All right.

Uh good evening and welcome to the September Parks and Community Services Board meeting.

Steve Changlian and Paul Clark cannot attend the meeting.

No members are attending remotely.

Elizabeth requested remote participation, but is here in person.

We are at Quorum.

And so this meeting is now called to order.

Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda?

A second.

Second.

All right.

Let's vote.

All in favor to approve tonight's agenda, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say no.

Okay.

The agenda is approved unanimously.

Next up is the approval minutes from the Parks Board July 2025 regular meeting.

Is there a motion to approve the July 2025 meeting minutes?

Motion to approve the minutes.

Okay.

Uh second.

I second.

Thank you.

Let's vote.

All in favor to approve the July 2025 meeting minutes.

Uh say aye.

Five.

Any opposed, say no.

All right.

The minutes are unanimously approved.

Everything good to go.

Yeah, we just are uh Eileen checked in and she'll be here momentarily.

She's searching for parking.

Oh, okay.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Uh 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 Washing 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 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 communications shall not exceed 30 minutes.

Each speaker will be allowed to speak one time for up to three minutes.

We will follow follow the order in which individuals signed up.

If you do not get a chance to speak this evening, you're always invited to email your comments to us at Parkboard at BellevueWaw.gov.

So now we'll turn it over to Cameron who will read names from the online and in-person sign-in sheets.

Thank you.

We do have a few um individuals signed up pre-registered.

We will start with members of the youth link board.

And if you guys wouldn't mind just tapping those red buttons, they'll turn green.

Thank you.

Right.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Max Novas.

I am a Bell V resident and adult board member with the Belly Youth Link Board.

With me tonight is another YouthLink board member, youth member um Paris, who will share some thoughts about our upcoming Youth Link Gumbo Night.

Good evening, board members and commissioners.

Sorry?

Sorry.

One moment, please.

Your sign is blocking the camera and it's a disruption of the meeting.

Would you please put the sign down?

Always.

It's doing the regular.

All right.

Thank you.

Can we restart the time or it's possible?

I'll pause.

Thank you.

Sorry for the interruption.

My name is Pree Ravel.

I'm one of the Youth Link board members for Bellevue.

We're here to extend our invitation for our upcoming annual Youth Link Gumbo Night happening Wednesday, October 22nd from 6 to 8 p.m.

at the Crossroads Community Center.

For the past 26 years, Bellevue Youth Link hosts this special social event that provides an opportunity for Bellevue Youth Link members to talk with our elected officials and community leaders on important events that affect the youth personally.

And it's also over a great um selection of food.

There's amazing gumbo and there's also cornbread.

It's a great dialogue.

And also amazing for community building.

We've had a lot of like riveting conversations over the past years, and we'd really love for you guys to come and talk with our youth.

We uh we kind of host this um because we personally work towards um advocating for or implementing policies related to the youth, but it's also very important for us to hear from the youth in order to do so.

So this is one of those hubs for us to get all that information and intermix our community leaders and youth.

So I'd be really excited if you guys were able to come.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry, and to RSVP, please contact Patrick Alina via PA uh P Alina at Bellviewa.gov or call 425-452-2846.

Sorry, I want a lot of a little off script at the end.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next signed up is Alex Zimmerman.

You cry Nazi pig.

Yeah.

Council two weeks ago make a new rules.

Right now, trespasses can be for hundreds every day, from 60 to 100 every day.

And they make a new rules.

But now commissioner, sex commissioner.

I have a copy from this rules.

Six commissioner can make trespasses for six months, too.

It's brand new rules what the state washington don't have.

Only Bellevue Nazi Gestapa pig, you know what is mean, a pure bandita can do in this.

Is this all for one uh man, Alex Zimmerman?

Because for Tory Year, nobody have trespasses from Bellevue Council, only Alex Zimmer.

Last year they don't give me ever chance to speak for one year with three trespasses for 60 days each.

Situation very simple right now, because in 2012 they changed rules.

So you can find this in console video.

You know what this mean?

So you can speak three minutes only for 10 people.

Why is it doing this?

Because they don't want what is Alex Zimmerman come and speak.

So they limit it over 10 out.

Yeah, it's very interesting.

And they make new rules, what is talking about 60 days.

So when you don't speak 60 days, you cannot speak again.

So they freaking a Nazi pig, and I talk about this for 40 years, nothing change.

My situation right now, very simple, and I want to understand why it's going on.

Why bell of you?

What is absolutely Gestapa Nazi bandita?

You know what this means.

Make a rules, what is in Kubute Commission.

For last 30 years, you know what this means.

I never see this rule.

This brand new rule in state Washington.

You understand how this Nazi pig, oh, where is David Hamilton?

Where is my lovely Nazi pig?

A bandita.

Ask them why they're doing this.

They scared one man, Alex Zimmerman, who come and speak for three minutes.

Why is going on?

Why is this Nazi pig scared one old Jew?

What is come and speak for three minutes?

Can you explain to me some very dangerous or what?

Or they fucking a Nazi pig.

It's very important.

You know what is mean because it's critical right now.

In situation, what is we have right now because it's civil war right now.

Viva Trump, viva new American revolution, stand up, Slive and Happy Cow.

We need change this.

You know what is mean.

Bellevue government post to be stopping acting like a Nazi.

Thank you very much.

Hi, I very appreciate it.

I don't think we uh no one additional signed up to speak, but we'll uh give an opportunity for others in the room that might want to speak.

No, all right.

Um, and then also online we'll give a moment if uh someone would like to speak.

If you can raise your hand in Zoom.

And then um right, thank you.

Thank you.

While we would prefer people refrain from making these type of comment.

The board respects individuals' First Amendment free speech rights.

Individuals are allowed to express their thoughts or feelings, whether we agree with them or not.

So thank you, Cameron.

All right.

This concludes oral communications.

Next item on the agenda is City Council Communications, but he might have stepped out for a moment.

If it's okay, we could go to director's report and then come back as soon as he returns.

Yeah.

All right.

I'll turn it over to uh Cameron Parker because Director Shizaki is uh not able to attend the meeting tonight.

Thank you.

Uh, just a couple items to note here.

Uh the our summer camp program uh has wound down.

And uh we offered over 300 camps this summer and had attendance at 4,262 youth served in those camps.

Um we had a selection of of some new camps this year, and particularly popular was a new street hockey camp, which does sound fun.

Um also a note on neighborhood area planning uh from our community development department that leads that.

The uh board has had a few presentations on that.

So within the past year, the um crossroads and Newport and neighborhood area plans uh have worked their way uh through the planning commission and are currently uh at the city council for consideration over the next couple months and then well.

