King County Executive Tim Hill said it well, in August 23, 1988:
"We do not believe it is King County's role as a public service provider to dedicate park land for the development of "premier" level facilities for one group while another interests of unserved, or served at disproportionately low levels. As its population grows, King County is coming under increasing pressure from taxpayers who have become more vocal in demanding an equitable share of facilities to accommodate their varied activities...These valuable resources must be shared by all County residents."The City of Redmond will be holding "Neighborhood Meeting" on the "Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association" (LWYSA) proposal to develop 9 soccer fields on Sixty Acres South. Click HERE to see the site plan for the parking and 9 soccer fields.
This meeting will serve as an opportunity for interested parties and nearby property owners to review, comment, and ask questions of LWYSA soccer association regarding their aggressive proposal to build 9 premium grass soccer fields with parking on a county park.
This neighborhood meeting will be held prior to the City taking final action on this project.
Meeting Date: September 15, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: City Council Chambers, Redmond City Hall, (a short walk west of the library).
Make yourself heard as a "Party of Record" so you are allowed to participate in any appeal process. Contact city planner Kelsey Larson (425-556-2409) to make yourself a Party of Record. Her email is klarson@redmond.gov. Or, sign in at the meeting to be a Party.
CC: Kelsey Larson, C.O.R.
Awesome site for the Redmond neighborhood. Great job!
ReplyDeleteWill keep checking back!
My son is practicing soccer in the corner of a neighborhood park and attempting to attend games / practice at Marymoor seems to be a "rock concert experience" complete with long lines of cars and competition for parking. Expansion of soccer practice and play fields is a need demonstrated by the heavy use of the current options.
ReplyDeleteWhile I appreciate the potential for their use as "frisbee dog" fields, or model rocket launches -- soccer is a popular and very healthy sport across King County.
I'll make sure to SPEAK UP to support this intelligent use of the empty land.
Marymoor is a good example of how King County has mismanaged its parks. The parking pad for the flying circus sits unused most of the year, where well-used soccer fields used to sit. While I play, coach and referee soccer, I can not support an additional mistake by King County to dislodge many other uses simply for 9 additional fields that will also sit fallow for a large part of the year.
ReplyDeleteTell King County to tear up the pad and move the flying circus - that's a better solution than what's on the table.
And as for the rock concert experience - there are too few dates on the calendar to make this much of an arguement.
Thanks Bob. Well written.
ReplyDeleteAlso to note that LWYSA attendance is below 2004 levels… Their league (which my son is a part of, is shrinking).
They just sold 76 Acres of the farmland at Willows and 124th – Where is that money going? If they want a private facility, why not buy their own with the proceed of the sale?
ReplyDeleteAlso, before giving away a park facility for 30 years, I can’t believe an quantitative analysis by King County on the number of field resources and hours of use has never been done.
I drive by 60 acres two to three times daily and most of the time the fields are not even being used even on peak sunny weekend days. I don't see a reason to build and maintain nine additional soccer fields while the other fields remain unused.
ReplyDeleteMy brother happens to be an employee of the LWYSA who is responsible for maintenance of the sixty acres complex, and as such would most likely be involved to a large extent in the implementation of such a plan. I'll have to talk to him to try to get a better idea of what is going on here. I do know that in addition to LWYSA use of the fields, Sixty Acres also hosts several major tournaments per year (not just soccer, but Ultimate Frisbee as well,) which attract teams from as far away as Montana and easily exceed the capacity of the existing complex. These tournaments also generate revenue within the community when people come in from out of town to play in them. Even if the LWYSA isn't using the fields all the time, someone is.
ReplyDeleteSo Sledgehammer, maybe you can ask your brother who is allowed to use the fields when the signs saying "KEEP OFF" are posted. It would seem that the last line of your comment is only true in a limited context. We don't need more King County land dedicated to limited use.
ReplyDeleteI am a Sammamish trail user but have not been involved with the current activities that take place at 60 Acres South. The activities
ReplyDeleterange from science clubs launching rockets, frisbee playing and most of all battery powered planes/helicopters.
The 60 Acres South site is in constant use, year round and serves a variety of interests and activities. 60 Acres North is considered part of the Redmond Parks system. In reality, LWYSA has access to this field for approximately 4 months a year, June - September. The other 8 months the field is posted as
closed to all use and access.
As a Redmond/ King County taxpayer I support my tax dollars going to Redmond Parks and Recreation funds. I also support that these public
facilities stay open to the public and that the public that currently enjoys 60 Acres South continues to use that facility for decades to
come. I have no problem paying for improvements to this property but do not want my tax dollars to go to the exclusive use of LWYSA on the 60 Acres South site.
