Redmond City Council Denies Appeal to Bike Park Plans

The Redmond City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to uphold a hearing examiner's decision in support of a planned 2.5-acre bike park on Education Hill.

The park has been a source of controversy since last summer when a group of residents —one to the project's site entitlement plan and the other to the project's compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Both appeals were denied by a hearing examiner in late 2011 (see attached PDF). 

(Click  to read about the city's perspective on the park plans, and  for earlier coverage of residents' objections.)

On Tuesday, the city council decided to uphold the hearing examiner's earlier ruling on the site entitlement plan—a permit the city had to obtain because the park would change the use of the currently vacant, city-owned parcel located next to .

The nearly two-hour meeting included testimony and rebuttal from the project's two primary appellants, Harold Zeitz and Steve Gasser, and city attorney James Haney. Approximately 100 residents also attended the meeting—many donning green shirts in support of the appellants—but only parties of record were permitted to provide testimony in the hearing, in accordance with city code. 

Several city council members said they sympathized with residents' concerns about the park but were prohibited by city code from making a judgement on anything except whether there were errors in the hearing examiner's earlier decision. Some, including council member Kim Allen, said they would like there to be reconsideration of the city's regulations on appeal hearings.

"It's not a good process," Allen said. "We are barred from representing our constituents in the way most of you would expect."

But Harold Zeitz, one of the residents leading the appeal effort, said after the meeting that he not convinced council members' hands are tied at this point in the process.

"I think they're hiding behind the fact of the matter," Zeitz said.

Zeitz has already filed an appeal in King County Superior Court to the SEPA plan and said he plans to pursue folding the site entitlement plan into the same appeal. A July 2013 hearing date for the SEPA appeal has been set, Zeitz said—meaning the park's development will likely be held up for many months to come.

But Zeitz also said he would be willing to reconsider his ongoing legal action if the city council decided to revisit the park's design and work to mitigate neighbors' concerns about parking, environmental impact, safety, and other issues. During his testimony, Zeitz said he and his neighbors were still open to working toward a compromise.

"We remain willing to work cooperatively with the city toward a win-win solution formally designating the unauthorized jumps as a bike park at its current site with new jumps and improved safety," he said.

Several city officials, however, said they believed residents had already been given ample opportunity to weigh in on the park's design. Refuting appellants' accusations of inaduequate public notice, Haney said the city has held more than 30 public meetings on the project since 2009.

Council member Hank Myers said he is "fully satisfied with the actions of the staff."

"The outcome may be unpopular with some people, but the point is that the concerns were listened to, that they were aired openly and considered very extensively," he said. "The process was fully exploited in terms of allowing citizens and all parties to come and provide testimony."

For additional comments from Tuesday's meeting, click here to watch video coverage on the city's website. A PDF copy of the appeals and the hearing examiner's earlier ruling is also attached to this post.