Um the new plans that are uh spooling up are for Eastgate and Factoria, and there is an event uh coming up on October 4th, where there will be um uh walks given in those two neighborhoods uh for the purpose of kind of kicking off those neighborhood area plans.

Um, much like with uh crossroads and newport, we'll have opportunity to hear more about how those neighborhood area plans are going over the course of the next uh the 12 months that they go through their planning process.

Um so we'll have uh check-ins on those.

Um, I would imagine in in 2026 for input from the board.

That's all I have for this evening.

Okay, thank you, Cameron.

Um time.

Next up on the agenda is board communications.

Um so maybe we could start at one end of the table and then go around.

If Eric, if you would like to uh lead us off.

I'd be happy to.

Um we had my first meeting, it was the last meeting, which uh was back in July, and then we were off for August, but made the most of my time between them.

Um I wanted to thank Rowena for meeting with me uh at the botanical gardens where we met and talked about the board, and she did a great job of bringing historical context to me for the board, as well as uh just bring me up to speed as to where we are.

We also had a little bit of adventure while we're there, uh, but I'll uh reserve that for her if she chooses to tell you about it.

Um as well as uh earlier I had or last month I attended the Eastgate Park uh community meeting over over the at the South Bellevue Community Center over the Eastgate Park meeting.

Um had a chance to talk to residents.

Some of the things that they brought up were as it relates to the park, were concerns about noise for the neighboring homes, uh, as well as uh the potential of homeless activity in the park, uh, and wanted to know what type of uh plans would be in place for addressing those types of issues that may arrive that may address quality of life issues.

Uh they also wanted to discuss the potential of a fence between the park and the homes put into the plans, um, and a lot of excitement about naming the park, uh, which we're gonna be discussing this evening as well.

Um, and ultimately they were asking finally the last thing that got brought up was an arborist checking on the health of existing trees in the park.

Um, it was a very informative meeting, and uh it felt good as a new board member to get involved and actually hear from the community um and being able to provide a little bit of insight and input.

I actually also met a neighbor there, and so again, it just shows a small world we're living in, and I appreciated the opportunity.

So uh look forward to contributing more as we go.

Thank you, Eric.

Michelle, would you like to go next?

Thank you.

Let's see.

We met in July.

We have August.

I think the summer has gone by in a whirlwind.

I was telling our board members, uh, it's the first time for me that my eldest is going and started in kindergarten at Puesta de Sol.

So I'm just getting used to this new phase.

Um right now our bus pickup is at uh Lake Hills Park, which is pretty cool.

Uh so we get to go to the park now twice a day, every single day.

Um, which is fantastic.

Uh and now obviously because we're there, we have to go before and after.

So I'm at a new record for how much I spend my time at parks.

Um otherwise, we didn't have great time, great time off.

Um little bit of hiking.

We did a trip to Alaska, so that's exciting.

Uh bucket list item checked.

So, but glad to be back on native trails.

So looking forward to the Eastgate Park um discussion.

I know it's been an item of discussion and there's been a lot of events.

So uh looking forward to our decision later today.

Um, thank you.

Thank you.

Um, Michelle, would you like to go next?

Oh, sorry, would you like to go next?

Yeah.

So I we also had quite a busy summer.

One of the things that I was looking forward to at our last meeting was the multicultural or international festival at Crossroads Park, which I was able to attend for several hours.

And I just want to say thank you to all the community members who went out there, all of the vendors who went out there.

It really was a lot of fun.

It was a great, a great environment and a great atmosphere.

Stayed until the end and uh really enjoyed it.

So that was probably the highlight of my summer with parks at Crossroad Park.

Other than that, we've just been doing the typical thing of going around with our dog on a leash.

Also, we have observed some dogs off leash.

So I saw that we had gotten another letter and very sensitive to that.

But otherwise, to have had a wonderful summer in the parks.

We didn't actually go a lot of places outside of Bellevue.

So thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Sorry, I called you Michelle just now.

I was like in this weird transition.

Like I was gonna say thank you, Michelle, and then next stuff Elizabeth and then just fused it.

Um Eileen, uh, here next.

Okay, okay.

Okay.

Well, welcome, Eric.

It's so good to see you here.

Last time was June, maybe some like four.

Well, sorry, I'm kind of late because I got to the parking lot like at 5 52 and it was just fully packed.

And usually it's not the case.

I think I would have realized this is the first fall we have on Wednesday and Wednesday's Bellevue Essential.

So every Wednesday for the next few months, we can have problems competing with all the essentials.

So now I know just probably go to the P3P4 directly.

Yeah.

So um, yeah, I also had a good summer.

I was here most of the time.

Uh, I think I went to like Bellevue Park a couple of times.

And when I was there, you know, obviously there's a lot of people, but I was wondering like if there could be some kind of like um spontaneous, like local artists can showcase music.

Like if there could be, because I think right now you probably have to reserve some permit before you can do those things.

Like I've seen some organization, they have like a certain slot, like say every Thursday night uh for two hours, people can sign up to sing or to dance.

So I thought that maybe something we could consider because I felt like there's a lot of activities, but wish there were more music that we can showcase like local artists and make it the city could potentially facilitate some program, make it easier for people to sign up for for these kind of uh um showcase.

Um, and then I picked up a new hobby, stand-up pedal board this summer.

But then for whatever reason, we have avoided the Maiden Bauer Bay for the entire summer because I was just so full freight, then not able to find parking nearby because I have boards, I have to pump, I have seats to put on the boards.

So I went to like a lot of different other parks, but didn't get a chance to try.

Because I I was a little worried if I have to find parking up and I have a long way to go down.

So I'm looking forward to more parking.

I think when we do the phase two in a few years.

Um, but yeah, otherwise at a great summer.

Yeah.

Cool.

Thanks, Eileen.

If it's okay, I'll go next and then we could jump back to Dave for director's report.

I'm getting everyone's titles mixed up for council report afterwards.

Um so I had a really good summer uh in July.

I attended the South Bellevue Community Center, meeting about the new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

I really appreciated Paul, Eric, and Michelle also joining.

Uh, because I think it's great when our board members are able to join these meetings, meet the neighbors, uh, meet, hear about how they're impacted by the projects, and we get to hear their perspectives.

And yeah, this one's especially helpful uh for big discussions and decisions like the one we're gonna make tonight.

And uh Paul uh isn't here today, but he sent me notes, so I'll share those later.

Um in August.

So Eric and I met up at the Bellevue Botanical Garden during a special event called Arts in the Garden.

