Arts Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the May Parks and Community Services Board meeting. Eileen is absent today, otherwise everyone else is here. We are at quorum and so this meeting is now called to order. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda?

I move to approve tonight's agenda.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Let's vote. All in favor to approve tonight's agenda say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say no. The agenda is approved unanimously. Next up, is there a motion to approve the April 2026 meeting minutes?

So moved.

Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Eric. All right, let's vote. All in favor to approve the April 2026 meeting minutes, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say no. All right, the minutes are unanimously approved. All right, next up is Oral Communications. The Parks and Community Services Board values community input and looks forward to hearing from you during its meeting. Please be aware that in compliance with Washington state campaign laws regarding the use of public facilities during an election, no speaker may support or oppose a ballot measure or support or oppose a candidate for an election, which includes your own campaign. Any speaker who begins discussing topics of this nature will be asked to stop. There are rules adopted by the City Council limiting the topics about which the public may speak during our meetings. Under Ordinance 6752, the public may only speak during public comment about subject matters that are related to City of Bellevue government and are within the power and duties of the Parks and Community Services Board. Following the board's bylaws, the total time allowed for oral communication shall not exceed 30 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed to speak one time for up to three minutes. We will follow the order in which individuals signed up. If you do not get a chance to speak this evening, you are always invited to email your comments to us at parkboard at bellevoix.gov. So now I'll turn it over to Ryan, who will read names from the online and in-person sign-in sheet.

Thank you, Chair. We have three pre registered speakers this evening. Excuse me. And there's also one written communication that I'll get to after those three. So our first speaker this evening is Amy Hirotaka.

Yes.

Hi, and thank you for your time this evening. My name is Amy Hirotaka. I am a fourth-generation Japanese-American Yonsei. My great-grandparents and grandparents were farmers in Bellevue and returned some years after the war. My father graduated from Sammamish High School here in Bellevue, and except for their incarceration at Pinedale and Tule Lake and the time directly following, my family has lived and worked in this region for over a century. I'm here tonight representing Isan Bellevue, a community-based nonprofit organization. We celebrate the history and resilience of the Japanese American community in Bellevue through place-based art installations and historical markers of remembrance. Our purpose is to increase knowledge and understanding of the agricultural history and contributions of Japanese Americans in Bellevue and the surrounding areas, to share the impact that racism and incarceration had on this once-thriving community, and engage current and future Bellevue residents with local history. Most recently, as many of you probably know, Isan collaborated with King County Parks and local artists for installations along East Rail and the Northeast 8th Street crossing, which was the site of the former Bellevue Growers Association packing and shipping warehouse. Prior to World War II, this was the only location from which Japanese-American farmers could distribute their produce. My hope tonight is to honor the experience and legacy of the Bellevue Japanese American community through the naming of this special park. I'd like to thank the City of Bellevue for their partnership throughout this process, and thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Our next speaker is Scott Lampe.

Thank you very much. My name is Scott Lampe, and I'm pleased to be here, Chair Klima, Councilmember Breyer, and Parks Board members and staff. I just briefly wanted to introduce myself tonight. I'm here representing the Maiden Bower Bay Neighbors Association. We've been an organization since 2007, and just over the last six months, I was named the president of the organization. And we have an 11-member board that's been actively engaged in the whole first phase of the park. And now the second phase of the park, we have folks that live right on Lake Washington in the condominiums around there and also representatives of the Maiden Bower Bay Yacht Club. And I want to express our gratitude. Several weeks ago, you're new here. member of the staff here, Wyatt Thompson, took us on a really nice walking tour there. And it was an opportunity for all the board members to firsthand sort of express a lot of our views. And I know that Wyatt had just moved here, coincidentally, from Manhattan, Kansas. It's a small world thing. He and I actually grew up in Western Kansas. Well, couldn't be more different than it is here. But anyway, look forward to working with Wyatt and the rest of the staff. And also, I guess a couple of things that the MB&A has been really pleased about. In the original master plan for it, it had actually planned to close 100th Avenue, and that's being left open now south of Main Street, which is a huge help to congestion in that area. And the other thing that has changed has been on 99th and Lake Washington, there was going to be sort of a community center, and that's been either completely eliminated or certainly postponed, which we think that'd be a real difficulty getting access in and out of that. So anyway, I, again, just wanted to briefly introduce myself and Of course, that park, we're really excited because it's going to be such a key element of the park system and at the terminus of the Grand Connection. So look forward to hopefully speaking for you again in the future. And again, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you. And our next preregistered speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

Give me a little bit time. It's very complicated for me. Oh, time. It's good. Less you talking, better for everybody. My name is Alex Zimmerman. I'm president of Stand Up America. I'm a 50-time candidate for election. Seven times, Bell will prosecute me. Seven times, all cases dismissed. And for the last three years, from 24 to 25, Mayor Robinson, together with Mohammed, gave me trespasses for three years. I call Mayor Robinson a dirty, cheap prostitute because they did this because a candidate against her. And Muhammad, a mayor, I don't know, I need crying or I need laughing. I need to decide what has happened now. Yeah, so right now I want to speak about something. Yeah. For probably 10 years in every meeting, I talk why you don't show faces because I speak around 5,000 times from Tacoma to Everett, and everybody show faces. You only one place who not show faces. Council member here always in no one council for 10 years ask or answer me why you don't show us faces. Because Alex Zimmerman? I think there's only one reason. And you dirty Nazi bastard never give me this answer. Are you all idiot? Mayor Robinson, 12 years ago, totally cut us a fundamental First Amendment free speech. Make 30 minutes and only 10 seconds. 10 people. You can see this in camera and I repeat this, you know this in every meeting. Because Alex Zimmerman bad boy. Can you answer me somebody maybe? Bellevue Council can answer this idiotic situation. When Alexei Mermin was a bad boy, why 150,000 people cannot speak? Can somebody answer? And I ask you about this many times, and you're all quiet. Why quiet? Because you're degeneratively idiotic. That's exactly who you are. You cannot find another answer. Yeah. So right now, today, three years later, My trespass is gone. What is Mayor Robinson? Did this. For this, I call her cheap, dory prostitute.

Can you speak about topics that are within the power and duty department?

It's exactly about government. You interrupt me again. You're not polite. It's not good. You're doing this in every meeting. Remember, I told you this in every meeting. So situation very simple. Viva Trump. Viva new American revolution. Stand up, slave, and happy cow. And guys, stop and steal us money. Billion. What is you doing? Nazi bastard. Thank you very much.

I want to let the public know that the Bellevue Parks and Community Services Board does not condone hateful or offensive speech from any individual. While we would prefer people refrain from making these types of comments, the board respects an individual's First Amendment free speech rights. Individuals are allowed to express their thoughts or feelings, whether we agree with them or not.

Thank you, Chair. So that ends our pre-registered list this evening. We will open up the floor if there's anyone else who wishes to speak. So we'll start with the folks in this room. If you'd like to speak, please raise your hand or come on up.

I just wanted to come say hi. Heather Truskas, former Parks Board member. I just wanted to come sit on this side of the table for a change. But I'm a board member of ESAN Bellevue, along with Amy, and just wanted to express how wonderful it has been to work with Parks staff on the... project for the park, Main Street Park, and looking forward to hearing your conversation today with regards to the naming. But this is a really incredible opportunity to tell a very important story in Bellevue's history and to honor the legacy of the Bellevue Japanese American community. So thank you and thanks for all your service and nice to see everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the room who wishes to speak? Yeah, please come on up.

Hello. I'm not going to take three minutes. I came here kind of on a whim, too, because I think I believe I sent an email earlier this Monday, I think, and I was talking about the pickleball and tennis and how there's a lot of pickleballers on tennis courts. And like... Lately, I went out and every time I go out to play tennis, I saw there's always pickleballers on the tennis courts. And I feel like it's a little bit crowded. And if there's anything that we could do about that, like make more tennis, sorry, pickleball courts. And I also saw that there's a lot of basketball courts where there hasn't been any players on them. And then I think... If it's possible, we could incorporate some pickleball courts on the basketball courts to make it have more courts available. Because I feel like it's really hard to find the already scarce tennis courts to play on. And yeah, that's it.

I'm sorry. I should have asked you to state your name.

Oh, sorry. I'm Angela.

Thank you.

I ask for clarifying. I'm just . Where were you referencing?

Oh, Somerset, like around Somerset area. Thank you. Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else in the room who wishes to speak at this time? I think that's it for the room, our virtual room. If anyone online would like to speak, please raise your virtual hand. OK.

Nicole Myers.

Hello. Hello. My name is Nicole Myers and I appreciate all the work that's been done to commemorate the things that the Japanese community has done within Bellevue. I noticed for this particular area, even though perhaps the policies don't allow us to recognize individuals, that this appears to be the area where the Matsuzawa Suzuki Farm was, according to the, I'm sorry, I do have a toddler here.

And, okay.

Apologies. I'm going to try to run away from them. I also wanted to... that there were some happy things that were done with youth in the community. And Seinen Kai was one example of a Japanese youth club that existed in Bellevue. I think around 1930, there was also the Bellevue Judo Club. And an individual there named Toyogo Yoshino who was remembered as someone who loved teaching kids. And he was heavily involved in the formation of that club. I did want to find examples of more individuals to highlight some of their contributions. And I'm sorry, I didn't have time to do more. But I just wanted to thank you again for all the work that's been done to recognize the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers or folks online who wish to speak? Not seeing any. One other thing I will mention this evening as part of oral communications, we did receive a written communications. You may have seen it. It is in your park board email inbox arrived today from a person's name is Gordon Paulson. And they had some interesting and concerns around the docent program at Bellevue Botanical Garden. staff are looking into this and we'll be working on that. So I wanted to let you know if you'd like to look at that further. And I believe that is it. I'll turn it back to you, Chair, to close oral communications.

Yeah, and maybe we'll get some follow-up on that, like an email form. Okay, thank you. Yeah, thank you so much, Ryan. That concludes oral communications. Now we'll jump to the next item.

Oh, we have one person who just raised his hand.

Oh, I think, yeah, okay. I think it's okay.

Yeah, sorry. Right on the cusp. We have one more oral communication. So someone online is joining us.

Hello, good evening, and thank you for all the great work that you do. My name is Janelle Martin, and I am one of the former docents from the Bellevue Botanical Garden. And I sent an email earlier because last week, the docent program at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, which is a city park, was ended without any input and without any of our We, as well, many of us, I will just speak for myself, were a little shocked by this because we are the history keepers for the Bellevue case. botanical garden. We tell the valuable stories and we work with all the wonderful guests who come there. And Gordon, another docent, sent something and we would appreciate If you might look into this a little bit further and tell us what we might do to continue being docents. Thank you.

