that me all right well good
evening everybody I guess I get a kick
this off Jeff Watling director of Parks
and Recreation with the city of Issaquah
thank you for letting us come back
planning policy commission and really
have a chance to follow up on some of
the work we've been doing this last
month like when we last met as a big
group February 8th a month ago tonight
we were over in the the Eagle room and
had a great Charette exercise at the end
of that meeting we were tasked with
going out going back and working further
with the park board and with other
departments and with our consultant team
and refining the green necklace and some
of the key elements of that necklace
taken the work we did on the eighth and
and doing some further work happy
tonight to come back to you to present
the work that we've done the results of
that Charette we had another Charette
exercise that we invited the public to
on the 26th of February that was part of
our park board meeting we also have done
a lot of work these last couple weeks
with planning staff from development
services department we've also brought
in some of our engineering staff from
Public Works engineering given a lot of
this desire for connectivity for the
necklace is on our right-of-way so
really getting their feedback and their
thoughts on this so I'm gonna pull this
up you're all going to get copies of
this I'm not going to read this word for
word but we'll kind of keep that up
there for the night goals tonight what
we really want to do is we come back
here is really twofold two goals first
is to provide you with this draft
document to walk through the map you'll
notice as we walk through the map you'll
see numbered 17 numbered elements those
are really key elements that that we see
that will come
and make up the necklace so talk through
some of the narrative that we've worked
on on those key elements and then a bulk
of the meeting a bulk of our time
tonight is really going to be a
conversation about character and
experience and a bit of an interactive
exercise chance for you to get up and
look at some photos look at some visuals
that are going to help us really
fine-tune what character what experience
we want with each of those 17 elements
and then also just a chance to check in
and really get a pulse from both you
planning policy commission and park
board members and the general public are
we are we headed in the right direction
does this feel like a really a
collection of a lot of a lot of thought
a lot of thought that has been from you
a lot of thought quite frankly that
dates all the way back to the original
task force that we're trying to compile
and pull in to this to this document our
outcome our desired outcome tonight is
just that is to try and get some
consensus on the map make sure we're
going the right direction and then get a
sense of visual experience one of the
questions we asked on February 8th if
you remember we had a quick little
exercise with some post-it notes where
we asked you what does success look like
what what does a successful green
necklace look like what does it do
overwhelmingly I don't I don't have it
we sort of took all of those responses
and created a Wordle and did some other
things but overwhelmingly the the core
theme that came out of that from all of
your feedback was connections
connectivity connections connection and
in various forms and and really the
second most frequent word was experience
so given that I think really the desire
of this necklace is is that is
connectivity connections through
connections that support this future
reinvestment of the central Issaquah
area but not only the central Issaquah
area
really the context for the entire city
as we've been coming off the work we've
done with the park strategic plan I
think I think that the timings been nice
for us and that as we've done this work
with you on the necklace we haven't lost
sight of the bigger picture I was going
to use my markers but since we're a
fabric I'm not going to so I'll spare
you from my armchair Landscape Architect
which I'm not but this is a map just I
think it really was a great reminder for
us that we're really dealing in
concentric circles as we start thinking
of Issaquah as we've started thinking
about what are these major movements and
and really the the essence and
priorities of the necklace we have the
central listicle area really is in the
heart of the city and I think from the
origins of the the task force work this
opportunity to frame a necklace and and
a trail system and experiences around
that and through that but also you start
to realize there's the bigger circle all
of this outer public space that is for
decades been a priority and investment
and great recreational experience that
as we're planning our park plan we're
looking into central Issaquah we're
looking at our current residents and how
do we create a park system that grows
supports the many needs that our
residents have and all the while also
connects to the outer the outer area so
as you start to see the major movements
of this map you'll start to see some
main east-west corridors through the
middle of central Issaquah area through
the upper the north and the south area
you're gonna see some major corridors
along mystic Hawk Creek and what a