So it was great to see all the wonderful 3D garden art on display.

Uh there was food trucks, and it was also a great time to meander the botanical garden to see what was growing.

Um embarrassingly, uh while meandering, I told Eric I knew where I was going, and I essentially got us lost in the ravine for like quite a while.

So sorry.

Yeah, so it turned in from like a 20-minute walk to like an hour uh meander.

So apologies to Eric uh for taking you down quite an adventure.

Um this past Sunday through the Bellevue Naturalist program, I helped Ranger Cayley with a creature craft program at the Lewis Creek Visitor Center about banana slugs.

Creature crafts is a free natural resources program for kids ages three to seven, get to learn about something in nature, and then create a craft they get to take home.

And Ranger Cayley, she's like our city's very knowledgeable and passionate expert about banana slugs and other slugs.

Uh so if you have any slug questions, definitely ask her.

Um and banana slugs are these.

This is kind of a clay uh model I painted.

They're large slugs, sometimes bright yellow with brown spots, and the kids got to learn about the slugs, paint these slug models, experimented with slime, made paper snails, and observe slugs in a tank.

Uh so I highly recommend anyone of the little kids to check out uh the natural resources program schedule and kudos to the city of Bellevue for having rangers with such passion and knowledge and for hosting a variety of these free family-friendly nature events throughout the year.

Um, and then looking ahead.

Oh, yeah.

So here's the slug.

I probably people can't see it that I painted.

And then looking ahead, uh, the Kelsey Cream Creek Farm Fair is taking place Saturday, October 4.

I'll try to attend.

Uh, let me know if you go and I'll try to look out for you.

That's a lot of fun.

Get this to see all the pumpkins and fun farm things.

And then uh Bellevue Arbor Day is taking place on Saturday, October 18th at Lewis Creek Park.

So on Bellevue Arbor Day, volunteers will plant a variety of native trees and shrubs.

Shell and I did it last year.

Uh it was a great way to get fresh air, help green our neighborhood and meet neighbors.

Um, and it's such a neat site because a lot of families do it together as a big group.

So, like teenagers want to do it to get their high school volunteer credits, and then their parents will join along and a little sibling too.

Uh, I plan on attending as a Bellevue naturalist.

So if you're there, look out for me in the brown vests.

So that concludes my uh communication.

And uh with that, I'm gonna backtrack the agenda just a pinch if it's all right.

And I'd like to turn it to sit uh to uh council member Hamilton for City Council Communications.

Sorry for the tongue tide.

Uh sorry I was late.

I was next door with the Bellevue Essentials folks.

So um just a couple of things.

We're the council's coming off its uh summer recess, so we were off for about five weeks uh starting in August.

So we are just getting back.

We've had two council meetings so far.

Um lot of work to do last night at the council meeting.

We approved the neighborhood area plans for crossroads and for Newport.

And Newport is Newport Hills and Greenwich Crest and Newport shores.

So we have our comp plan and then we go through kind of in uh smaller neighborhoods and basically go through the same process.

So it's about kind of high-level policies, a lot of community involvement.

Um and we move those forward.

What's coming next?

Um this next iteration is for Eastgate and Factoria.

So I'm sure this is something where the board is going to be involved and you'll have a chance to uh provide input uh so that the planning commission can consider that, but with the part coming and and different things um Eastgate that might be of interest to you.

But with the part coming and and different things, um, an Eastgate that might be of interest to you.

Um so just want to flag that.

Um we are going to um probably about a month out.

We're gonna be um looking at our sustainable bellevue plan update.

So that's gonna come to council on the 14th.

So for those of you who are interested, um you can take a look at that and and be involved uh as you might like to be.

Um then I also wanted to flag uh something I'm really really uh interested in and really glad the city's doing, and that is our community court.

And we have our grand opening, it's at the downtown library.

It is going to be on October 7th.

And you can learn all about community court.

There's uh, you know, kind of the court part of it on one room right next door is a resource center for folks that are involved in community court, but anybody can come and get resources and help at the resource center.

Um so these are for these are real low-level crimes.

Um, there are community courts around the country.

There's one in Redmond.

Um, we're we have our own that we're starting up here.

But there are some people that this is really the perfect fit.

And it's really about helping folks to make some changes, a little change of direction, a little pivot, and to do some learning and to help with their lives.

And some of the stories that I've heard already from participants are just really amazing and uh really impactful work.

So just encourage you to uh you know look into it if you're interested, and of course, uh show up 12:30 to 2 if you'd like the downtown library on October 7th.

Um there are three uh neighborhood Keep Bellevue Beautiful cleanup events coming.

So uh they October 18th is for Bell Red, November 15th for Eastgate, and uh December 13th for crossroads.

So if you're interested, maybe you want to get in early while the weather's good, and uh others can do the November and December dates, uh, but those are totally optional as well.

Um let's see, I think that uh oh, Fiesta del Maíz um is coming up on the 27th that takes place at Crossroads Park.

Uh that is really a good event 12 to 5 on uh September 27th.

So that's what I've got to report and happy to entertain any questions you might have.

Thank you, Councilmember Hamilton.

Does anyone have any questions?

We where can we get more information?

Community court.

Uh I'm sure it's on the city website.

Um so yeah.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Any additional questions?

Twice.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Hamilton.

All right.

So jumping back to our uh agenda, uh the next section is big discussion action item for the evening, which is a neighborhood park in Eastgate.

Um we're gonna invite Zarian, Capital Project Coordinator of the Parks and Community Services Department um to provide a presentation about the design and name.

Um we'll start off with the design.

Um I'll turn it over to you, Sarian.

I'll do and then Cameron too.

Oh, and Cameron's gonna go over the first slide.

Sure.

Thank you.

So uh it's already been discussed a little bit uh this evening in the board reports.

Um, and Zarian will go into more detail, but just to provide some structure, uh we have two action items for the board this evening, one on the preferred park design, a second on the recommended name.

Um both of those recommendations will then uh be forwarded on to the city council here before the end of the year.

Um we have the presentation structure so that we'll start with the um background and current status of the design.

We'll pause uh so the board can discuss and and um uh potentially act on that recommendation, and then um when we've done that, then we'll move to a presentation on the the naming recommendation and have the action um at that point as well.

So with that, so Zaryan.

All right, thank you, Cameron.

Um good evening, good evening speaking loud, sorry.

Good evening, everyone.

Um, and thanks for having me this uh this evening.

I'm gonna give us uh walk us through a quick uh uh overview of the project to date, um, starting with a quick uh project background recap.