Thank you. All right.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. So now we've concluded oral communications. We'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is city council communications. So I'll turn it over to Council Member Breyer.

Hello, it's a pleasure to be here. It's great to meet you, Commissioner. I don't believe we've had the privilege of meeting yet. I was absent last meeting on medical leave, but should be here for the rest. So great to see you. So we actually got our briefing yesterday from Issan Bellevue. Yes, the individual that was presenting to us is here as well. We did have a colleague that was interested in expanding the naming process to all members that are Asian American in Bellevue, but I pushed back respectfully because I figured it would be best to have... or I guess personally and as the council liaison to the parks board, was interested in having Ehsan Bellevue be sort of the main contributor to the naming process. Would love for you to chime in on that as well. And I know that the Art Commission was also interested in potentially collaborating should there be any art installations that happen. I don't know if that's a direction that's going to be taken for this park or the, I think there's reflective elements that may be included in the planning, if memory serves me correctly. I'm getting a nod, so maybe that means yes.

Yes, it's early in the conceptual phase, but that could be an option, yes.

And if they would like to be brought along, or if that's something that the commission is interested in, it would be cool to see that type of cross-functional collaboration, but just an idea. We also, as a council, approved to send a letter to Sound Transit yesterday urging sub-area equity. It looks like we are going to get our four-line established, meaning we're going to get a train from Bellevue to Kirkland. which is pretty exciting. They said the implementation will be 2050 and I was like, okay, I'm gonna be like 52 by then. So can we do it any sooner? We're trying to find some creative ways to find ways to expedite that hopefully way before 2050. I also finalized some MFT updates for HOMA, meaning more development and crossroads in Newport Hill shopping areas and working with developers to provide financial incentives. And we also had a recent commission appreciation event where I had the pleasure of awarding most of you that are here for your incredible work. I'm thanking Commissioner Paul Clark as he finishes his term and promising to continue to advocate to leashing our dogs. Though that's not his legacy. It should not be contained to that because he's contributed far more than that. But yeah, there was like, no, I'm joking. But that is all I've got on my end.

All right. Thank you, Council Member Breyer. Does anyone have any questions about this topic?

No?

All right. So next up is Director's Report. So I'll turn it over to Assistant Director Cameron Parther.

Thank you. Just two items. One is to just confirm and make sure you all have gotten invitations to July 4th with your opportunity to RSVP for that event. It's a particularly special year this year with a 250th sort of anniversary of the United States being celebrated. It's also overlapping with some of the World Cup action will still be in town. So it's going to be a full house at Bellevue Downtown Park. We're sure it could be the largest attendance we've had. So we'll see how it all turns out. So all the more reason to take advantage of your VIP privileges and attending that event. The other thing I wanted to spend a few minutes on is just taking a bittersweet moment to honor and bid adieu to Paul, this being his last meeting. We have a couple things to provide for him, as well as the legacy does go well beyond off-leash dog and leash dog issues, for sure. Paul was first appointed in 2018. and is completing eight years of service. reappointed in 2022. He served as a vice chair in 2022 and chair in 2023. And just to give you, I had to write this down because I couldn't keep it all in my head. But during that time, Paul was involved in so many different projects, including both phases of Maiden Bower Bay Park phase one. I think you just got in for phase one.

Barely. I got a free hot dog.

That's right. That's right. So that counts. Fully involved in all the phase two work that has gone on as well. The more recent projects like Eastgate Commons, reaching back a little ways that we had development and redevelopment at Surrey Downs Park, Newport Hills Woodlawn Park, which I believe, if I remember right, you came up with the name Woodlawn Park.

Well, we all agreed, but yeah, it was...

We got a little stuck on that naming process. And Paul, you, I think you were chair at the time, if I remember, or vice chair?

No, I think Heather was chair. Okay. Because we were doing it on Zoom.

Yes. Oh, that's right. Okay. I just remember we were having the discussion and in typical form, Paul had done a significant amount of homework looking at park names across the region and offered that suggestion, which ended up sticking. for that beautiful park. The Airfield Park master plan adoption, Ashwood Park as well. And then we get into numerous parks and open space system plans, comprehensive plan updates, neighborhood plan updates, recreation plan updates. Exactly. A few accredited, maybe two accreditation cycles. I believe, and then it would be several budget cycles as well. And worth noting there, Paul had a big part in the drive behind the 2022 parks levy as well. So that particular legacy will definitely live on as we work on those projects that were identified in that program for that levy program. So with all of that, just a heartfelt thank you from the staff and the city for your service and the years that you spent advocating for parks and community services. Thank you. We heard you may have visited downtown park a time or two.

I may have visited all sorts of different parks.

So that was something to hang on the wall.

I don't know if you can see it at home, but it's beautiful sunset. Yes, thank you.

Thank you, Cameron. So now we'll turn it over to board communications. We'll start from one end of the table and go around and to see if all this might be a good time. So yeah, we'll start it with Eric.

Pick it off. Thank you, Paul, for all your service. I think it's important that community members get involved with the communities they live in. And you've done that for the last eight years and then some greatly appreciate it. And I look forward for us to maintain and build on the relationship. I've only known you for about a year now, but I look forward to growing that. Thank you. Most know that about three weeks ago, I finished my prior career and have had a little bit more time. So I got a little bit more to talk about this time. I'll try and keep it brief. I attended the Great Neighborhoods, Victoria and Eastgate community input sessions that were there. I know we're going to get a presentation on that. I was really impressed and I'll save some of my comments for Q&A when we get to them. And I appreciate staff putting that on and opening up and gathering input from the community. It's always important whenever the city is going to be making decisions that are going to impact them that they're allowed to give that input. So I really appreciated that. I attended Piranha. Am I pronouncing this right? Piranha, the Asian Indian festival at Crossroads Park. Amazing food, amazing culture. You got to go through, you got a passport and got your passport stamped every time you learned, went to a learning station. Um, and I learned a lot that I, I did not know. Uh, so I was appreciative that that community within Bellevue shared that with us. Uh, we also had, um, my wife and I, uh, walked the paths and, and trails between Phantom Lake and Larson Lake Blueberry Farm there. And, uh, I, not that that's of note, but what I found interesting was at both lakes, we had people that were fishing and I'm a fisherman and I enjoy doing that, but I was amazed to find out that those lakes here within Bellevue are naturally stocked. They're not stocked by the fish and wildlife. They naturally occur there and people were catching things. So it's nice that we have that in our backyard. Um, I, had the opportunity also to hike the Coal Creek Trail, and it was right after the windstorm we had the Friday prior. Lots of downed trees and branches. I cleared what I could. I saw other hikers doing the same, but I had passed on communications over the park's information line. I'm hoping that I might get some follow-up on that. I didn't ask for follow-up at the time, but The more I thought about it, I was thinking I'd like to hear on that. So I'll follow up with that myself. This Saturday is part of the Keep Bellevue Beautiful program, and they're doing cleanup at Killarney Creek Park there in West Bellevue. I plan on being there. I hope to see others of the community there. Of particular note, we're getting into boating season and the 40th boat launch. Um, I've noticed in the past that there's lots of parking violations, not that that's the parks job. That's the police department's job. I was hoping chief Shirley, and I know that is very low on their priority dealing with parking, but it's a very limited time of year for people to be able to get their boats out of that launch. And you have people that don't have boats parking in the stalls there that prevent, uh, boaters from being able to use that facility. Um, And that's all I've got for now. But thank you. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Eric. Elizabeth? So I wasn't quite as busy as Eric was, at least not in the parks. But yes, I will. I'll get there someday. So I wanted to, first of all, thank Paul for your service. I want to say, Paul, one of the things that you leave with me is your dedication to a theme of connectedness. In so many of our discussions around planning, you would bring up this idea of connectedness in the trails. And I think that's really left its imprint on our overall parks direction, not just for one single park, but how we're thinking about the parks as a whole. And it makes it so much more accessible to so many more people. So thank you for that. Really appreciate your leadership in that area. From my side, what I was doing was, well, we had one sunny day, so I did go to Phantom Lake. I did note that people are still using our Robinsland kind of workaround because it's still very hard to get out of the lake. And I know that there may be things that we can do about this. There may not. But I just wanted to bring up that that will just continue to be an overflow place. I also wanted to say that I had the opportunity to speak with some folks who found out that I was on the Parks Board and I asked them, what are your big issues? A number of people echoed what Angela, one of our speakers today, mentioned, which is a lack of opportunity to play in certain popular areas, especially for sports that are popular in that area. So for soccer fields, hey, where can I get a pickup soccer field? They're all taken. How can I book that at the last minute? So that opportunity for spontaneous play, especially for adults, was noted by some of the folks that I spoke to. Another was not directly connected with botanical gardens, but they had noticed a lot of non-native species in our, not invasive species, but just not native to the Pacific Northwest in the park's landscaping. And they asked if we had programs related to eventually replacing those with native and bee-friendly species. And I did not have an answer for them, but I thought that was a really great point because we have a lot of beautiful flowers around here.

So that's it from my side. Thanks, Elizabeth. Michelle?

Hey, Paul. Thank you again for your services. I think I've been on the board for about three years now, to be honest, maybe four. We're close here there, but you've always been on the board. And, you know, obviously outside of this board, you're very engaged in the community. I think you've, you know, coming into a board for the first time, you know, you're always looking to others to figure out how to do this. And what can we say? What can we do? What should we push on? What should we ask? And you're a really great example to all of us. So thank you so much. On my side, as you guys know, I have young children, so I'm actively in the parks most every other day. Very grateful for the extended sun. We can go out even later, keep them busier. They can go to bed earlier. So very much appreciate that. I still want to continue looking into, as we prepare for winter, how do we know which parks have lighting? What options are there? I feel like usually when you're in the middle of winter, you get to 5 p.m. and there's very few options for where to go. So I think having a little bit more guidance for parents to figure it out. I think I called this out a couple of meetings ago, but some of the Bellevue schools have closed off access to their playgrounds for parents after hours. That used to be an option. So I think a lot of folks are kind of hovering into very busy parks. As you can imagine, kids are fighting for the playgrounds at particular hours, which is amazing. But also, you know, again, our services are completely needed and used and talks about the great parks that we have that they're so popular. But I do, you know, I agree that even during these most popular periods of time, somebody called it out. The basketball courts are kind of always empty, though. You know, as you were mentioning it, you know, it's definitely one of those. I use the basketball courts to practice scootering and bike riding with my little ones. There's never typically anybody using it. So that could be something to look at. I don't know how we could measure activity or usage of some of the older elements that have been there for a long time. But if there's opportunity to kind of put something that would be more popular now or for the current population, I'd love to consider that and help out. And as I go and check out parks, I'll let you know what time and what was happening in my reports. So happy to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Steve?