amazing opportunity this is from squawk
all the way to Lake Sammamish the
opportunity we have with Tibbets Creek
and activating that this idea this
concept of another major corridor
through the middle of central Issaquah
just wanted to touch on that that is
we're talking experience here the great
thing is this isn't an isolation this is
really an experience connectivity that
we want through all of us aqua and and
has certainly been a priority for us as
we've worked this work on this exercise
so the map itself like I said and
talking about this if you if you squint
you'll start to see I know I need this
microphone don't I to talk I can't
really go over there I'll yell this is
kind of a game show microphone isn't it
but you'll see these major north-south
connections but again as we start
imagining we see them going outside of
the central squat area and then these
opportunities through the state park
down to the south the southern edge and
some type of experience that really
gives opportunity right through the
heart of the central Issaquah area
like I said mentioned earlier you'll
notice the numbers all invite Greg to
come on up and introduce the numbers and
what those are but they really represent
what we see is key elements that are
going to make this happen another thing
that we've certainly realized as we've
done this work with all of you is that
this is going to be accomplished in many
many different ways as we've brought in
and worked with Public Works engineering
staff as we've worked with our partners
and development services this is going
to be a collaborative effort a multi
departmental effort that's going to bite
by bite make this make this happen we're
hoping that this vision sets some
clarity it sets some clarity about the
big experiences that we want but we
realize that some of the details of this
are going to happen through individual
master plan efforts they're going to
happen
through corridor design Public Works
engineering is about to start on the
Gilman Boulevard corridor hopefully this
is a foundation that helps the the
details that are going to happen through
through that effort as the moratorium
gets lifted and we start looking at
development review development review is
going to be part of supporting and
making this happen so
the collaboration that's started is
really going to be essential as this
moves forward and we make this happen
another thing you'll notice as we talk
through this as you see it and as we
really get your feedback tonight is
we're really focused on the public round
we're really focused on the public
system when we start thinking about the
necklace we recognize and that's not to
discount there's going to be private
public opportunities woven within this
entire area and those are going to be
critical and those are going to be
really supportive elements but to try
and map those becomes a difficult task
and we felt like this exercise being
able to focus on really what the public
priorities are I think it sets a
priority for what we as a city should be
doing I think and as you'll see in the
language some of those private public
partnership opportunities are really
going to be supported through the urban
design manual and some of the other
supporting elements within our
development regulations so very much a
interdepartmental multi-dimensional
effort to make this to make this happen
so as you will get copies of this as
you're going to get copies of the table
I certainly welcome your feedback
throughout
tonight welcome your opportunity to jot
some notes down on that map let us know
what you think are we getting close what
might be missing what questions you
might have because hopefully we're we're
getting close to to something that's
something that feels really real we know
that this work is going to be essential
as we affect Brad if you want to lift
and wave the draft is we're in the point
of having our draft Park strategic plan
this is the missing piece this we want
to take this outcome the very same
outcome that you're going to be
utilizing with centrality for visions we
want to take that same outcome and weave
it into the park plant so now those two
documents really have a bridge bridge
between the two of them so with that I'm
going to invite Greg to come up and talk
a little bit about the key elements and
the exercise what we're doing tonight
okay
so great brought the burger partnership
Oh further further this way okay not
used to performing so so the this
evening you know we've we've taken a
couple of couple of the meetings and and
done mapping exercise and this evening
is about character we talked about that
a little bit the last time we we did a
joint meeting and and had everybody
together so this evening what we're
going to do in in just a few minutes
we're going to do some quick rearranging
the tables and we have collections of
images and we showed you a sampling of
them when we got together last time just
showing where we might be headed with
this with this idea of once the mapping
is in place it still seemed to be
missing kind of what what's the
character to help fulfill the vision so
everybody kind of has a shared idea of
what this what this green necklace means
and what all the parts mean we will
focus on the 17 identified areas on the