Um we're looking at a uh aerial map of uh a vicinity map of the Eastgate area.

The project site itself is located at the intersection of 147th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 39th Street.

Um in the left graphic, you can see outlined the two parcels that parks uh acquired uh a couple years ago for the purposes of developing a park.

Um that site in total is about a half acre in total in which to develop a park with.

Um this is our parks and open space walkable access map.

It's uh it has the eastgate area outlined on the right, the with the red star uh given an approximate location of the park.

Uh on the left-hand side, you can see it in the cutout.

Uh the green areas are areas that are um serviced by a park or open space within a third of a mile.

Um it clearly depicts uh lack of park service in the Eastgate area, uh specifically south of I-90.

It's a recap of our community engagement processes.

Um we've uh we've worked with uh the community neighbors association for Eastgate on uh coordinating several activities, including two of the uh neighborhood block parties this summer and last summer.

Uh we've also uh leveraged our parks social media through Facebook and X and posting announcements about the projects and project updates.

We also have a project uh webpage uh for posting updates and notices about meetings such as this one and as well as the community meetings.

Um we have a subscriber list that now has reached uh over 900 uh subscribers, um, which we're pretty happy about.

Um and uh let's see what else we also have uh listed articles in neighborhood news to um provide updates on our on our project as we've gone along community meetings.

We've had three community meetings to date and uh two park board meetings.

Uh the last one was in May.

Uh each community meeting, uh we had a distribution list of about 500 people that we uh sent melders and invitations out to.

Uh we followed each of these meetings with a uh survey to get some feedback on uh articles for information that we presented at each of these meetings.

Uh during the last meeting, uh we uh we introduced uh three uh concept plans for the park design uh that uh the consultant came up with based on uh feedback from the prior previous meetings.

Uh you'll remember we had basically uh three different uh I guess approaches to the park.

Uh the first one was more of a formal um rectangular uh styled open area and lawn area uh with a larger shelter and a smaller playground on the north end of the park.

The second option was uh kind of a split design with two ovals and it features a smaller um shelter in the middle of the park, um, with some ample benching around the sides, and um then we had the third option, which was more of a kind of a mixture of the two, a polygon shaped with one open flexible lawn area.

Um each of these uh each of these uh concepts uh responded to what we heard from the initial surveys and feedback from the public uh concerning the desire to have a large open flexible lawn, uh play stretchers uh for children of all ages, and um also plenty and apple seating um around the park for all ages of park users.

Um from the three, uh we worked with our consultant on uh condensing those three uh concepts down into two concepts, which we shared with the public at the last uh community meeting.

This is conception one A, um, pretty similar to conception or option one, uh featuring the large uh rectangular uh lawn.

Uh we also uh in addition to the community uh feedback, we also uh incorporated some uh uh some of the uh feedback that we received from from park board.

Uh for this particular option, one of the main um asks from park board was to uh include a completely covered uh uh shelter area on the south end of the park there, which we have now.

Uh we also added uh some buffer zones, some increased buffer zones on the edges of the park.

And we also added uh some additional seating to this design.

On the sides are some just examples of uh what uh some of the park elements uh could look like.

And then this is just a 3D rendering of some of the uh more prominent features of the park uh conceptual design, including the covered shelter on the south end of the park.

This is option two A.

Um in this one, uh we moved the uh shelter, one of the big additions is we moved the shelter from the middle of the from the middle of the park over to the eastern edge, which created more of a pavilion in the middle, uh, which is one of the one of the items that uh the community expressed desire for.

Uh this design also allowed for a larger shelter um from the from the previous design.

We also have included uh on this option um more of a diverse uh use of the upper lawn space to include more different types of diverse play uh tractions.

There's um equipment for climbing and swinging and um and others in that same area, uh, which we didn't have before.

Then uh also uh we did get a comment from parkboard the last time around to uh consider some type of buffer between the play areas and the street.

So we've included a seat wall on the north on the um the northwestern edge of the northern oval and on the southeastern edge of the southern uh Noble too.

Um create that separation between the street and potential areas where kids will be will be playing.

And these are just a couple of examples of some of the play uh play equipment that might be able to fit within that uh area again, just uh examples of the diverse uses, including climbing, swinging, um, and others.

And then just uh 3D rendering of what uh the park could look like, uh including uh the moved uh shelter over to the eastern portion of the park and uh the seat wall there depicted in the graphic to the right.

Oh, community feedback.

Uh we um we presented these to the community in the second meeting, and we followed that up with a survey.

In the survey, we asked uh what uh out of the two options, uh, which one was the most preferred, which one did you prefer, and the overwhelming response, 80% nearly, was for option two A.

Uh, some of the factors that people like the most about 2A was the they really liked the split lawn design so that you could have two features, one with play, one with more open space.

Uh, they also liked uh the size of the play areas.

Um the player in option one a was significantly smaller.

This one, uh given its size, we can have more of a diverse uh type of play, and that was really favorable uh amongst the respondents to the survey.

Um also uh people enjoyed the seat wall and the additional seating options in this in this design option.

So the board action read the Q.

You can walk their way.

Okay.

So a proposed motion um for the parks and community services board to recommend to the council option one A or two A as presented, or with modifications as the preferred design for the new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

All right.

So I'll pause at this point for.

Yeah.

Thank you, Zarian.

Um for this, we'll we'll discuss the park concept first, and then once we've done that, then we'll do the name later on.

Um maybe we'll open it up to discussion, but um let's do the discussion part in two parts, perhaps before anyone shares their preference.

Uh, let's take a moment to see if anyone has any clarifying questions or questions about the process.

Um, so yeah, does anyone have any questions to ask?

Uh Zarian, before we start discussing what park plan we prefer.

Oh yeah, we could open now you could discuss our preferred options next.

If no one has any just logistical questions about it.

All right, I will do that.

So let's open it up for anyone to share their current preference between alternatives.

Uh 1A or 2A.

Um, so who would like to go first?

Who's super excited?

Would you like me to go back to a side by side?

Oh, a side-by-side graphic of the two park plans.

Um I can go back.

We'll we'll go back and forth.

All right.

Then uh Elizabeth, would you like to go first?

Yeah, I'll I'll keep it short and sweet.

I was delighted when I saw these designs.

It incorporated all of the things that I first noticed.

Um I immediately thought these look safer than the last time, just as a parent, like, oh good, there's surrounding areas.

Uh I especially liked 2A because of all of the area for play, as well as that pavilion feature, which just looks like a great space for a community park.

So I I would be happy to sponsor that motion.