You can go to lwysa.org For more information on this, including a FAQ on the 60 Acres project and an online petition to register support for these needed fields.
ReplyDelete9 more LWYSA soccer fields! What is LWYSA thinking? Find another piece of land with the new cash you have.
ReplyDeleteSixty Acres South should be kept free to be used by any King County resident.
Let's not make Sixty Acres South "limited use" just because it is across the street from another "limited use" area.
Needed Fields? Seattle Youth Soccer Association handles more kids with out any major soccer facility that LWYSA has. The perceived shortage is due to LWYSA mismanagement of available resources. SYSA uses school facilities, City and County parks. 60 Acres North sits virtually idle on Friday afternoon. There are game fields open on the weekends. Also the info on the lwysa.org site is very misleading. Thier comment about increased passive use is totally bogus. The User Agreement gives zero guarantees to passive or drop in use, and gives LWYSA the right to close the field and the majority of right to use the fields.
ReplyDeleteLWYSA has more than enough fields, more than they can currently use. Why do they want to use more land for one sport and for only 4 months of the year?
ReplyDeleteSixty Acre South is multi-use year round land available for all the taxpaying public.
LWYSA does not need more land.
so...here we are a couple of days past the public meeting...is there any comment on what happened Monday night?
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see the issue brought to light...how about some follow up?
Good question. I couldn't make the meeeting. I'm hoping others would chime in. Often land use applications hold 2 neighborhood meetings and at least one public hearing. And, of course the appeal procedings.
ReplyDeleteI did make a copy of these comments and sent them to Kathy Lambert, our King County Council representative.
Did anyone make the meeting?
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteThe meeting was largely an opportunity for the folks who were not in favor of the proposed lease to express their concerns to the City of Redmond planning committee and ask questions of the LWYSA representatives. Curt Bateman and Andy Hill were there as representatives from LWYSA. No one from the community spoke in favor of the proposed plan -- Curt stated that this was not the point of this meeting, so no soccer folks were specifically invited to provide commentary.
There were a lot of folks that spoke passionately against this plan --- the meeting ran very long. About 2.5 hours of feedback from the audience members at 4 minutes a pop. Then another 45 minutes or so of responses from the LWYSA. There is a full transcript available from the city.
There is a King County meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue with the planning committee. The public will not be allowed to present as I understand it, except for a few folks that are officially on the agenda. I could dig up more details if you like.
Thanks for your interest.
- Derik
Why is it nobody is commenting on the 'for profit' aspect of LWYSA?
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the county will get a nice piece of change for leasing OUR property, and that LWYSA will enjoy a nice revenue stream from the use of OUR property, while we have little to no say in the whole matter.
Why don't we just put up a new 7-11 and at least get something we'll use from time-to-time.
The King County Council met on the issue this past monday, Oct. 13. 24 people spoke against the lease of 60 Acres South vs. the two from LWYSA. The council postponed a vote until this coming monday, Oct 20. They are taking the time to review the proposed agreement and the comments.
ReplyDeleteThe public comment period is closed; that is, no further testimony will be heard before the council in person.
However, they encouraged concerned citizens to write, call or email them this week.
If they vote on monday, that's the end of the line, so make yourself heard now. At the very least they should be taking more time to review something that will last 30 years.
I myself oppose this agreement on a number of grounds. 60 Acres South is one of a kind in the county and no replacement has been offered.
The agreement also promises "50% shared use", which one might take to mean something like "Monday, Wednesday, Friday and alternate Saturdays" are open to the public. However, what it actually means is that half the fields could be scheduled all day, all summer and still be "50% shared" while making the park unusable to others.
Council contact info:
Bob Ferguson (D)
District 1
206-296-1001
bob.ferguson@kingcounty.gov
Larry Gossett (D)
District 2
206-296-1002
larry.gossett@kingcounty.gov
Kathy Lambert (R)
District 3
206-296-1003
kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov
Larry Phillips (D)
District 4
206-296-1004
larry.phillips@kingcounty.gov,
Julia Patterson (D)
Council Chair, District 5
206-296-1005
julia.patterson@kingcounty.gov
Jane Hague (R)
District 6
206-296-1006
jane.hague@kingcounty.gov
Pete von Reichbauer (R)
District 7
206-296-1007
pete.vonreichbauer@kingcounty.gov
Dow Constantine (D)
Council Vice Chair, District 8
206-296-1008
dow.constantine@kingcounty.gov
Reagan Dunn (R)
Council Vice Chair, District 9
206-296-1009
reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov
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