map Stephanie is going to go through a
little a brief description of what all
those are and what you'll get is
everyone will get a packet
it's going to have the same descriptions
or similar descriptions with Stephanie
will give and then will be able to move
around the room we've grouped them just
to kind of give some order there's not
much else to the grouping of the way we
put the images together but just to kind
of give some order and just kind of keep
things moving because we want to
complete the task and go home this
evening and everything because we we
have about 80 images for you to look at
which sounds like a lot but I think as
you go around you'll be able to look at
them and and decide if there are things
that that are character that you desire
to see in the central Issaquah area part
of the green necklace or or not if it's
something that you like you can decide
what aspect of it what key element that
that particular character image applies
to and mark it down on on this sheet and
then a comment about what you like in
that image too you might not like
everything you see in some of these
images but just even give us some notes
so we're able to know what it was in
that particular image if you just like
the image and you want it you can just
mark the number if you don't like it you
don't have to write anything down but
you can also mark it and put a red
circle and a line through it or whatever
you want to do just to show that you
didn't care for that image and go that
way when we've made it all the way
around to all the images and everything
when you've completed we want to get
these back from you and so we can
compile and and look at what the what
the priorities were for for some of the
character images and get those included
into the into the rest of into the rest
of the green necklace report I think
that gives a summary of it we'll have
Stephanie go through the descriptions so
everybody kind of has an idea of what
what the 17 elements are that we'll be
talking about and then we hand out
all right so as Greg said I'll be giving
a quick rundown of the 17 elements and
Jeff will be kind of waving his hands at
the map to show you where those elements
are and also as Greg said descriptions
partnerships and code references are
further expanded in that packet for your
reference while we're doing the
exercises evening so starting with
number 1 and this is labeled 1a and 1b
on that diagram this is a series of
major public spaces that together become
more than the sum of their parts and the
intention is that this series of spaces
can be seen as multiple entities each
within an individual character but also
is a larger connected space these spaces
might be urban plazas or they might be
more Park like and they will respond to
and cut and connect to Mall Street which
is labeled number 4 on this map and will
also connect to 12th Avenue Northwest
label number three number two shows a
potential location for the future Sound
Transit station that is to provide a
connection over or under i-90 a Street
connection will accommodate bikes
pedestrian and pedestrians and cars and
create an intuitive route extending
north to Lake Sammamish State Park in
addition to a street connection the
station will also provide an urban Plaza
and/or park space that intuitively
connects to the parks and plazas labeled
1a and 1b number 3 is 12 Avenue
Northwest this street accommodates cars
and provides a pleasant pedestrian and
bike linear urban park experience this
Street becomes a key connected piece of
the city emphasizing connections to
gilman maple and newport labelled v mall
Street labeled for Tibbets Valley Park
and views to the south
depending on the sound transit station
location 12 may also be the street
connection that continues north to Lake
Sammamish State Park
number four is Northwest mall Street the
existing block of Northwest mall Street
between 12th Avenue Northwest and SR 900
becomes a street that focuses on the
pedestrian bike experience Wall Street
continues
East potentially as a pedestrian bike
only trail connecting to trails at 7 the
Avenue Northwest and creating a major
east-west rail connection number 5
indicates what we are thinking of us and
symbiotic corridors these corridors
consist of northwest Gilman mall Street
Maple Street and Newport Way
so these are four unique streets each
serving an individual purpose the
balances and enhances the others by
providing for multiple user groups it's
it's both five and four it's so mall
street is more you'll define mall
streets character as number four but
it's also kind of described as part of
number five so Gilman is currently in
the master planning process and may
provide a linear park pedestrian and
bike experience maple serves a similar
function to Gelman but these linear park
streets may have distinct characters
mall Street is pedestrian of eccentric
potentially becoming pedestrian bike
only to the east of 12th and Newport Way
incorporates a multi-purpose path on one
side of the street that accommodates
pedestrians and bikes and a sidewalk on
the other side of the street
number six shows locations where safer
bike pedestrian travel is needed at s or
900 the circle to the south indicates a
connection between Gilman mall maple to
the SR 900 boardwalk and the Tibbets