Um it if that is what we want to do as a board after our discussion.

But thank you so much.

I think the modifications are great.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Oh, oh, do you like to go?

Okay, we'll turn it to Eric.

Uh first I want to thank staff for all the work they've done.

I I also noticed that you're listening to the community and as things progressed and changed, it's incorporating all the concerns that that were brought up.

And I am elated over actually 2A as well.

Um just the uh from sheer aesthetic, let alone the uh efficiency of the function for people to be able to use it.

Um it's extremely pleasing to the eye.

I visualizing what it would be like to walk through there.

I think it'd be just that much more of a pleasant experience than option 1A, even though I think both ideas are exceptional.

This one really resonates with me because of the way that you've incorporated everything that the community brought up and everything that I heard at the meetings over the summer.

Um so commend the staff for that.

Thank you.

Okay, thanks, Eric.

Uh Michelle, did you want to jump in next?

Um, Sarian, thank you again for the presentation and again to the department for incorporating all the feedback and creating these beautiful designs.

Um, I also agree to A is also my preferred pick.

Um, I think uh a comment that we had made when this was presented originally was against safety and ultimately having some barrier for children to not so freely walk or run into the street.

And I'm uh for people on Zoom, not sure if you can see, but those lines on that oval, those are actually barriers.

I'm not sure if if you've noticed that, but here's a better yeah.

The seat wall.

So again, ultimately kids can run up to that and not necessarily all the way up to the street.

So I think that's a very amazing design incorporation um for safety.

So thank you for that.

Um two way.

Thank you.

Um, Eileen, do you have a reference?

Yeah.

Yeah, again, thank you for um the design.

And I think the community have spoken, like the overwhelmingly picked option two A.

Um, I I have a couple questions.

Do you have specific feedback from the two houses and maybe three houses just right next to this park?

Because I want to make sure because they're the most immediate neighbor.

Um, are they do they have any concern with the option two A?

Because if if they have any concern or not enough buffering or whatever it is, then I want to make sure that we address because they're adjacent neighbor.

Yeah, actually uh uh we were fortunate in that both of the neighbors on either side attended the last public meeting.

The neighbor to the north has been present at all of the meetings.

So um, but the uh the courtises on the east, the east side neighbor, uh they were present at the last meeting.

And I know they spent time talking with you, uh Eric.

I talked to them also.

And um yeah, they shared some concerns about um, as you said, uh fencing the addition of a fencing of a fence between um the park and their property.

Uh they asked about uh again about safety for kids.

Um and just general more general noise, um, what we thought about noise buffers.

This is more not related to kids playing, but more related to what we would allow to happen at the shelter.

Um like would there be, you know, carnivals or festivals or things of the like uh taking place at the shelter too, if we said yes, we got we have uh ordinances that you know aggresses audible noise, so we wouldn't expect anything like that.

So uh uh I think we've been very responsive to to the neighbors and they've been uh I think they're so is it fair to say they're pleased with this design and all whatever the the major concern they have will be addressed or it will not cause any issue for them.

Okay.

Okay, that's great.

And then um for those play structure, like the five, six, nine, eight, and seven.

Yes.

Are there any I'm just curious, are there any reason they arrange this way?

Like I'm also thinking from the safety perspective, right?

Like, are there ones that maybe closer to the road uh be the less popular ones that versus the more popular ones born more inside?

I I don't know, like you know, I was just looking at I was trying to look at what they are on in the play structure area.

Yeah, so the uh the structures the closest I noticed.

Yeah, the way that the structures are aligned, um, and then keep in mind these are just this is just the concept, so it's not set in stone what these will be.

But the way they're depicted in this uh in this option is to ensure that there's enough uh buffer space between each of the structures, they all require different buffers, like something like a swing is gonna require more buffer than the climbing station.

So it's it's difficult to see, but if you look closely, there's like a little ring depicted around each of the structures to the to depict where their zone of safety is.

Okay.

And so the consultant spent a good amount of time trying to fit in the exact structures within within that circular area.

So um it's less about this structure is closer to the street versus further away from the street, and more about what we could get, how much the first play we can get within that area and make it fit within the buffer zones.

Okay.

But we feel that this is gonna be because I'm just reminded this there was the incident.

I don't know if you guys remember at the Redmond Town Center, right?

There was the play structure right next to because there was a through street.

And I think it was you know, little kit just rent out and it was a terrible accident.

And so after that, the street's no longer driving through.

I think you can only walk by.

So I just want to make sure that whatever we put in, it's because this is still a corner, so you still have traffic, even though it's a neighborhood and people are not supposed to drive very fast.

So I just want to make sure that we have enough consideration and design in place that you know it's there's because the the these corner streets are not gonna be walk-only, obviously.

So there will be uh cars.

Um, so whatever we can do to put picket fence or whatever to design such a way that we need to basically this cannot happen.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's definitely something we can uh consider at this stage.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's that's all.

Otherwise, yes, I would be happy to support the two-way as well.

Okay.

Thank you.

One quick note I'll add is uh in terms of the shelter and the plaza area.

This park will just be like a first conference or park.

We will not reserve picnic scheduled events here at this park.

Thanks, Eileen.

Thanks, Cameron.

Um Paul sent me some notes.

Sorry, I'll I'll just read his notes.

Um, since they're based on uh his the meeting at the Bellevue commun at this community center a few months ago.

Um so he said both designs are visually appealing and incorporate much incorporate much needed play equipment and small meeting spaces.

Great work by the designers.

We should consider safety from the standpoint of traffic risk to young children.

Caregivers are likely to be seated in given locations relative to play areas, and we should try to minimize the risk of a child darting into the road before an adult can intervene.

I believe there will be a sound buffer between the park and the surrounding houses, but we should ask to ensure.

Have a great meeting, Paul.

Which I think uh his uh notes kind of echoed a lot of what you all shared today.

My biggest worry is the safety because you have traffic on both sides.

Back to the image of that um the edge that I discussed on that oval where the play structure is this one.

Yeah, yeah.

If you can look at the picture on the right, um, so that I think the only area, right, that leads to the road would be on that walkway.

And then the idea is like on that little ledge that they've created, like caregivers would sit there to watch kids on the park.

Otherwise, there was nowhere else you could sit other than the middle.

So that's also a natural barrier.

Um, but yeah, I think the only area would be again the walkway going to the road.

Again, very hard to understand the the length of that, like how far is that like perception on this, you know, this is not a real image, right?

So uh I think my point is just that that incident just cannot happen.

Um, and I'm sure when that little you know, uh play area was designed, they probably thought of because it was a driving, it was a through street.

