The New Bike Jump Park is Coming Soon!
The Redmond Bike Jump Park is getting a facelift!
Background
On March 2, 2010, the Redmond City Council approved formalizing the bike dirt jumps adjacent to Hartman Park into a Park and investing some money in improving the safety of the area.
Over the next year, the City Planners held several meetings with the community as the designs for the park were being refined. The input from biking enthusiasts were well received, the input from concerned neighbors were repeatedly ignored.
On May 12, 2011, official notification from the City to the Residents living within 500 feet of the bike jump area was distributed (and the yellow Land Use Action sign was erected at the site). This was the first clear communication to the local area that the City was planning on expanding the size of the existing jump area to be 6 TIMES LARGER than it is today, while removing over 30 mature trees in the process.
That notification was about two separate issues. One issue, known as the SEPA Determination of Non-Significance, states that the proposed project would not harm the environment, including the adjacent wetlands. The second issue, known as the Site Plan Entitlement, states that the proposed project does not violate any City Code.
The Appeal
The only method available for neighbors to try to stop this project from going forward was to appeal those two issues. The process used by the City employed a Hearing Examiner who would listen to the concerns raised by the appellants (35 adults represented by two of the neighbors) and the position of the City (represented by a paid attorney) to reach a determination as to the validity of the two issues.
It should be noted that although only 35 people were named as appellants, over 105 adults have since come forward against the project moving forward as proposed!
The hearing took place over the course of three nights spanning over a month — in total 28 hours of testimony and rebuttal were presented to the Hearing Examiner.
Not surprisingly, the Hearing Examiner concluded that both the SEPA Determination and the Site Plan Entitlement were issued following proper protocol by the City.
Why was this not surprising? Because the scope of the problem that the Hearing Examiner could rule on was limited to just the mechanics of the process of getting the SEPA Determination and Site Plan Entitlement issued. The Hearing Examiner may have felt that the project was out of scope for the community or poorly planned, but she could not do anything about that.
Reconsideration
Following the Hearing Examiner’s decision, the appellants asked her to reconsider her findings and to open the record to include a relevant document that the City had in their possession during the hearing but only became known to the appellants after the the hearing concluded.
The Hearing Examiner ruled against both the reconsideration and the addition of new materials.
What’s Next?
The next step in the process is to appeal the Hearing Examiner’s decision … and things get a little bit complicated moving forward.
The SEPA Determination needs to be appealed to Superior Court. The deadline to file that appeal is February 2, 2012.
The Site Plan Entitlement needs to be appealed to City Council. The deadline to file that appeal is January 17, 2012.
The appellants will be proceeding with both appeals. And, should the City Council fail to listen to the concerns of the 105+ neighbors who are against the proposed project, we will appeal their decision with Superior Court.
What Do We Want?
The appellants have no issue with the existing dirt jumps, nor the idea of making that area an actual Park and improving the safety of the jumps.
What we don’t want is the removal of hundreds of trees (including 30 mature trees) and the expansion of the jump area to be six times larger than it currently is.
If the City Planners feel that an expanded dirt jump park is necessary, then we ask that they find an alternative location that is not adjacent to our quiet neighborhood.
If the City Planners are OK scaling back their design to what it was when the City Council approved this project, but they just want to make the jumps safer, then we’ll be out there with our shovels helping to make that happen.
We have formerly asked to sit down with the City Planners four times throughout this process to talk about our options, but they have never accepted our request. Instead, they have spent tens-of-thousands of dollars on consulting and legal fees finding every way possible to fight our neighborhood.
How Can You Help?
Click the TAKE ACTION link to learn what you can do to help.
Thank you for your consideration.