PROPOSED SR 520 WIDENING - Redmond Historical Society position statement

Submitted by: The Redmond Historical Society, Board of Directors

The Redmond Historical Society’s mission includes preserving the historic character of Redmond, and our natural and cultural history is part of that character. We are concerned that WSDOT’s proposed widening of SR 520 might have at least three negative heritage impacts:

1) Salmon populations. Redmond’s Shoreline Management Act establishes a 150-foot buffer, in part to protect the Salmonid populations that navigate Bear Creek and the Sammamish River. It appears part of the proposed widening would violate that buffer.

2) Bear Creek. We support the city’s recent efforts to put meanders back into the Sammamish River, and the same should be done with the last half-mile of Bear Creek. We would like to see it meander through native growth areas and natural wetlands just as the upstream section does, and we understand that city officials have a perfectly good plan for such restoration work. In fact, that plan was just updated last year from a long-standing idea that was recognized in WSDoT’s proposal for widening SR-520. The executive summary of its Wetlands Biology Report states that this project is the final phase of work begun in the 1990s and lists a previous phase as “restoration and relocation of Bear Creek (completed in 2000).” The obvious problem is that, despite an agreement to do this when the whole project started 10 years ago, they did not complete that work on Bear Creek down to the Sammamish River. Why don’t we accomplish this now in conjunction with the widening of SR-520?

3) Native American culture. Mussel shells and arrowheads found along the Sammamish River and near Bear Creek by UW archaeologists have established that indigenous tribes camped along the shorelines as long ago as 8,000 years ago. The proposed widening includes the stretch where Bear Creek and the Sammamish River meet, and it is likely this confluence itself was an indigenous campsite. The widening proposal does not appear to provide any safeguards to ensure that such heritage sites are not damaged. Should the widening take place, WSDoT should be required to stop work if anything of Native American origin is found so that the state archaeologist has inspected the site and preserved anything of significance.

The Redmond Historical Society calls on the city to refuse any variance to its shoreline protection regulations and to resist the permit application unless and until WSDoT provides safeguards to the Sammamish River and restoration of Bear Creek to a meandering waterway with a reasonable buffer and healthy wetlands. If the battle moves to a higher level, we call on city officials to rally allies to fight for proper mitigation as part of the freeway widening.