So I just want to make sure whatever we do from design from the barrier, we just make whatever caution we need, we just make sure that that cannot happen 100%.

Like there's a zero chance that could happen.

I mean, easily that is yeah.

Oh, and then I have actually one more question I just noticed.

Number 10 picnic table.

The picture does not have any cover.

Is that supposed to is there any uh, you know, number 10?

Oh, number 10 record.

Is that that's we have any covering so that there's more use out of it during the rainy season?

Well, some of the picnic tables that are in the uh plan, most of them will be underneath the shelter any anyhow.

Um if we go back to the main.

Oh, it will be under, but but that's number four, but temper 10 is different spot.

Oh, okay.

So there will be some picnic table under four.

Yeah, okay.

And then the number 10, because the the picture doesn't have any doesn't show any picnic table, just one number four.

And that picture is again is just an example.

Okay, 10 says cafe seating, which I think might mean something different than the picnic.

Oh, because on the below picture says picnic table, right?

So no, it on the top picture says cafe seating, but the picture below says picnic table.

Has like a little sample picture of what they will look like.

So we will have some picnic table under number four that's covered, and then some in the open.

Okay.

Thanks.

Okay, oh, maybe I'll share some of my thoughts.

Oh, sorry.

And then we could bounce around if people have more thoughts.

Sorry.

Uh yeah, thanks, Zarian Park staff and GGLO for all the outreach and developing the designs and working with neighbors and the Eastgate Neighborhood Association.

Uh both designs are really lovely and contain a lot of the features I've heard the neighbors want, like buffer planting between the neighbors, covered area for seating, flexible lawn space and play areas for kids.

And I think it's really great.

The trees are healthy and can be kept, and the neighbors are so passionate about them.

Um I think design two-way for me would be the best.

Yeah, two-way would be the best for the community.

Um, based on like an earlier survey, neighbors wanted a large play area, which is satisfied, I think a design two A, as opposed to one A, which had a pretty small play area.

Uh design to A also contained a medium flexible lawn, uh, whereas design 1A had a large flexible lawn, and in another survey, uh neighbors, yeah, wanted that medium flexible lawn.

Um, and then echoing uh or going back to a few things Eileen asked about the adjacent neighbors.

Uh, I know the north fence or the fence is a very hot topic for privacy.

And also uh there's actually like a pool on the northeast uh side of the park.

And so I mean, they also have a fence, but they want to be sure that the fence is like triple secure and safe, so nobody tries to climb in, if that makes sense.

And then uh I know privacy is a concern for the neighbor on the north.

And I was looking at the climbing structure, and she this is really minor, but she was kind of concerned about having like the most climbable climbing structure the closest to her house.

Yeah, she's like, I don't want to see kids peeking over and looking into my window.

And then um, I think the east neighbor also had a bit of concern about how close the covered pavilion was.

So making sure there's a good uh buffer between the covered pavilion and their home.

Um, so they also don't feel too cramped.

Um, but those were a few things I wanted to echo.

And there was also concern uh, like uh Eric mentioned earlier about uh some concern about uh people camping and uh a few people talked about hostile architecture, like uncomfortable seats, but I kind of don't agree with that.

I think we should make like seats as comfortable as possible and make it a very welcoming park.

So kind of wanted to mention that.

So yeah, uh sorry, I kind of ended up rambling, but I uh I kind of also aligned with design two A.

Right.

Kind of sounds like we've all kind of aligned on one.

Um maybe before we move, is there any final questions or comments or thoughts?

Oh, sorry, a couple more questions.

That's good.

I'm looking through like some of the pictures I took when I visit all the parks.

Um, so like would this park neighborhood park again from safety perspective?

Would they have these kind of fence?

You see, this is post and rail.

They have like just surrounding the park.

So that will add it's yeah, maybe something we could do.

Okay.

I was just looking through some of the pictures I took when I visit all the parks.

Yeah that will feel make me feel as a mom feel more like feel safer.

Okay.

All right.

So that's something maybe we can consider.

I was just showing the picture of like that post or little fence.

If you're a standard post and rail fencing.

Oh yeah.

And then also, is it possible to have some sign to let a driver know that there's a park coming up?

They need to drive, you know, even slower.

Playground type.

Yeah, some kind of a sign, kids are playing.

You know, like in our neighborhood, we put out, you know, just the kids actually.

Yeah, kids at play kind of a sign, but something a little more permanent and more obvious.

Um, we can uh at some point coordinate with the transportation department and just sort of look at yeah, like a couple blocks out and um yeah, how to approach that with appropriate yeah, signage for the streets.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Thanks, I think.

No, safety was kind of the biggest um question at all the meetings.

So I'm glad everyone's bringing it up.

Um, I I wanted to add one little goofy thing.

So I during one of the block parties, I wanted to talk to kids to see what they wanted at the park.

One kid really wanted a swing, and so I saw that 2A had that potential like cup swing thing.

So based on my anecdotal kid survey.

That one is uh kid approved, I think, or kid preferred.

Um, all right.

Uh any other final questions, comments, maybe before we move on.

Okay.

All right.

With that, um is there a motion to recommend to city council?

All oh wait.

Oh, do I say the motion or do I ask if someone yeah, you're you're doing right.

Oh keep rolling.

Sorry, is there a motion to recommend to the city council alternative 2A?

Um as presented as the preferred design for a new park in the Nice Gate Eastgate neighborhood.

I saw move.

Is there a second?

Second.

Uh would anyone like to speak to the motion?

Or sounds like we're good.

All right.

Someone speaks if there's nobody against, then wouldn't you need someone for and against then?

Yeah.

So I guess no one's um anyone can speak to the motion if they want.

It doesn't need to be pro or con, but but you don't have to either.

It's optional.

Okay.

All right.

So no one would like okay.

So all in favor of the motion to recommend to city council alternative 2A as presented as a preferred design for a new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

Say I.

I mean post, say no.

Okay.

With that, um the motion has been approved unanimously.

Is that all I have to say?

Or do I reread it?

No, thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

The motion has been approved unanimously.

I once misspoke once and we had to resay it.

All right.

Uh thank you so much.

And with that, we'll get on to the next part two exciting part of this park uh design, which is sorry, naming the park.

So I'll turn it back to Zarian.

Great.

Um park naming.

So as a part of our second survey, um, we asked the community to uh suggest uh one to three park names, if they would.

Uh we um we collected a list of uh approximately 73 uh suggested park names.

Uh we took that list and um it's the list that you all have in front of you.