Well, thank you for your service. And I still remember first time meeting you. You were interviewing me when I was not a board member yet. And look at what type of decision you made. But I appreciate... all the insights that you bring to the board. I know you are somebody who's very prepared and gives insights to all the different decision-making process during over the year. So again, thank you. And do remember to visit us. That's right. And as for me, the past month, I went to the Bellevue Downtown Park and did some exercising, walked around the laps, did some laps over there. And I did notice people were feeding ducks. And then also the water was a little bit opaque. So those are just some comments I had. In terms of the cleanliness of the park, I thought when I was walking there, it was really clean, no garbage flying strewn about. So again, my wife and I are always very impressed with the professionalism of the service people as doing the cleaning, picking up after the visitors. So Overall, I think that is the comments that I have right now.

Thanks, Steve. Paul, would you like to go next?

Yeah. Oh, turn on the mic.

Turn on the mic.

Yeah, maybe I'll figure out how to do this someday. Before I ramble through a few of these points, I did want to... reference the basketball, tennis, pickleball issue, because as maybe some of you remember, pickleball was a huge issue. I use the word pickleball activist community, which is a real thing in Bellevue. Real people, real organization, real data collection. And one of the things they did to get those eight to 12 courts at Airfield, for those of you who weren't part of that process, is they came to us with hard usage data on where the temporary courts were how much they were being used what the lines were what the wait times were and that's why i definitely echo michelle's point about and i know it's hard with concerns about surveillance legitimate concerns about surveillance we don't want to create a big spy network but we also would really benefit from some anonymized data on how much these courts are used to try to better load balance those things scarce resources and i've My old college roommate lives in the area, and he is a tennis player. And he was less than enthused when I spoke to him about the pickleball advancements. So it's not easy, but that data would be invaluable. With respect to a few points, there's not that many on the way out the door here. I did want to really emphasize, though, that your work here matters. sometimes our political culture gets obsessed with executive offices like presidents and mayors and governors and whatnot. But I believe the heart of our system, the way the founders intended it was for the legislature to be at the heart of our system. And As evidenced by Council Member Breyer's schedule today, she can't be everywhere at once. She can't be at every public feedback meeting, every chance that we put up some poster boards and ask community members to talk to us about what they think. And that face-to-face community engagement is valuable. If we want to have... responsive government, which, I mean, who doesn't, right? Somebody has to help. And all of you here are doing that. And so thank you for sacrificing your nights and the Wednesdays of the random weeks where you're at community centers and whatnot, talking to folks in the community, being the face of the council and providing that initial recommendation. So thank you for that. It's important. It's actually essential. And It's associated with a kind of a frustration we all have, which is that. In about a month, you're probably going to have to listen to a hateful, vile and insulting public comment from some buddy. And I hope you can keep in mind that you're doing your part to propagate forward these incredibly sacred First Amendment freedoms that we have, because you don't need First Amendment freedoms if you're not saying obnoxious or controversial things in the minds of at least some of the listeners. And so hopefully as you persevere through that, and I know Chair Klima has the most difficult job as the gavel hovers. I've only done it for a year, but it's a frustrating thing to do. Thank you for your... Scrutiny on that. Please understand how important it is that we go through that. I'd love it if we had a level of maturity sometimes where we didn't have to do that, but it's still incredibly important. And finally, I did want to... Thank Council Member Jennifer Robertson. She's not here, but she gave me that appointment in 2018. Just one of the most incredible people who's ever served on our council, incredibly knowledgeable. Thanking her again for her discernment, I guess. I'm kidding. And thanks to all the park staff. I mean, Director Foran, Director Shiasaki. I haven't actually met Director Pettit, but... I'm sure the department's in good hands. Thanks also to Cameron, the Shelleys, Ryan, Scott, Miriam Zarian, and so many others that I've had the chance to work with over the years. We truly have an elite park system in Bellevue, this truly S-tier level park system that only happens because of a thousand things behind the scenes. And most of it's not us. We're an essential part of it, but most of it is the staff. And so thank you so much for serving the city in the way that you do. And Most of all, thank you to Rowena. You have been great for so many years, taking the gavel and running with it. And I am very, very proud of seeing you and your leadership on this board. So I'm leaving optimistic here, looking forward to Ashwood Airfield, Bellred, more Maiden Bower. There's always more Maiden Bower, it seems. But with that, yeah, let's get the dogs leashed. Thanks.