Creek trails further study is needed for
the best location of this connecting the
circle to the north indicates the
continuation of safe bike pedestrian
passage along SR 900 at the i-90
offering number 7 shows the Tibbets
Creek Trail system this major
north-south connection will double as a
major public space for the city
providing nodes for pausing or gathering
the south connection may be contingent
on number 6 the location of the safe
bike pedestrian connection over SR 900
the major north connection is to Newport
way via anthology formerly gateway a
pension potential I 90 bike pedestrian
overpass may provide future connection
to Lake Sammamish State Park and that
brings me to number 8 which indicates
that potential I 90 bike pedestrian
overpass this location is chosen versus
the slight versus slightly to the east
because the anthology formerly gateway
development has provided a landing pad
for this future overpass number 9
indicates enhanced bike pedestrian
connections to this to the south coast
near neighborhood and number 10 presents
an intuitive bike pedestrian east-west
connection through Lake Sammamish State
Park this will serve as the intuitive
non motorized experience paralleling
Northwest Sammamish Road this connection
will link west to south cove east
toothless is aquatic trails and creek
corridor and to East Lake Sammamish
Trail this east-west connection will
provide intuitive direct connections to
Northwest Amasa road and to central as a
quad beyond
number 11 shows creation of major
entries to Lake Sammamish State Park the
promote pedestrian bike access to
entries are along northwest of Memphis
Road and one at the north end of the
creek corridor in conjunction with this
work the entire edge along Northwest
Sammamish Road needs
added pedestrian permeability which ties
into number 12 and Northwest Omaha sure
road will provide a multi-use trail and
added pedestrian permeability into the
park
number 13 indicates the formalization of
a ped bike only trail along 12th Avenue
Northeast and Lake Drive this path would
be integrated into the Future Sound
Transit connection over under i-90 so on
to number 14 this area is as this area
is developed intuitive pedestrian
connections needs to be made down to
East Lake Sammamish trail and further
west
this would include safe passage for
pedestrians and bikes across East Lake
Sammamish Parkway southeast connections
to the east and north will need study
for feasibility and be implemented where
possible number 15 is identified for a
neighborhood park and/or Plaza that
celebrates views number 16 indicates the
creek corridor this is as akua's primary
north-south corridor of parks and trails
weaving through the valley floor for the
entire length of the city this corridor
serves as the anchor and primary feature
of is across Park System this corridor
will be a mix of natural and built
environments the network is realized by
connecting parks trails and properties
along Issaquah Creek acquired for
riparian habitat conservation and
includes the Rainier Trail and the last
element identified on the map is number
17 Northwest Holly Street this is a bike
ped centric street that runs along
Issaquah Valley Elementary and
confluence park and connects Newport Way
mall Street the creek corridor and
Rainier trail and Front Street
I'm gonna hand it back over to Greg
really quick just look it up here the
packet just has the points that
stephanie has just reviewed and then if
jeff has the maps in his hand so you're
gonna have one of these close up at hand
too so you can use that we're gonna do
some quick arrange rearranging but
Before we jump in there any questions
that was a lot of information and
getting into this exercise might be
clearer once we get things set up but
yeah any questions why does it stop in
the middle of old town instead of going
down past sunset or into second okay
what what was what what is it Ron the
the trail or trails because I by the way
this you guys did an amazing job this is
such a relief to see other than the
Green pearls so so I think Trish
answered it and what I was speaking to
here is this this goes all the way to
the southern edge of the city okay we
just were not talking about that tonight
that's all right right I would just add
as you're getting the map as well again
I know this is a ton of info the
narrative that's all around the map I
think provides some great descriptions
as well so just as you are embarking on
this exercise and as you're digesting
all this information tonight
and maybe in the next day or two
certainly any comments or feedback you
have on any all that info will be
helpful as well we're ready to set up
and we have five groupings of images and
so we were going to kind of grab the
five five biggest tables we have here
and just get a little bit of space
between them and then
kind of let you guys self-police
yourselves into maybe five groups
tonight it looks like maybe three to
four per table so you have the ability
to kind of circulate around and see all
the images will go 10 to 15 minutes we
were we can go as long as 15 for each
grouping but we think maybe it'll kind
of pick up once everybody kind of starts
getting the hang of it
and the idea Gregg is to these group
everybody's gonna move to every table
eventually yes yeah so we'll rotate