Uh and we what do it what it down to uh five that are highlighted on your uh list there based on the city's policy for park names.

Um then we took that five and we put it out uh to the public on the last survey, uh along with uh uh some of these descriptions for what the meaning behind some of the submitted names.

Uh we have uh Slanging Park, uh which uh refers to an area of community gathering.

Uh it's has uh some historical significance to it.

Uh Tai Park given uh proximity to the middle school, uh conifer green, which references the uh uh the natural state of the site and the number of uh significant conifer trees on site, uh Peter Wright Park, uh which is the namesake of a former uh resident that uh help um uh help foster neighborhood connections and was uh instrumental in um uh spearheading the community association and then Eastgate Commons uh with the idea of just creating a um uh community gathering place uh within Eastgate.

Uh also on the last survey, we asked for uh survey respondents to rank each one of those five uh uh parks from their most favorite to least favorite.

This graph is showing uh in order of preference, uh the park name suggestion that had the highest rank into the lowest ranking.

Um the top two that were over that received over 20 percent, I mean 20 percent, 20 first preference uh suggestions were Eastgate Commons and Peter Wright Park uh with converter green um also close to getting 20.

This slide shows the average of each park's preference suggestion one through five, if you average out how many um preferences they received from first to last.

So in this graph, um you'll see that uh the top three all had an average of greater than three between on a scale of one to five, where uh the bottom two had a ground two to two and a half again.

We have Peter Wright Park and Eastgate Commons and um conifer green.

So basically uh similar information from the two different ways of looking at it, uh with some slight changes uh depending on the number of uh first place preferences.

So back.

So um yes, uh with that um uh we'll move to a board motion.

Um for Bellby Parks and Community Services Board to recommend to the city council a name for the new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

All right, thank you, Zarian.

Uh just like we did earlier.

Maybe we'll first uh ask clarifying questions about the process and about these names, and then after that we could go share a preference in the next round if that makes sense.

Um so does anyone and maybe it would it be good if we put it to the slide with the board names?

That might be a nice reference.

And the yeah, they thanks.

I think that would be great for everyone is uh keep see.

So um does anyone have any clarifying questions or process questions about the park naming?

It looks like the suggested name was Peter's Park after Peter Wright um at least on the on the handout that we got like then and I and then on the list and the surveys it looks like it said Peter Wright Park just wanted to clarify Peters Park was it represented as Peter Wright Park when we took the surveys yes it was one in the great thank you um sorry can uh how many people took the surveys again?

107.

107.

Okay thank you.

Any additional question?

Okay, Eric.

Uh referencing the survey was was there any way to tell what I guess neighborhood or geographical area that the people that provided the survey where they came from.

Yeah so uh we always include a uh demographic uh survey along with the main survey and uh only about 30% of the survey responders opted it's optional to take the demographic survey but from that group of 30 80% were from state area.

Yeah surrounding neighborhoods okay I I bring that up because in deference to those that actually live in the area I I tend to give a a little bit more leeway not leeway but um preference towards uh their input uh in that so I appreciate the information helps me make a decision and then for the 107 people uh was there a limit like one per household type of restriction um probably honor system because you can't really one survey response or yeah like a one vote per household like like if my family have four you know four of us really like that name we can vote four times um this no right you can't tell how many houses can't really tell but there's a with each uh with each survey response we'll have a um um a unique uh IP number so if we get a duplicate IP number it's not going it's gonna say you've already submitted a survey so if it's coming from the same household using the same computer they didn't want it yeah but I can like each of us would have a computer that would work right possibly okay okay so we we won't we don't know how many unique households that hundred seven people represent is that fair to say that's fair but additional questions I have I have a few um Thai Park after the middle school do we know the history behind the name Tai Oh sorry uh we don't I did some preliminary research on that that didn't return much information on that front um so no I don't have much information on that but uh if needed I guess it's it is something we can uh research further if it okay Tai stands for chief leader or boss from the Chinagargan trade trade language of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

Okay thanks quick Google thank you cool um then another question is uh how much do we know about Peter Wright because I know uh naming parks after people is pretty um there's a lot we should look into and if their family knows and things like that.

So can you give us a bit more background maybe about Peter Wright if you have any sure so this name was submitted by um by the care and the vice chair of the neighbors association because of his his history in the neighborhood and his uh his work to help spearhead that uh association uh several decades ago um there was no big theory that was forwarded to me that was uh published in the Seattle Times um I forget uh what year exactly but it was in the 90s uh that spoke about uh some of his uh philanthropy work around the area uh but in addition to that I did um ask our legal department to do a preliminary check uh on his background um no red flags came up to the extent that we could search but to get a um I guess a uh deeper dive criminal record search it will require uh permission from uh the person or the family member uh this person is deceased so that makes it you know more challenging but we did uh do a search for the entire state of Washington and uh nothing um no red flags came up but uh this was a person that did uh live

Um I forget uh what year exactly but it was in the 90s uh that spoke about uh some of his uh philanthropy work around the area uh but in addition to that I did um ask our legal department to do a preliminary check uh on his background um no red flags came up to the extent that we could search but to get a um I guess a uh deeper dive criminal record search it will require uh permission from uh the person or the family member uh this person is deceased so that makes it you know more challenging but we did uh do a search for the entire state of Washington and uh nothing um no red flags came up but uh this was a person that did uh live um basically all over the world uh he only moved to Eastgate in um the last uh I'd say 20 years or so of his life so um we do know some things we do know quite a bit but um you know our our ability to do further searches is capped a certain level which we have taken oh thank you for do delay song yeah in addition it doesn't appear we also uh trying to see if we could uh figure out if you if there was family in the area and it doesn't appear that there there is uh any of the the right family associated with Peter that still lives here so we've not been able to contact any family member yeah he has three surviving children um and the closest I believe is in Vancouver uh Canada okay thank you for sharing all that I have one more name question sorry okay this might sound goofy Eastgate where did the name Eastgate come from is there a gate was there a gate sorry I didn't think to look into that is okay yeah let's start Googling yeah maybe I should I think east I mean Eastgate the geographic area um probably predates um yeah the the the the city of Bellevue proper in terms of just a geographic um identifier a lot of identifiers in Bellevue tend to be northern European and I think from from that like going back in history like Eastgate would be like the east gate of a walled city.