Thank you, Paul. So a few words for Paul. It's been great serving on the board together. Some of my favorite memories of us include insisting you drive the golf cart during our retreat at the Bellevue Golf Course, us climbing the bamboo play structure at the opening of Bridal Trails Valley Creek Park, and then us awkwardly saying hi to everyone at Kelsey Creek Sheepshire. I really appreciate how you always showed up to events outside of our board meetings, listened to our neighbors about City Matters, and then brought what you heard from the community into our discussions. I appreciate all the work you did. You were a fabulous member, vice chair, chair, and also mentor to me. Thank you, Paul, for your dedication of all of you. And I look forward to seeing what you do next. Kind of weird because I was going to bring up some boring communication stuff. Did I do that now? Or just move on? I'll run really quick. I'll run really quick. Okay. Earth Day pulled Invasive Ivy at Wilburton Park with a dozen enthusiastic neighbors. Checked out Earth Fest. That was really awesome. And then another good example of Paul always showing up. We went to the Bell Red Park community meeting together and heard a lot of interesting things. Saw lots of fun comments about parks and arts. um favorite comment was someone wants it to be a cool park but not too cool because it'll get crowded so they're worried you guys would make it too cool that's the risk um and there's a survey out now uh so please spread it with your neighbors about the bell red park so you could get a lot of uh preliminary ideas of this first part okay sorry about that and with that that could concludes board communication All right. So thank you again, Paul, for all your work. So the next item of our agenda is the East Gate and Factorio neighborhood planning. And our presenter tonight is Justin Panganiban, Senior Planner of Community Development of the Community Development Department. Thank you so much, Justin, for joining us tonight.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. Good evening, Chair Klima, Vice Chair Valverde, members of the board and public. Tonight, we are very excited to share our progress on the Great Neighborhoods program for Eastgate and Factoria. We launched this work back in August of 2025 with council to update neighborhood area plans for these two neighborhoods. And over the last nine months or eight to nine months, we've heard from over 1,200 different people across 31 events really wanting to share their vision and ideas for how they want to see the future of Eastgate and Factoria grow. And this feedback was used to craft draft plans that lay the foundation for future neighborhood improvements. And so the policies tonight that we'll be reviewing were shared with the public earlier this month. And we are in the process of hearing from the community boards and commissions before we take an updated set of policies to the planning commission in June with the full draft. So the input that we hear tonight will be incredibly valuable. So this meeting is information only, although we invite a discussion tonight on how draft policy supports park recreation and open space needs for both these neighborhoods. So a formal recommendation is neither requested nor required from this board, but the feedback from the session will be shared with the Planning Commission as they provide direction to staff and consider different inputs when they provide that input to staff. So we would like for this discussion to focus on any gaps or areas of opportunities to consider around these policies for Eastgate and Factoria. And we will kind of take that feedback, iterate on the language of the policies, and then share that back with Planning Commission when we come to them in June. So for tonight's agenda, we'll go over the overall neighborhood planning process, why it matters, what we're pulling together. We'll discuss the different elements that comprise the neighborhood area plan. We'll walk through what we've heard from the community over the last eight months, and then spend time talking about the draft Eastgate and factorial policies. I think we'll leave about 15 minutes of discussion for each of the plans. There's a lot of content, so I hope to be as concise as possible, but to also be clear in terms of the content in front of you. So to provide some background on the program, it was initiated by City Council back in 2018 to update all of Bellevue's 16 neighborhood areas, many of which have not been updated for several decades. And so the primary objective of this neighborhood plan update is to create plans that are relevant, community-driven, and reflective of both citywide and local priorities. And this is done by engaging the community who lives, works, plays and learns in these communities so that their input shapes the plan outcomes. These plans serve as a guide for decision making and informs how the city will partner with others to realize a 10 to 20 year vision for that neighborhood. And to date, we've completed four neighborhood area plans. So Eastgate and Factoria would make our fifth and sixth plan that we are updating. Neighborhood Area Plans are part of Bellevue's Comprehensive Plan, which is the city's overall guiding document for how the city grows and develops over the next 20 years. And the vision, goals, and policies in the plan describes what the city wants to achieve while also balancing flexibility and how the city responds to changing conditions across different neighborhoods and different populations. There are many different ways to implement a policy, whether it's investing in new facilities, creating new regulations, or supporting programs and partnerships. So a policy around parks and open space, for example, could support a built project like a park. It could support a partnership with a recreational provider, or it could support a land use provision for incentivizing or acquiring open space as part of new development. So many different avenues there. The comprehensive plan also informs our functional plans, such as the parks and open space system plan, which provides more detail and implementation specifics. And so actually in the 2022 parks and open space system plan, they identified opportunities to expand parks and open space and regional connectivity to trails for both Eastgate and Factorio. And so the neighborhood area plan is meant to reflect these opportunities and also identify other priorities that we learn from the community that might inform a future functional plan update. So to give you a sense of the actual kind of planning boundary, because these neighborhood areas are comprised of many different neighborhoods. Both these neighborhoods follow the I-90 business corridor, which historically has some of our highest concentrations of hotels and employers outside of downtown. The Eastgate neighborhood to your right includes areas on both sides of Interstate 90. And so north of I-90, you have residential areas, apartments, light industrial offices in Bellevue College. And then to the south, it's primarily residential in nature. And then bordering Eastgate is Factorio, which is bounded by I-90 and I-405, predominantly a commercial and employment center, best known for things like Factorio Mall, the T-Mobile headquarters, and is home to a number of professional services, retail, restaurants, many of which are international in nature. And beyond the commercial areas in Factorio, you also have pockets of residential to the southwest, Mockingbird Hill, as well as to the east as you head towards Eastgate. So the neighborhood area planning process is divided into four phases. In previous phases, we worked with the community to identify values and priorities and to develop a draft vision and set of priorities that should be building blocks of this draft plan. We are currently, where you can see the star, we are at the refine phase. We just kicked it off. And so we developed draft plan policies for community to review. And so I mentioned the beginning, we are getting input from the community. We are going to return to the Planning Commission in June to review draft plans, incorporate this feedback that we hear, and we intend to then go through the Planning Commission process and City Council later in the fall. So neighborhood plans are organized into five sections and there are relevant policies for this board to consider that are found in all five sections. Neighborhood identity policies focus on the physical and cultural elements that make and anchor these neighborhoods and make them unique. Mixed use and neighborhood center policies focus on our mixed use areas of the city where there is a kind of a density of services and retail and housing options. So how to make those places attractive to be in, easy to get to, have unique offerings for the community. Community gathering space policies focuses on the indoor and outdoor spaces that people go and gather and celebrate and meet others in their community. Mobility and access policies focus on how people move around their neighborhood, whether it's through biking, walking, taking transit, driving, all the kind of range of different modes. And finally, environmental policies focusing on enhancing the natural environmental qualities of both these neighborhoods. So as I've mentioned in the beginning, we've had extensive engagement to date. So we did the discover phase towards the latter half of 2025, which really focused on identifying values, opportunities, and challenges. And so the planning team engaged the community through events and platforms that reached residents, business owners, students, and many others in the community with an emphasis on those who are less likely to participate in this process. And so activities included tabling, online and mailed questionnaires, workshops, and walks with the community. And a number of those activities were summarized in the engagement reports that were part of your agenda materials. And then starting in January, we focused on developing a draft vision statement and set of urban design and policy priorities for community review. And kind of the hallmark of this particular phase was a urban design workshop that had a lot of hands-on activities, family friendly for all people of all ages to identify public space improvements and provide feedback on our vision and policy priorities. And to supplement this urban design workshop, we also visited a number of different community groups to do these types of workshop activities in their spaces. So I like to include this collage just to really emphasize that this plan is shaped by community. And we heard from many different voices and many different perspectives in many different settings. So we were in classrooms, apartment, common spaces. And as you can see on the bottom, we were even at busy arterials trying to get a sense of what these streets look and feel like and how we can look at improvements. So I'll begin with what we learned from Eastgate and the Eastgate policies, and we'll kind of wrap up the section for discussion. So in terms of Eastgate, we learned that many community members value a safe, natural, diverse, and economically prosperous neighborhood. And so some of the assets that people have called out include the neighborhood's mature trees, which largely define Eastgate's residential areas, streams, and parks. Parks is obviously another one of its key assets. So community parks such as Eastgate Park and Robinswood are just outside the neighborhood area. But there are also a number of smaller neighborhood parks like Ladowood, Sunset Mini Park, and one day Eastgate Commons. that people really just enjoy walking and spending time in. People appreciate in Eastgate the convenience of being able to access transit, go to grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops in the neighborhood, but also being able to enjoy outdoor recreation. You can get to hikes kind of within walking, driving distance from many places there. And finally, people really care about their neighbors. It's not uncommon to see people going on walks throughout the day, meeting others, really building a sense of community. So based on these values and assets, the team developed a vision statement of what Eastgate will look and feel like over the next 10 to 20 years. And this vision statement focuses on opportunities for Eastgate's diverse communities to thrive and connect, and really enhancing the neighborhood's diverse natural, recreational, and commercial assets, and really creating hubs for the community on both sides of Interstate 90. Interstate 90 is a barrier, and we recognize that there is opportunities to reconcile that barrier, but also to create vibrant hubs on both sides that serve the community. And as you can see by the bolded statements on that vision statement, there's really an emphasis on parks and open space, especially since there are very few walkable spaces for the community to gather and escape today. So I'll briefly go through the kind of the greatest hits in terms of kind of what these policies intend to achieve and we'll conclude with discussion. So just starting off with the neighborhood identity section, this set of policies really seek to enhance Eastgate's distinct qualities as a convenient, green and welcoming neighborhood. So the three policies here, from a parks and open space standpoint, is intended to achieve and foster diverse recreational and cultural amenities within the neighborhood, incorporate trees, which I said is kind of a key value, into the design of various public spaces, and to maintain the quality of trails, streetscapes, and natural areas that people really identify with in the neighborhood. For community gathering space policies, I divided them up into kind of three kind of key areas. One way that we can achieve the vision for Eastgate is through community partnerships. So there's a suite of policies focused on coordinating with organizations, churches, schools, including Bellevue School District, as well as private development to increase opportunities for cultural and recreational programming. There's another set of policies that really focused on expanding and connecting Eastgate's parks and open space network. So there are parks outside of Eastgate, there are parks inside of Eastgate, as well as an opportunity to add additional new neighborhood parks where there are gaps in park access today. And in a few slides, we'll highlight a concept map that will illustrate where some of these gaps and opportunities might be. We heard a little bit about Airfield Park. It's an important recreational asset to the neighborhood, city, and region. And it's also located in proximity to where people live, where people go to school, Bellevue College, as well as future mixed use. And so in support of the adopted Bellevue Airfield Park Master Plan and continued partnerships to help fund and design a new aquatic regional center, there are policies that really support how we continue to partner and make this park an integral part of the neighborhood area. that really resonates with the community's needs and identity. policies in the mobility and access section really focus on improving local and regional connections to destinations around the neighborhood. So as it relates to parks and open space, we have the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trail. You can see a map there of how it extends from Seattle to communities to the east. It's not yet fully complete, but will be an important regional connector. There's a good segment of East Rail, not East Rail, of Eastgate that is not complete. So policies will help support the completion of the mountains to Sound and Greenway through Eastgate, as well as foster safe connections to the trail from the surrounding neighborhood. And then to finally wrap up the suite of Eastgate policies with environmental policies, which focuses on the neighborhood's environmental assets. So you have green belts, streams, and different hiking trails. I would say streams are probably one of the most prominent features of Eastgate. You have Vassa Creek, Swibbs Creek, Sunset Creek, Richards Creek, East Creek, the list of creeks go on. And so where appropriate, we really want to emphasize policies that support the integration of recreational and educational opportunities into streams. whether that's an opportunity to integrate educational signage, hiking trails, habitat viewing areas, ways to make that a more integral part of the neighborhood experience. So how do we apply these policies? We, as part of this neighborhood plan, one key element are concept maps. And the intent of these concept maps are to take these policies and to begin locating and visualizing them within the neighborhood so community has a sense of where these potential improvements could be. And so community feedback has very much informed where these opportunities could be located. And as the name suggests, these maps are conceptual. So they're not meant to be a project list, but really help the city and partners identify where a project could be in the future, as well as support how we might implement them with a variety of partners. So to kind of go through the different opportunities that we've explored through these maps, there are things like enhancing third places or gathering spaces with the community. We tried to map where environmental enhancements could be, where potential parks might be. We sometimes have something called thresholds. That's kind of a way of saying what are visual markers that let you know that you're entering Eastgate or a special part of the neighborhood. And then you'll see in the next map just ways of improving streets, trails, and other connections so that we are creating a cohesive and connected parks and open space network. I know that we've already thrown a lot at you already, but I just want to conclude with this map because this really is meant to highlight how these policies could be applied at a conceptual level and to really create a cohesive vision for community gathering spaces in Eastgate. So to start with like those light green bubbles to the south, those are potentially kind of concepts for new neighborhood parks. This is informed by policies and community input that we've heard that there is a lack of walkable neighborhood park space south of I-90. So how do we begin to conceptually understand where those might be, how we can serve those residents and neighbors? The orange cogs that you see throughout the map represent destinations where people want to see more opportunities for indoor and outdoor gathering spaces. So we've heard everything from existing community facilities like libraries to shopping centers like Sunset Village and Eastgate Plaza. So there are opportunities for us to partner and understand how those can be stronger community assets. The purple little circles, we call them thresholds. Those are the visual markers that let people know you're entering the neighborhood. So we identified those as opportunities, particularly at the edges, to let people know that you are entering a special place through things like signage, art, and other kind of visual identification. And in tying these elements together are those blue dashed lines, which are ways through local streets and arterials to create that connected sense of walking, biking, be able to get through all these open spaces in a safe, pleasant, and convenient way. And so I'll turn it back to you, Chair Klima. Our ask kind of from staff is to get direction on whether or not these concepts provide adequate direction to inform service and investments to inform kind of the vision of Eastgate. So comments on both the policies as well as the concept maps will be helpful in terms of thinking how we might refine those before we take them to Planning Commission.

Thank you, Justin. For this discussion, maybe we could Aim, because we're a bit on time, maybe aim for 7.15. It's kind of a goal. So does anyone want to share their initial comments on the escape vision? Who wants to go first? Go ahead, Elizabeth.

So first of all, thank you so much for this. And because I couldn't attend some of those events, thank you for sharing all of the pictures of the participation that we got. That was great to see. I love the idea of thresholds. I don't know, I think that's what it was called. I don't know that we've seen that before that I remembered it, but I think we've talked a lot about wayfinding and I really appreciate that because it adds that element of beauty and connectedness to the wayfinding experience. So I loved that. And I also loved the emphasis on transportation between the parks because it is a little bit less walkable in certain parts of Eastgate. So very much appreciated that. That was really helpful guidance. We could do a lot more with Sunset Village, like... It would be fantastic to have something there. So for me, just a comment that it seems very well done and really captures some of the opportunities in Eastgate and Factoria, which are very beautiful in places. I'm just really looking forward to hearing more about how that pans out, especially along the streets, so that you don't have to kind of look above the street to see all the natural beauty. You know, I just focus on the trees when I'm walking in some of the neighborhoods, and wouldn't it be nice to be able to look around and see all of that?

Thank you.

All right.

Who would like to go next?

Eric? First, a generalized question, because it will probably simplify what I have to say. As part of the program, do we do CPTED, crime prevention through environmental design? um, is there, because a key element was public safety and we saw the community's comments. First thing on your list was safety. Um, when I attended, uh, the only policy that even came close to touching on public safety was lighting, which fantastic. That's a way. Um, but I would like to make sure that we're meeting that community's need. Obvious. I have bias here. Um, but, um, doing an actual study as part of that as it relates to environmental design to meet safety needs for whatever it is that's going in is going to be critical because Nothing else functions if people don't feel safe in that environment. And I think we only slightly touched on it. So I would like to at least see that we explore it. There may not be a need to do more, but I would like to see that we at least explored the different avenues. The last project... that got brought before us. They talked about fencing to keep the balls from going into the street. That's public safety. Proper lighting, obviously. Shelter, that becomes public safety. So seeing some intent behind the project revolving around the public safety aspect is critical as we move forward with whatever project the community decides to move forward with.