about every sorry about every 10 or 15
minutes will will kind of move the
group's to the next table so he gets a
chance to see all the all the images
doesn't mean you can't you know jump to
another table if you're done and you're
ready to go but we just thought to give
it some order so we know we can get done
in the time we have this evening so okay
so when I think a couple of minutes here
just to get groupings laid out
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well
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you want to give a sense of how they're
noting like the numbers individually
just running numbers down we have so on
your mind your piece of paper that we
all if all the photos are numbered
sequentially so there once you're
waiting and then on your form you'll
fill in run through 80 next to whatever
key element you think this is a big
character in this form now we have have
one option inserted tonight and that is
what yeah I look at images and I decide
what I like about them and I just keep
track of that because this is this is a
challenging exercise and we realize that
some of us have seen a lot of this
material a few times
and you're seeing it for the first time
so if you have to modify the exercise a
little bit that's what we then what we
need is for you look at images and
identify if you like them and what you
like about them so what I hear you
saying is if you if you see an image
like this jot down the number even if
you don't associate it with as one of
the 17 of key elements just let us know
because you might even say like why you
like I like it because yeah we'll know
okay we can put it for the trail where I
like the plaza will know to put it there
whatever it is about the energy supply
so I really like you know you're 25 and
I think that's a good fit for number two
on the 25
oh yeah I know
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yeah
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yeah
I was just admiring the necklace my
spellcheck in my brain
there's actually
whatever you
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big time check
where's everyone going no it's cool
whenever you're done you can just give
it to one of us
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it's just
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cool
so do we want a huddle how do we want to
want to pull the chairs together or just
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and they're doing the big deal at the
trading
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but you're not
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not only
No
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they stuff like that they're just you
know here you been to here come on in
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okay so thank you everyone for
participating that went a lot quicker
and hopefully it was not painful to go
through and look all images we just
thought we would just do a quick check
back see if there was any feedback for
us any kind of thoughts when you've seen
all these images and how this is coming
together what will happen is that form
that you are working on will get will
get populated with the images and we're
going to go through a couple of rounds
to get the images right and probably
when it's finished there could be
anywhere between I you know six or ten
images to go with these key elements and
I think that was what we always felt
would be a successful piece to this
green necklace was to have the map along
with a series of images that everybody
could then have that that idea of what
the vision is so and be consistent with
it so but just thought we'd take a
minute since we we did kind of get
through that exercise a little bit
quicker and see if there was any
thoughts or anything anybody wanted to
share back or yeah I didn't see any
pedestrian crossing type things I didn't
see anything for the st3 although you
could probably put a trolley station
there yes and number five I had a hard
time with number five because it goes
through so much of the area that it it
has almost different ecosystems it goes
through so different even though it's
number five it's different attributes to
different parts of number four okay
I'm also wanted to break that out so on
just a couple points on Sound Transit's
so you did did you mark these comments
down for us again okay so well on that
one yeah I think we heard that a couple
of times that there weren't any images
that had that we're really with that it
was for us it's a little bit of a
crossing point but it's a crossing and
we don't know whether it's elevated or
goes under or the different ways or
actually even where it will really end
up
but I think if we make and I'm kind of
looking we might make find something to
support it at least so we have something
in there a graphic or image that we
could do that we'll do without and then
same with kind of the number-5 area so
did you you you kind of gave us the
comment that it's changing character
quite a bit
they didn't okay okay okay we you just
did there you go
there you go but that's yeah thank you
that's what we wanted to get get some
feedback one last thing and number ten I
didn't see anything that would be like
