to the neighborhood encouraging participation. Mary Doerrer wrote a Concerned Citizen Letter to the group to aid in their understanding of park issues.

Concerned Citizen Letter

Spring 2004

EBRIGHT CREEK PARK

The Friends of Pine Lake (FOPL) and neighbors along the 212^th corridor have been trying to protect Ebright Creek and the native salmon since 1999 when the city first incorporated. This neighborhood and FOPL have spent a considerable amount of funds beginning in 1999. The exact amount of funds expended is not known at this time as one of the appeals is still ongoing but it has to be upwards of $100,000. This is a very conservative estimate as we have appealed 2 developments directly related to Ebright Creek for over 4 years utilizing the efforts of 3 land use attorneys. Many people in this neighborhood have donated an incredible amount of their time and money these past years trying to save the Kokanee salmon and Ebright Creek for future generations before the park site was purchased in 2001.

To begin with, and contrary to what some residents believe, “These are simple issues with simple solutions”, the park site development has been an ongoing controversy from the beginning. Some of what happened with the design and public process is believed to have been contrary to SEPA (the State Environmental Policy Act) that strongly encourages a proper public process be adhered to and environmental issues addressed early on when developing a park with public funds. The good news is the new city council is ready to revisit the park and follow the proper procedures.

There are many issues that still remain with the park if any athletic fields are utilized. Even if the code violation problem is resolved, i.e. if the code is changed, the noise remains a legal issue. Perhaps the biggest reason for an appeal was the distance of the backstop from a neighbor’s property of 65’. To put that level of activity that near to established residences with ongoing noise every day until dusk is not a kind or appropriate act of any city government. The noise cannot be mitigated as there is no room to move the fields as they are as close to the setbacks, the creek, and the wetlands as they can possibly be. Because of the buffers and setbacks on the narrow parcel, there is not much available area to do anything else with the site if the fields are installed. In addition, we believe the turf requirements of the fields will lead to deleterious effects upon the creek and the salmon that spawn downstream. There are also flooding issues involved, not only on adjacent properties, but downstream as well. If the trees are removed, this will undoubtedly lead to future problems. To avoid any future litigation due to possible flooding, the trees should not be removed especially when the city is aware of this problem.

FOPL and the adjacent neighbors feel that our intent has been good and justified and we do feel very strongly that a neighborhood, (not a community or regional), park to be used by the service area of 2 to 5,000 people can be developed. The neighborhood has never indicated or stated we do not want a park. We do think a park that can be used by all ages and developed in a manner that is sensitive to the environmental constraints of the property would be a wonderful addition to Sammamish.

We all want what we believe to be what is best for the children of this area. We have found some alternate sites for athletic fields and advocated over the past year for the city to take a more active role in finding alternatives for the Ebright athletic fields…the city has responded in finding more fields by working on agreements with the school districts. Unfortunately, there is not an alternate site for the creek or the salmon.

The FOPL has factual data that we are willing to share with anyone who is interested…the city has a file on the park that can be accessed as well. Two noise studies have been done, there is letter from a landscape architect who specializes in park planning stating there is yet another alternate site for the fields at the Commons and we have a timeline of what actually happened with the park up until the present.

Please email FOPL or call 425.392.0556 or Mary Doerrer 425.392.1018 if you have any questions. Please check out our web site at www.pine-lake.org.