Certainly. Yeah. Thank you for your comment. And I'll say that as when we introduced the scope of the project to council when we launched in August of 2025, public safety was also a key consideration for how we develop policies and plans for Eastgate and Factoria. And we recognize that public safety is a is a multi-pronged. approach. And so design only kind of accomplishes maybe so much of that equation. A lot of it is also relying on our partnerships with different organizations, with police and fire as well. And so they all have a kind of a place in that. I would say that public safety is a lens in which we are looking at all of these different policies. So I think there are opportunities to make that more explicit where possible in the plan as well.

And I neglected to say thank you. I got a chance to talk with you that night. You represented the city very well. I got to watch you engage with others. I thought the city did a really good job of making sure that the community was heard that night by the people that were there. So thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you.

I definitely want to echo what Eric was saying and maybe strengthen it just a little bit, if possible, because what you said about maybe it's not necessary. We don't know what kind of city we're going to have in 10, 20 years. I imagine it's going to be awesome. But you just if there are small changes that we can make now to head off issues, whether it's police, whether it's fire, whether it's whatever, whether it's balls rolling in the street, I would definitely love to get ahead of that. Another thing that I found interesting, transportation issues kind of jump out to me sometimes. Page 15, I guess, what would help you get around? I see something that mirrors the transportation department data, which is after cars, the way people get around the most is walking. Yeah. Far more than transit, far more than bikes. And it's interesting how that's borne out on this. And Factorias, what is it? poll question what would help residents get around more easily in this neighborhood. And that takes a couple different forms. It could be kids trying to get down to the grocery store or the donut shop. It could be, I've got an 80-year-old kid family member who lives in a very suburban neighborhood, not that dissimilar from Eastgate. And he fills his rings every morning by walking on his neighborhood streets. And we've got them all over the city, but Eastgate has some of them, these connecting paths. They may only be 30, 40, 50 feet long, but the fact that you can get from one neighborhood, so you're not just walking around in a circle, but you can get into another neighborhood, walk around in that circle. Or maybe if you string enough of them together, maybe those... 15-year-old kids can get to the donut shop. I don't know. But that kind of thing for walkability would be incredible to see more of. There's already some. And then the last thing I was going to say, on the gathering space concept slide, you had three green sort of fuzzy circles representing kind of initial kind of darts thrown there saying, hey, it'd be great if we had parks here. That would... dovetail into the goal of closing the park's gap. I would say the one on the left is probably the most important of those just in terms of the neighborhood type and the topology. I mean, you're going to get a lot more people walking that third of a mile or more to that park based on the general flatness than you will on the two off to the right. Just a whole lot of uphill downhill over there. But other than that, great presentation. Love to see it.

Thank you. And I actually want to add a comment that came up during the open house regarding this map, because I think it would benefit the board members here. So I think another kind of neighborhood park opportunity that came up was actually north of what used to be the Eastgate Elementary School. Now will be a big picture school. I think it resonates with a couple of comments we heard already about with schools closing or not schools closing with schools kind of no longer having access to playgrounds. Like the loss of Eastgate Elementary School, I think, was a pretty big hit for the community because a lot of folks lost access to playgrounds, for example. So I think having stronger policy and concept support for having more of those neighborhood scale parks south of Eastgate, I think will be incredibly valuable for achieving the vision there. Thank you. Thank you.

Want to go next, Michelle?

Thank you so much for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. Paul covered one on the green. Maybe a question for staff, though, to follow up on that. Ultimately, what are our opportunities in those kind of highlighted spaces? I know that we have some big limitations and availability. And it was a great effort just to get Eastgate Commons put together right in the middle of a neighborhood. So I'd love to hear more about, you know, it doesn't have to come today, but in future, like, is that feasible?

to develop clicking refresh on redfin right yeah is that is that really it well not exactly but with these skate commons that's uh a little bit of what happened there um but we look for opportunities i would say you know we're looking out 20 years with these um neighborhood area plans so not so these are potential locations not necessarily that we will fill all of them but um It's where we might see opportunity. For instance, a couple are sort of aligned along streams or larger parcels where there may be more opportunity if properties are turning over, for instance. So there's a lot of variables that go into it, but a lot of it is willing landowners. A lot of it comes down to willing landowners.

Makes sense. My second question, again, willing landowners, I guess, is the theme. But one of the big policy points for Eastgate was the gathering place and Eastgate Plaza, which, again, is a huge parking lot majority of the time. I feel like it's your welcome to Eastgate neighborhood. It's the Eastgate Plaza. You know, it's getting better. I feel like a lot of neighborhoods, like the facility is, you know, the locales are great. But definitely similar to Factory, right? A lot of parking space and kind of dead space. Yeah. I know typically that would require us to develop some partnerships with the actual developers or the proprietors of those areas. And I didn't really see a policy to that effect. I felt like I saw one about partnering with Bellevue, partnering with... Sorry, I was looking at them before. But specifically, who do we partner with to make this happen in Eastgate Plaza? Specifically, I feel like we need to create or be adamant about having these partnerships.

Mm-hmm.

No idea how we do this otherwise, or we create our markers or get our parks and our canopy in these areas otherwise, right? We would definitely need their agreement. So I'm not sure what the zoning is or the current situation with that. I'm going to take a look, but I'd love to figure out what to do there.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Chair. And I think as Ryan had mentioned, as kind of like a 20-year plan, we also recognize that these policies kind of have to endure kind of other types of expected changes in the neighborhood. I think we've heard, I think earlier this session, about HOMA, Housing Opportunities in Mixed-Use Areas, And that is one of the kind of the recent land use code amendments that's looking to introduce more mixed use opportunity for what we call neighborhoods and mixed use centers in across the city, but they are pertinent to Eastgate and Factorio. So again, policies can also help support kind of as we look at these areas potentially redeveloping in the future, how we might explore partnerships that way or explore potential code updates in the future to kind of realize those opportunities.

Yeah, and I know this is going to the Planning Commission, so very important point on them helping make some code updates to make this a possibility. But faith-based organizations was the other one that we made a policy recommendation to create partnerships, which is especially important in Eastgate because it is filled with faith-based organizations. I think I don't know if you open up the map I can recall at least three or four right around just that intersection alone and they're pretty big campuses and some of them are isolated as well I don't I don't know what opportunities we've engaged with them so far but I'd love to see us explore that further and I don't know if that's limiting right because obviously a very particular type of organization I think that they have other programs that they partner with with the city too so but would love to know more.

Thank you.

Do you have a comment? Sure.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. My question is more of, I guess, process for procedure. So since we're talking about neighborhoods evolving over time, 10, 20 years, things will change, right? How are these policies, once they're adopted, how often do we review these policies? And how do we go about amending these policies?

Christopher McConkey- Great question, so the intent of the great neighborhoods program was essentially go through all of the 16 neighborhood areas, so if we do two neighborhoods per cycle. Christopher McConkey- That would be about eight to 10 years that's also aligned with when we update our comprehensive plan, so I think what's Nice is that, as we look at these neighborhood area plan updates we're also aligning aligning them with. updated citywide vision and policies as well so the intent is for us to revisit these these plans likely kind of on a decade cycle and that again that kind of comes down to making sure that these policies are evergreen so that we're still meeting the vision as things change things develop over the next 10 to 20 years.

Got it and let's say if certain policies are are adopted now but they are You know, a couple of years down the road is updated. Let's say individuals or groups, they want to petition for changes. How do they go about doing this?

Certainly. So maybe not specific to like great neighborhoods, but property owners have the opportunity to apply for land use changes to update the future land use map. And so the future land use map is the kind of the city's blueprint for like the type and scale of development we want to see in the city. So they have an opportunity to apply for that and go through the process to get that updated and that kind of impacts kind of potential future uses for that site. In terms of other mechanisms, these are broader neighborhood area plans, but there might be opportunities to focus on specific areas as the need arises. One example that I could think of is high capacity transit. There's been a lot of conversations around sound transit and what their plans are along the I-90 corridor. And so kind of depending on the work program, there might be opportunities to also revisit these plans in the future to think about kind of those changed conditions like light rail service or whatever might come to these neighborhoods. Thank you.

Thanks, Steve. And then I have one comment. Thank you so much for all these policies. My one comment is about incorporating history into the identity of the neighborhood. I think we had a discussion back where I wasn't sure where the name Eastgate came from, and I don't think there's a Westgate, so knowing that. And then I'm also bringing this up for a policy, SEGN28, for the development of Airfield Park as a community park reflective of neighborhood identity and programming needs. I was curious if maybe we could also mention history there. I ran into someone who asked if Airfield Park will be a place where you could fly drones or if there will be a plane there. And so I think it would be really nice to have some kind of history touch at Airfield Park as well.

I think it's a great comment. And actually, what is a nice fun fact is if you're driving across I-90 on 150th, there are these poles on either side of 150th that are actually hearkening back to the airfield parks days as an airfield, actually. So there's already kind of a nod to that history there. But to your point, I think history is, I think, an incredibly important part of that neighborhood.

Yeah, are we keeping the poles?

I presume so. The planet isn't doing anything about taking up poles. Okay.

Yeah. Thank you. That was my comment. A nod to the history of the area.

Thank you. It looks like we're good on time to move on to the Factorio one. I think there's a lot of shared themes that I think are between Eastgate and Factorio. So maybe some of these will be echoed as well. So I think with that, am I good to proceed? Yeah.

All right. Factorio.