vendor resources if you wanted to create
a like for food trucks or pop tents for
refreshments on a hot summer day because
we got a volleyball events in there and
a lot of Tours gonna be going through
and there's nothing to serve those
tourists okay
nope we can great well we can get that
too that's good thanks just one thought
following up on Ron's thought about
sound transit might be good to have look
at what Sound Transit's been doing in
their stations that they've been
building and designing and see if
there's things that we like and don't
like about what they've done so far and
what might work best from for our
community from those yeah there's the
built ones and then the others that are
still planned and in construction I
think there's enough images to really
start to see what some of the character
might be and if there's you know they're
all pretty unique conditions I'm not
sure if there's like to think through if
there's one that's kind of like on this
interstate a lot of them have been and a
lot of them have been so urban yeah you
know they're just starting to work their
way out yeah - a little further away so
probably feels a little different than
anything that's been yeah and yet but
yeah that's that's the the interesting
thing with what we tried to do was use
something you you recognized some of the
exhibits you know we borrowed from some
of your design guy whose urban design
some other publications you had and put
those out to kind of see you know
still fit and if they do that's great
but then we populate with images from
other places and my that might be one
thing to do is is is we could do a
little exploration on maybe transit
stations that aren't just Sound Transit
here local because you I think it's a
good point that they're herbal and we
might be able to find some that that
have a context where maybe they are I
don't know if there's a one that's done
this lidded or something like that but
we can definitely see if there's some
images we could we could go incorporate
thank you
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all right most of these pictures talked
about an urban or designed park area
they don't talk about retaining any
functionality or benefit of retaining
the natural beauty for its own sake or
for carbon offset or for preserving or
taking in pollutants I think we need to
talk more about how we're gonna do that
within the urban core areas and also
talk about retaining the natural beauty
and let's say this is why I don't see a
plan and I'd like to see directly the
parks department be responsible for more
than just to build areas but also those
tree canopy and squawk Mountain and all
that in this concept okay well so in is
and that would be within some of the the
green corridors and things like that to
make sure we're expressing that is that
the green areas plus it's beyond it's
for all of Issaquah okay they're like
protecting the beauty of that's Issaquah
helps does the parks or should the parks
department have some responsibility for
that throughout this is koala life okay
yeah just real quick Steve great great
point so one of the points I made in the
introduction though this exercise is
about central Issaquah certainly
something we recognized in this map
really is the the necklace as it
supports and performs and is positioned
for central Issaquah we recognized as we
are working on the park plan as we're
even working on this our responsibility
just what you're saying goes beyond
these borders and we really see it as a
connected and unified system I do know
that some of the groupings certainly
spoke and had some strong images about
more passive and Natural Area parks I'm
not sure if you had gotten to those
those visuals I liked 74 through 76
pictures but for retaining natural
beauty but most of them didn't seem to
talk about that in my opinion great
respect cool Thanks
and one other thing that I forgot to
mention here and that is there are a lot
of regional bike routes that come into
Issaquah because of our mountains and so
a lot of people like to ride the
mountains and I didn't see anything for
squawk that's a really common bike path
so people go up to Forest Rim up from
sunset and then back down to a sunset ok
oh I'm sorry nevermind scratch all that
[Music]
any other thoughts or comments and we
really appreciate you participating in
this and kind of excited to see what
what we're gonna come up and we're gonna
get you know some pretty good collection
of images and things here we will kind
of do a little bit to augment this with
some of the comments so you gave us some
comments with the image and things like
that so we can add to it so there might
be some other additional images kind of
coming in to help help really kind of
give it some framework and some vision
but what we got got tonight was great
it's gonna launch us into into the last
phase of this effort to put together a
cohesive vision for the green necklace I
think you still have meeting to do or
something right oh this is it ok ok
so I guess we're gonna go ahead and wrap
it up and did we have any last comments
from the commissioners will be wrap it
up okay I'm going to actually need a
motion to in the meeting no all right
we're going to end the meeting at 8:02
yeah
all right thank you meeting adjourned
you