So again, like Factorio, kind of right next door, similar themes, but also some very different ones as well. So when we engaged community members around kind of what they value for Factorio, safety has come up again. But there are also themes around diversity, accessibility, and affordability. Some of the neighborhood assets that were recognized, it's diverse and international retail options. The comment of Factorio being Bellevue's next international district has come up quite a bit. And people across the city, the east side and across the lake really enjoy the diverse cuisines and shops that Victoria has to offer. People also really value the neighborhoods convenience has many places to work, shop, eat, access services. So most people can meet their daily needs right in factory if they so choose. Also has great access to highways as well as the mountains to Sound Trail. So a pivotal place for people to access whether they're driving, taking transit, walking or biking. And so kind of noting that kind of that international emphasis that we hear, Factories' vision statement really focuses on fostering that global, vibrant and walkable residential and commercial community that brings together people, brings together new housing and retail opportunities. So as you can kind of see in the areas bolded and in green there, again, a focus on gathering spaces that bring people together, and then really an emphasis on bringing parks and open space in a place that actually has no parks and open space today. So in terms of policies, gathering space policies in Factorio, similar to Eastgate, focuses on those unique partnerships for developing gathering spaces. There are private properties such as Factorio Mall that people use as gathering today that I think there are opportunities to strengthen through partnerships with their property owner, through opportunities for cultural programming. I think we already have a couple city events that happen in Factorio Mall throughout the year. There's also a couple of Bellevue School District properties. There's Newport High School. There's also the former Puesta del Sol site just up the hill that are also opportunities for us to think about what our kind of opportunities to collaborate with Bellevue School District looks like. And there are also opportunities for new neighborhood parks in Factorio as well, given that there are none of that scale today. Policies around the environment in Factorio focuses on enhancing Factorio's access to nature and greenery, whether it's providing stronger connections to natural spaces that are just outside Factorio, such as Coal Creek to the south and Sunset Ravine to the east, or prioritizing introducing greenery and new tree canopy as part of future development. There's a lot of hardscape today. So really thinking about how to kind of break up the hardscape and really work with development to introduce those sustainable natural elements, I think will be pretty key. I think it's pretty self evident when you're out there. But Factorio has a very low tree canopy compared to other parts of the city. So these open space investments can also help bolster that, that need an opportunity. And I'll kind of cluster these policies together because these are really the policies that really make for a vibrant and inclusive neighborhood. So thinking about having well-maintained streets and trails that invite people to feel comfortable walking and biking and taking transit to their destinations, having actively programmed spaces and places for people to meet and bond. And then figuring out ways of really helping factories international population access important destinations and make them feel welcome in the community. So we have an international community there in terms of its businesses, an international employee committee, employee community with kind of T-Mobile and a number of other offices there. So really emphasizing how to kind of recognize that inclusivity in terms of signage, in terms of open space design, and in terms of just kind of how we foster community connections. And then to kind of take that similar concept map exercise for eSkate and to apply it for Factorio. Some of the moves that we are looking at in terms of creating that cohesive open space and gathering space network includes thinking about kind of parks throughout Factorio. So conceptually looking at opportunities on both sides of Factorio. We know that today, Factorio and Coal Creek Parkway are pretty major barriers to access, a lot of traffic congestion, sidewalks that maybe are not as wide as they should be. So really thinking about ways of really bridging these different kind of disparate parts of the neighborhood together. The orange cogs on the map represent spaces that people gather in the neighborhood today, such as Factorio Mall, Newport High School. A number of different kind of faith-based properties as well. So thinking about how we can enhance our partnerships with those places. And finally, thinking of opportunities to mark the identity of Factorio as people enter the neighborhood. So people are entering the neighborhood through the East Rail, through the Mountains to Sound, as well as through kind of the adjacent highways and neighborhoods. So thinking about how we can really recognize Factorio through those threshold moments as well. So I know that was a lot shorter because there were less policies there, but again, equally as valuable into ensuring that we are kind of achieving the desired parks, recreation, and open space investments to support Factoria's vision for gathering space as well. So I will turn it over to you, Chair Klima, again.

Oh, thank you, Justin. All right. Who would like to make a comment about the Factoria policies?

I can.

Okay. Go ahead, Paul.

So... Um, I basically only lived in two areas in Bellevue and one of them was Factorio. So I lived in work there from 97 until 2001 and different now. Um, but it's a very, very different neighborhood than Eastgate in just about every way. Um, they're both technically growth corridors. Um, but Factorio is. pretty much just a growth corridor. Whereas Eastgate is much more of a sprawling sort of, it's got just a lot of different types of, uh, cityscapes or suburban scapes in it. And so when it comes to. How do you walk around the area? How do you bike around the area? Where do you put parks around the area? It's, it's, it's, it's more like downtown even, even more so I think than, uh, Bell red in a way, um, the kind of park we're looking at in Bell red. be really hard to put in factoria um and so we do have a parking lot um i say we the private owner of factory square mall has a parking lot um whether or not there could be development incentives to to create something interesting there i don't know but um i think the assuming the city stays on the trajectory it does and that factorius as a neighborhood stays on the trajectory it does it's going to be a lot more dense at some point um i know that there has been a vision of Bactoria Square Mall to look a little bit more like what we see at Alderwood in terms of building housing and underground parking and just essentially densifying what's already a commercial area. But a few failed attempts at that. I don't know when that's finally going to take root, but I hope that we are keeping an eye on that in terms of whatever kind of park build out and trail build out that we land on, that it takes into account that there could be two, three, four X density there. in 20 years. And so what that looks like specifically, um, I don't know. It's, it's, uh, it just strikes me a lot more like a hub and spoke type situation as opposed to a more, um, I don't like a mesh network that we might have out in East Eastgate more. And I know that's, I know what's happening at crossroads and what has been happening at crossroads for decades, this kind of community gathering space happening in a private, um, um, A private property is, there's a lot, so much of that is organic. It's not, you can necessarily push on that and make it happen. But I definitely, I mean, if there's anything that we can think to do to move Factoria Square Mall in that direction, that would certainly resolve a number of the concerns or the hopes that the feedback that you showed us. Yeah, elaborated. So anyhow, very, very interesting though. And looking forward to Factoria kind of getting that, taking that next step towards what we've talked about for a long time in terms of trails, green space, and anything else. So thank you.

Thank you, Paul. Who would like to go next? Elizabeth?

I would just like to say plus one to what Paul said. I mean, if you spent time in Crossroads, you know that it's vibrant. It's full almost every day. It's hard to get a table. People are in every single shop. Plus, there's a park. There's a community center. There's a skate park. There's a youth theater. And all of those benefit everybody, including the owners of the mall and all the residents who live nearby. Wouldn't it be great if we could work with folks in factoria to do the same thing because i also go to factoria i mean they have a target how can they have the target and like if you go to factoria mall you know that they just do not have the foot traffic like no there's probably more people in like half the size in crossroads at any given time than there are in factoria i don't know i'd have to measure but it's it's drastic And so that is, I think, really important to whatever happens in Factorio. And to add on to that, the look and feel as one enters Factorio from the rest of Bellevue is, I wouldn't say dismal. It's very busy, but it's very concrete. And part of that's unavoidable with T-Mobile. but a lot of it does have to do with the street scapes. And so I was really glad you brought up those street scapes because just making that single, I think we all, you all know what I'm talking about. Like that one road where there's Victoria Boulevard. Yes. If we, that street scape were more green and inviting for people and cyclists and the people who work there would be fantastic. So really looking forward to seeing what we can do there. But I noticed that you had that green space, like a public, potentially a park right by the mall. And I think along that Boulevard would make a big difference.

Thank you.

Eric?

Yeah, I concur with all those comments. I frequent Factorio frequently. Just because that's where I live. And all the comments resonate with me because there is no place when we want to go to the parks or trails. You've heard me mention we're going out of factory to do it. So I selfishly am invested in where this goes. And then my comments regarding public safety apply here as well. So I want to make sure that whatever we decide to do, it's a welcoming, inviting place that people feel safe. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thanks, Eric. Steve?

So can you turn to the slide relating to the, I guess, walkability and... Here? Yeah. Another one. Oh, one more? Okay. Further up, up, up, up. I guess the state that we are thinking of adopting. So one of the things that, one of the key words here is a walkable pedestrian oriented design and complimented by strong access to transit and regional transit. So I'm just thinking like, Every time I go there, I'm in my car. And so when I'm driving on Factorio Boulevard, I see cars. And I guess one of the things that if we put up a mission statement like that where it's walkable, pedestrian, is that too much emphasis on walkability and pedestrian mobility? Because that area is, you know, I go in there to grab stuff and I drive out. So I'm not sure what the people who are in those neighborhoods are thinking in terms of, okay, do they really want a walkability? You know, do they want us to adopt something, a vision statement that says, hey, we want it to be very walkable?

Yeah. That's a great question. And I think it comes down to Factorio kind of serving many different types of people. There are people who live in kind of residential areas kind of outside of Factorio Boulevard that walk to access grocery stores or restaurants. There's also a huge student population in Newport High School. If you go out there during lunchtime, you have students walking down Factorio Boulevard walking. to go to TNT and other restaurants and grocery stores. So I think there is a benefit to walkability. I think part of it is understanding that balance of how we balance the needs of different modes in Factorio and recognizing that there is also going to be a potential future state where high-capacity transit will also influence how people move around Factorio as well. It's also kind of interesting that South Bellevue Station is close to Factoria, but it's also very difficult for people to get there today. So I think that's all kind of part of the calculus as to kind of its walkability and also these other aspects of getting around. Okay, okay.

Yeah, so I guess that sentence I would, you know, maybe balance it out a little bit more, at least from my perspective. And maybe... I would like to stress a little bit more on public transportation. I know it's there, but I guess it's not bolded in green.

Gotcha.

It was only bolded in green because I was trying to focus on the open space ones, but yes. It will be unbolded in the final statement. I got it. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you for your comment.

Do you have a comment? okay and then uh mine is another nod to history the name factoria was it full of factories for both oh maybe you can watch about new tv history minute that i did probably 15 minutes ago that says how factory got its name oh okay so yes it's supposed to be a factory all right so i have to watch okay that's good oh what were you gonna say

Did you know that there is a Southgate grocery store in Factorio?

A South what?

Southgate.

Oh, no.

Really? It's like a Korean, a mini-mart that sells Korean products, but it's called Southgate.

Okay. So now we have an Eastgate. Southgate. We need a Westgate and then a Northgate. Southgate.

And yes, the focus on pedestrian safety, I'm really excited about that.

I do

Like sometimes I'll drive, it's kind of, I feel weird, like, oh, let's, we watched a movie at the AMC and then drove across the street to eat dinner. And I felt a little silly doing that, but yeah, I look forward to, uh, uh, all the work you guys are doing to help increase pedestrian safety as a focus for this area.

Thank you, Chair Klima. And I'll maybe add just to the history point for one other item is that in our plans, it's not just policies, it's also narrative. And so we're, as part of the plan, we also are explaining a little bit more about like the history of both these neighborhoods. So that hopefully will build the through line in terms of here's some of the kind of the historical context for these neighborhoods. And when we talk about a history policy or how that applies into the built environment, I think hopefully that'll make it clear how that can be expressed. So thank you.

Sounds exciting. All right. Any final questions for Justin?

Well, thank you for your time. I just want to just conclude. Oh, no. I wanted to just kind of emphasize that what we heard tonight is super valuable. What we'll do is we take back this feedback we hear from boards and commissions. We prepare an engagement report that we share with planning commission at their study session. So we'll capture that there as well as part of our agenda memo and presentation. So rest assured, the feedback that we hear tonight will be a part of the inputs that planning commission will consider when they provide staff with direction. So thank you so much for your time tonight.

Awesome. Thank you for all your work, Justin, and for presenting this tonight. Okay. So next item on the agenda, we're going to discuss naming recommendations for the park at Main Street and 112th Avenue Southeast. Our presenters tonight are Betsy Anderson, Senior Planner of the Parks and Community Services Department, and Susan Ulup. Sorry, Ulup.

um capital project coordinator of the parks and Community Services Department thank you for joining us tonight thank you chair klima and vice chair Valverde and board members it's wonderful to be here with you this evening my name is Betsy Anderson joined by Susan and we're excited to be sharing some information with the board about a relatively new park in Valdez Park system and also we'll be seeking the board's recommendation for a name for the park As part of this evening's presentation we're also going to be providing some background information about how the park came to be in the system, as well as a partnership that the city has been undertaking with the organization Issan Bellevue and you heard a little bit about that from Councilmember Breyer's report, as well as oral communication. Issan Bellevue is devoted to commemorating Japanese American heritage here in the city. So to that end, this evening's presentation is in two parts. So the first part of the agenda will be focused on that background information and context that the board needs to inform deliberation about the name. And then the second half of the meeting will be focused on an overview of the naming process with some time for the board to review the name options for the park itself. So in terms of the park site, you can see that the parking question is located at the corner of Main Street and 112th Avenue Southeast. And so just to orient everyone, we're actually just to the north of the East Main Station on the South Tunnel Portal. So there we are with our cardinal directions kind of covering the board. The park itself is actually built over the Sound Transit Tunnel that leads into downtown. It's about 1.75 acres, and the land for the park was acquired by Sound Transit as part of the East Link light rail line, so line two now, and actually was dedicated to the city, constructed by Sound Transit and dedicated to the city in 2024 as part of Sound Transit's park mitigation plan. So as you might imagine, it's rather unusual for us to acquire an already constructed park. And so that's why we've got a park that exists today that doesn't yet have a name. A few other details about the park that are helpful to point out. As you may notice, it's actually located along the Lake to Lake Trail. So it's on Main Street and it's not too far from the East Rail, which is cut off on the aerial photo, but it's just on the other side of 405. Also in the future, there will be a rapid ride K line stop just on the north edge of the park. So very central, well served by transit and the pathway that you can see provides a nice connection through the site for the neighborhoods that are nearby. Here are some photos for folks who haven't been there yet. You can see that it's a very nice respite from the street traffic. It provides expansive territorial views over toward Wilberton. So these are looking, the main photos looking to the east. And then on a clear day, there's actually a very nice view of Mount Rainier to the south from the park. This photo also shows there's a generous winding accessible path through the site that it is quite sloped. So it does embrace a kind of a central lawn gathering area. And you can see this is an overview perspective, but this shows what's on the ground out there now for those who haven't been out there. But you can see that central pathway and that gathering area in the middle of the park. So another really important piece of information for the board as you consider Potential Park Names is the city's partnership with Easton Bellevue and would love to provide a little bit of background information for that for you all to know about as well. The partnership Easton Bellevue as an organization formed around the same time that the two line was being constructed with, as Amy noted, a mission to commemorate Japanese American heritage here in Bellevue. And since about 2018, city staff in both the arts program and parks and community services have worked with East Lawn Bellevue to evaluate and identify potential sites for a primary Japanese American commemoration here in the city. And beginning in that 2018 period, there was a site committee that was formed that looked around at a number of different locations throughout Bellevue and through that process identified a short list of potential parks. And actually this park site was on them. We didn't, the park wasn't finished yet, but we knew it was happening. And it was identified as a suitable location because it's in a very central area. It's obviously quite visible. It's well served by different types of transportation, and it's also close to the site of a number of different historical Japanese American farms. Fast forward from around 2018-19 to 2023, Council in the 23-24 mid-biennium budget update allocated funding to Parks and Community Services Council. to work with ESOM Bellevue on a feasibility analysis for the project and also on an early concept design with the idea that that might serve as seed money that ESOM Bellevue could potentially use for private fundraising. And so that concept design feasibility was conducted and completed in 2024 and confirm the site was feasible, the concept design itself was completed in 2025 so just in December this past year. And so the image that you see here is is is taken from that and you can see we're looking we're looking down on the park from above so just straight from above, and you can see that central. pathway is still there, the plantings are still there. The kind of biggest move is a plaza that's located in that central gathering area that illustrates a map of Bellevue. So the two lakes are shown on either side. And it also illustrates the location of the historical Japanese American family farms that were here, just to show the extent of those before World War II, before the community was forcibly relocated to incarceration camps. north of the north of that plaza area you can see there's it's just a white circle that's a placeholder for a shelter structure that would be designed later as part of the design process but the idea is to provide protection from the elements also an area that could be used for heritage display or potentially artistic elements to really help tell the story you'll see some other placeholders labeled on that slide those are because the slight site is sloped Those are intended to inspire people to walk up through the park and learn about this really important part of Bellevue's history. So again, those might have artistic elements. They might have interpretation. As Councilmember Breyer mentioned, we're not sure if this is going to fall more in the art camp or the interpretation camp. That will be determined during design, and we can answer any other questions about that. One other thing to note about this is in terms of the project scale it's similar to a large scale art installation or a playground addition to an existing park, so you can see that the element of the pathway is still there. The gathering areas are still there and we're really adding this new program element that's intended to instill a sense of reflection and provide education. And here's a view from within that Plaza area itself, the water illustrated is not literal water it's it would either be etched or it will be integrated color so that that space can be used by people. In terms of the actual project delivery Isan Bellevue as part of their mission has committed to fundraising for design and construction for the project, and so the city is working with Isan Bellevue on a memorandum of understanding to define those fundraising targets and roles and responsibilities. for that work and for those that are familiar with the inspiration playground project at downtown park probably everyone but the bellevue rotary partnership that built that is quite similar to to the structure that we're proposing here and so this is this sums up my my background summary for you all and i'm going to hand the floor over to susan who will describe the naming process thank you betsy can you guys hear me okay

The open public naming process for the new park has been conducted along a parallel track, but separately from the commemoration project. Public outreach for the naming process began back in spring of 2025, and as is typical, began with a community survey. The survey was translated into the six most common spoken languages within a one-third mile of the park and was promoted via the project webpage, neighborhood news article, emails to nearby neighborhood associations, social media posts, and yard signs. In addition, a postcard indicating our website and survey was mailed to all residents and businesses within a one-third mile of the park. As a reminder for the board, this slide provides an overview of the city's process for selecting new park names. As you can see in the right hand corner is a copy or a photo of the yard sign that we have with a QR code for people to scan so they can indicate or propose a new park name. During the community outreach phase, staff received over 258 unique names from 157 respondents. These names were screened against the criteria in the City's naming policy, resulting in a shortlist of about 30 options. Here is a summary of the Council Resolution 101-51, which establishes the City's naming policy for parks and recreation facilities. The Board has reviewed this recently as well as in support of other park naming efforts. As you see here, the resolution identifies four broad categories that park and park facility names should fall within, and it also provides an overarching requirement that the city consider how potential name meets the other city priorities, including diversity, equity, and inclusion. board may also remember the slide from the october meeting when staff shared an inventory of bellevue's named parks open spaces and facilities of which there are nearly 100. these are grouped into six broad categories and illustrate the more than that more than a third of the bellevue's park names are naturalistic and more than a quarter are place-based or refer to their location This slide shows that we're doing a great job in meeting the first two council criteria with room for improvement in the other two categories. The department has recently developed additional implementation guidelines for park naming to support the park board and staff. These guidelines were shared with the board during last October's meeting and have been used to narrow the possible list of park names to nine options for board consideration. Staff have also conducted research to inform the list of potential names for board consideration. So the nine options that are listed here, or the nine options are listed here and include slight variations that were included in the community suggestions. The first name on the list is Main Street Park, which refers to the park's central location. The next grouping of names refers to the views of Mount Rainier, as Betsy indicated. And those three names are Mountain View Park, Cascade View Park, and Rainier View Park. The third group of names refers to culture, tradition, and tradition, and those names are Yusan Park, Legacy Park, and Heritage Park. The next group, or the next name, reflects the Japanese American Commemoration Project, and that name is Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Park. And finally, the last name we have for consideration refers to people of Japanese ancestry living outside Japan, and that name is Bellevue Nikkei Park. Additional background information about each of these choices is also provided in the park board packet, which is attachment C. In summary, this slide provides an overview of the naming process and other relevant milestones, including where we are in the process today. Once the board identifies and recommends a name for the park, the name will be presented to the city council who will make the final naming decision, similar to other naming processes. Thank you for your opportunity to present this morning, or this evening, I'm sorry. And we are happy to answer any questions that may assist with your deliberation.

Thank you for the presentation, Betsy and Susan.

Did you have something?

No. Oh, sorry. I must have mixed it up. Okay. So now we'll turn it over to board discussion. We estimate this shouldn't take more than half an hour. So 820 is kind of our goal. Before anyone shares their naming preference, let's start off with general questions on the park or the process. So does anyone have any questions about the park or process? Eric?

Yeah, some of the names that are offered up here, I can't tell if this is a suggestion from the city or these are suggestions from the community members. Based on the last naming structure we did, My preference is to give a lot of serious consideration to the voice of the community. And so I'd be interested if that data is available. If there's some numbers we can throw at that, like, yes, these were all of these names were came up with by the community and or. half of the people wanted this specific name, but we couldn't use it because it doesn't meet the criteria. You know, knowing what the community wanted would be beneficial, at least for me in trying to make a recommendation to come to that generally, you know, related to this list.

So these these names were generated from the community list and the main street park name and variations of it was by far the most popular. off the top of my head, you know, maybe a 10th of the suggestions were somehow related to the park's location on Main Street. And so we did take into account just the frequency of the names. Thank you. If that helps, and I think, you know, we can certainly, you know, pull together more data, you know, and detailed data about the number of suggestions.

Thank you.

All right. Does anyone have any additional questions related to that? Go ahead, Steve.

Just a comment for me. Refresh my memory. So the organization, ESUN Bellevue, they are agreeing to fundraise or, okay. And so do they have a preference on a certain name?

ISA and Bellevue, like other community members, had the chance to participate in the open naming survey. So most likely many of the suggestions that were contributed would have been contributed from them in addition to community members' suggestions. And so in terms of a specific name suggestion, I can't speak on behalf of the organization. I think that, you know, I think the goal would be not to have a name that conflicts with the commemoration project, but, you know, in terms of choices that are made, you know, obviously it's within the board's purview to decide there. Did I miss anything, Susan?

Any questions about the process? Okay, um, so let's open it up for anyone to share their current preference between the naming options. So does anyone have like a preference they'd like to share?

Oh, go ahead. awesome just to be the first no um i think on my side again we're we're commemorating the history of japanese americans in bellevue it's part of the theme of what we're putting together here it sounds like our options are either Either Ehsan or Nikkei or just something very generic. I would not prefer one of the generic options because I feel like then it wouldn't tie very well to the theme. So I'm more leaning towards Ehsan or Nikkei Park, not necessarily the legacy or heritage park. I feel like those are two again, generic or just translations of the definition of the word Ehsan. So I'll start there. Anyone?

Anyone else would like to share Elizabeth sure so first of all, thank you so much for providing all of the background information on the different categories that was very helpful i'm agreeing with Michelle I. I don't think we should choose a generic name. There's so many Rainier View parks, Mountain View, Cascade View. Yes, it's beautiful, but that's not a unique or meaningful name, I believe, even to that community because we have a lot of parks also that have Rainier View. I want to speak to the potential name Isan Park. I personally prefer that name. I think the history of Japanese Americans in Bellevue is the history of Bellevue. I'm a mixed race person. There's no one thing that I'm going to say, oh, that has to be my history, the history of every single group, the Norwegians, the Swedes, everybody who lives here is my history. So it's important to me that I can see that history everywhere, that my kids can see that history. And so I do really think it's important to... incorporate that in this particular park's name, not just for one group, but for everybody. And yeah, already for the points that Michelle raised, legacy, heritage are already there. They're not, what's the right word? They're not very specific names. They don't tell us what heritage, what legacy. I think my second choice would probably be Bellevue Nikkei Park, just because the Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Park is a very long name. And I think people would most likely shorten it. And it would be great if the short name that people had available to them is the name that represented the historical heritage. the historical events and people's stories that we're trying to recognize.

Thank you, Elizabeth. Who would like to go next? Eric?

I concur with the other board members. I think the Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Park is a fancier generic name that's too long. And I lean towards Eson Park too. The only thing I would caution with that, if I'm voting right now, I would say Eson Park, but I give a cautionary. I have a pet peeve about naming parks after, or not parks, but anything after an organization, you know, Key Bank or whatever. It doesn't sit with the exception of the culture that this group brings to this thought process. I think that exemplifies exactly what we're trying to do with what this group is, exemplifies exactly what we're trying to do with this. And because of that, I would encourage the board to strongly consider East Sound Park.

Thanks, Eric.

If I could just jump in quick, just to sort of underline that point, there is no intention of the park being honorific to the organization. It is the word and the meaning of the word. I think both the organization selected that word for the same reasons that the board's talking about.

That's how I took it. I just wanted to get it out in the open so there's no misconception. So I appreciate the clarification. Thank you.

I wish I knew Japanese, because inheritance and legacy are different things. Legacy is a great name, especially when it's rendered in the language of the people dispossessed, because that tells the story in one word that we're trying to tell, and it links it to the design of the park, which is already kind of in its nascent stages. inheritance is actually not so good because it's kind of literally not the inheritance of the people who are dispossessed but um i'm going to take it on faith that the consideration has been given by those suggesting this name that it is an appropriate um an appropriate thing to uh to label the park as um so I am 98% on board with it as the other three.

Yes. Translates. Yes.

I see translates to his son and actually here it says inheritance.

It's a primary according to Google anyway. I mean, language is complex, but yeah, I, I understand that we can't.

Thank you.

Um, no, no, no, I'm a hundred percent on board name wise. Um, now that that's resolved, it's just, uh, the, the, the remaining percentages are, and I think it's not an issue, but I want to at least bring it up, um, that we have a Japanese American commemoration, um, at Wilburton, uh, light rail stop. And this is not a light rail stop technically, but it, it kind of is. And so the way finding aspect of this, I want to make sure, um, And I don't think it's an issue. It was something I was thinking about as I was reading over these documents. Is there anyone who's going to get off at the wrong stop because of, oh, I'm getting off at the Japanese-American commemoration stop? I don't think so, but I would just bring it up.

Oh, go ahead. I mean, it's a fair thought. We've talked a lot about the confusion involved in generic names or names that exist in multiple places. I think in this case, Isan would be more distinctive than naming it Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Park because that immediately calls to mind that one particular stop.

versus thinking okay usan park where is that i need to look it up oh that's a memorial so right that's my two cents i think you're right yeah so yeah i i joined the previous uh three speakers okay thanks paul steve um i my preference uh well is also similar to all the Um, but 1 concern that I do have about some park is, um. I guess it's confusion, right? But I, I guess. When the design of the park is going in, there will be historical context that explains it. Um. but is there still opportunity to maybe add certain things like Isan Memorial Park or something like that that kind of stresses that this is not just a park. It's to present something that people might not know. So that's kind of my feedback. And in terms of the other ones, Bellevue, yeah, Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Park, that's really long. There'll be Nikkei Park. I was just thinking about the stock. Immediately. Yeah. Mountain View. I'm thinking of California. Main Street Park. I'm thinking like, my office is is close to Main Street on the other side of the Yeah, so so. So those are my comments. Thanks.

One idea to offer related to that question of, you know, do we say Esau Memorial Park? One of the things we've talked about in the naming guidelines and the board may remember is that if we choose to use a non-English name, we could also provide, you know, what that definition is in English, also the original alphabet as well. So that might be ways, you know, a way to consider interpreting that aspect of it.

For Steve's question about adding memorial, is it too late at this point?

Sorry, just checking in on that part of Steve's question. One piece of background information there just related to the ISAN group's name for their project is they've deliberately opted not to choose the word memorial because it's past facing instead of also including the future. I think that's their interest and legacy as a term. I'm speaking on behalf of them. And that's their project. It's distinct from the name of the park, but it's another piece of context for the board.

I always think when we have words in different languages concatenated like that, it always sounds strange if you say it out translated and somehow Legacy Memorial Park doesn't ring right in my head, even though I understand if you leave the... Paul Cutler- is on portion of it sort of in a non English state it kind of works, but the more we sort of start to think in this one Japanese word we know now for three or four I guess that we start to I don't know it starts to become more dissonant I think.

Thanks Paul. um. My comment is I prefer Isan Park. When I did the Google search, I also saw that in another Japanese spelling, it could come out of stomach acid. So making sure we have the right symbol is very important. Other than that, I don't know. Can someone else do a Google search and verify? I didn't make that up. There's also an Isan group in Thailand, but I don't think that's going to cause confusion. Yeah, and I love that the name is unique, commemorates the people. And then I have a really weird Rowena conspiracy. This is a really goofy thing. If you turn the map of the park upside down, the pathway kind of looks like it spells Isan already. I don't know. Maybe that's just me. If we could just... All right. Now, pretend the vertical sidewalk is the I, and then there's an S, and then there's an... Oh, my gosh. That's just me. I think so. No. No. Is that a goofy observation? Do you all see it?

I actually do see it. The N is, yeah.

So I feel like the park was already designed.

We just discovered the name. It was there all along. It found us.

Sorry, that's it. Those are my thoughts. Yeah, so upside down, it looked like it already spelled Isan to me. And I visited it yesterday and I didn't see the mountains, so I was a little not thrilled at that name that day. And I did agree the other name was a bit long and mainstream felt a little generic. So I also am for Isan Park with the caveat that the Japanese characters are the correct characters. Yeah, does anyone have any final comments on that? Okay. Wait, what am I doing? We already did the preference, so then we say... Okay, so someone would recommend, sorry, so I would say, does anyone have a suggested consensus option? I feel like we kind of have a consensus option to discuss. I was feeling it was Isan.

Isan with the Japanese character.

With the correct Japanese character. Okay, maybe I should just jump to this part at this time. Should I read that one or this one? They're kind of written slightly different. Okay. And can I entertain, ask for a motion for a recommended recommended park name?

Yes, I move that the Bellevue Parks and Community Services Board recommends to the City Council the name Issan Park for the park at Main Street and 112th Avenue Southeast. Thank you, Elizabeth.

Is there a second?

Second.

Would anyone like to speak to the motion?

When you guys mentioned the character name, did you mean the name Isan with a character on it as a park name? Or you mean just for us to reference?

Japanese character, I think.

Okay. Yeah.

like if you have signage in the park and it says isan like have a japanese character next to it it could be any language right but that name is just the motion and make sure it's the non-stomach acid character yes

this was just a good he looked at the google search i'm gonna be watching the minutes for that too yeah the the make sure the japanese character refers to the heritage translation that's actually not part of the motion that's just advice that's advice that's the discussion in the motion thank you so much okay um so we had a second right and then we kind of had a A discussion related to the motion. Yeah, clarification. And then with that, I guess I'll say all in favor of the motion. Can I just say that? All in favor of the motion to recommend to City Council Eson Park as a preferred name for the park at Main Street and 12th Avenue Southeast. Say aye. Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say no. Okay. The motion has been approved unanimously. So the motion to recommend to City Council the park name, Eson Park, as a preferred name of the park at Main Street and 112th Avenue Southeast has been approved unanimously. Is that correct?

Yeah.

Oh, thank you. Awesome. Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. Okay. Thank you, Betsy and Susan.

Oh, sorry, I'm getting all mixed up.

With that, let's discuss new business. I'll turn it over to Ryan to see what agenda items we expect to cover during our June meetings.

Yes, thank you chair. Um, I'm excited about the Eason Park name potentially, because it would be 1 of the shortest, I think, if not, I'll have to look at that. But. That aside, um, yes, June meeting, uh, we are actually looking at a special meeting for that to, uh, be held at Robbins would park. Um. And there's a couple of reasons to do that one is to get out and look at what's been happening at the park. Um, there's some new field orientation. That's pretty interesting with youth cricket. Um, it's going to be some new features added to the park in the future at the playground area. And then also we should be able to go to the tennis center and just get a quick tour of that. Um, So, and so that would be the first part of the meeting. Timing probably starting around five o'clock, but we'll get a little more logistic information out on that exact timing. Um, and then we would have, um, dinner there and also discussion would be focused on the budget. Um, and so that special meeting, um, is a good setting for that topic. Uh, some of you around two years ago for the prior budget discussion at the golf course. So this would be, um, similar along the, and along those lines. So that is what we're lining up for June. Um, So we will be starting a little bit earlier. That, of course, is entirely optional if you can only make part of the meeting. But I would be interested in hearing if anybody knows they will not be attending that meeting or will have time constraints. That would be interesting to know.

I'm not going to be there. That is New Fork High School's graduation.

My son was there, and I'm not sure what the plans are, but that's once in a lifetime for that family event. So it may be for me at this point. I will find out promptly.

Thank you, Eric.

Very good. i hear it there are a lot of graduations that time we get in front of some of them but not all of them so so we'll have more we'll send out more about the details on that but um yeah but that is the june meeting um i think that's all i have thank you thanks ryan i guess with that uh we've completed all the items on tonight's agenda and so i call the meeting now adjourned thank you and then if you want