So you have Northgate Southgate um westgate uh so sort of common names that um are are used uh with probably uh sort of a northern european derivation at some point okay thank you and then shell you found something too no cameron said it uh he he googled from his brain uh from middle english words for eastgate like left of or to the east of a castle or town um we can call the town I90 east okay and and then I have one more question so commons is there any other park with the word commons in it or public area I've been like that's I don't think so no no yeah I lean would know I was thinking I'm so happy I didn't see like forest or remember my little forest or is the something for a something park because I'm like at least I didn't see more okay so it's not like a term used to I like a shop thing center that's already taken that could be applicable in this case and if you Google Eastgate Commons on Google Maps it actually points direct basically a block away of where the park is located on Southeast Eastgate Drive very interestingly how accurate is that very next to that's really good maybe all right okay any more discussion questions about memes and we all reviewed the the policy regard or the policy regarding naming here in the city of Bellevue.

All right so the next part let's open it up for anyone to share their current preference between the naming options so does anyone have a preference that they'd like to share okay go for it.

Because there's a lot of really great names that was submitted um ultimately so I think um I like locational type park names uh that you can associate within the immediate blocks of where this park is located.

I did go to Google and check how far the park is from Tai.

And it is about I think a mile it's about 20 minute walk um Tai as a middle school also has you know a lot of green spaces and other things near it.

So I don't know if it's a little bit too far um to be considered right part of the Thai community community, but it could be.

Um the sheet that we got, it does say that Eastgates Eastgate Commons was more of a neighborhood related name.

Um and again, I'm not exactly sure if the subdivision is exactly called Eastgate Commons or if that's kind of the local reference for that particular area, but I know that each of us, for example, our subdivision, which is like three blocks or so, they all have their own kind of unique names.

Um I do wonder if that's why again it hits in this particular area.

But given that, you know, Eastgate Commons um kind of has a nice ring to it, metaphorically, it does refer to a common gathering place.

This is more of a tiny park.

Um, so I do enjoy kind of how it combines the geographical with the specific location as well as you know, kind of play into what the what this is.

Um I'm a little bit um in between Eastgate Commons or an Eastgate Commons park.

Um, I think it might be a little bit too redundant, but ultimately that would be my pick at this time.

Thank you, Ms.

Young.

All right.

Anyone else want to share their preference?

Okay, go for it, Eric.

Uh for for me, there was nothing that just screamed, oh my gosh, yes, that's what we need to name name the park.

That being said, I see a lot of wonderful names here that I think I would enjoy if I went to the park and I see that as a name there, or if I told somebody, hey, meet me here.

That it it felt right.

Um what really resonates with me is the thought of naming a park uh by something that's inspired by a sense of community, although none of those names really resonated with with me.

Um, in which case I then go in in my own mind, again, back to what the community uh had had provided for feedback, as well as naming it with something around the local neighborhood and or locational.

And so for me, next comes the Eastgate Commons, which then even though I again it it's not shouting out at me of the options that are there, that's something that I would be proud of if I lived in the neighborhood and that was the name of the park.

I I'd be really happy with that.

So I lean towards that, although I see a lot of names, and I'd be fine if we did name it something else.

It's just that's where I I tend to leave.

Thank you, Eric.

Would you like to share?

Um so first of all, notice there's no neighborhood people coming here champagning for a name like Valley Creek last name.

So it makes me feel that they're not like so strongly um attached to any of this theme, although the survey kind of gave some preference.

But last time I remember was Valley Creek.

There were like, I don't know, five or six people that really champaigned during the public um section.

They really talked about how much they like that name, how much that name meant for them.

So I felt like um, so then it's kind of open, right?

So when I first saw these um whatever five names, um, I immediately thought Eastgate Commons and Peter Wright were actually my top two.

So when I saw the survey results, I was like, oh, kind of matched.

I love actually have a park name after somebody, but but based on what you said, it could also be um a bit like we'll have maybe have to do more due diligence because Bovey Park was renamed, right?

And so um, and also I remember um we went to um with immersive slew, they had a dedication for a center for, and then the whole family came, right?

That the their kids or grandkids.

So, but then the fact that the Peter Ride doesn't really have a family here.

I felt like if we're named some a park after this, it won't we won't have enough people even have a like a ceremony to celebrate his life.

And so it may not be as meaningful as whoever first suggested, even though it sounds like this person did a wonderful work for the neighborhood.

So then I kind of went back to Eastgate Commons, but there is an Eastgate Park, right?

That's uh yeah, south.

Um, but then I guess that's okay because we have quite a few parks like Cherry Quest Park, Cherry Quest, Mini Park.

And so it um maybe that's also okay.

Because at first I thought like, you know, now we'll have Eastgate Commons and Eastgate Park with people get confused.

Um but then I'll look at all the parks named after Cherry Quest, there's still multiple of them.

Um, so then I kind of went back to Eastgate Commons, so that's where I'm kind of stand right now is Eastgate Commons.

Yeah.

I also favor Eastgate Commons, but for a different reason.

I wasn't able to attend a lot of the meetings, but I did appreciate that the people who answered the survey, more people had Eastgate Commons as their number one choice.

And even though it can sometimes be helpful to look at the rankings and averages, especially if we need to narrow things down.

I don't know that that really tells me that we need Peter Wright above and beyond that.

And because it was just one specific group of folks that wanted him, and it it doesn't follow the same pattern as many of other our other parks.

I think we should respect folks' number one choice, which is East Eastgate Commons.

I'm not too worried about the confusion.

I think people will handle it.

They'll say Eastgate Commons.

Do you mean the one with the two circles, or do you mean this other park?

And they'll say, I mean the one with the two circles, and uh it will be good.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Um I also lean towards Eastgate Commons.

I'm I'm a little hesitant about Peter Wright Park.

Um, because yeah, I do feel like we need to do much more due diligence on a name.

I maybe we could honor them, someone could get one of those benches or another way to honor honor Peter Wright in the area.

Um I kind of liked Conifer Green a little bit at one point, but that's because I'm like Felby Naturalist in Flint, and I know that the trees were very uh uh loved by the neighborhood.

Um, but yeah, I really like the name Eastgate Commons.

It feels pretty welcoming, and then um also I'm not sure if this has a huge, but I know the Eastgate neighborhood association uh put a lot into it, so there's kind of that little little tie to it too.

The regional ties really uh valuable, and then um then I had a that's okay.

I was gonna say my concerns over the other names, but I'll just speak positively over uh my uh appreciation of Eastgate Commons.

It feels very welcoming to me.

Yeah.

I just want to say something about the Peter Wright.

I really uh like your idea about trying to memorialize him in another way in the park.

Um but I would hate for us to name a park and then somebody 20 years down the line searches for why is this park named after who is Peter Wright?

And then if if we don't take care to memorialize and log this information and create some sort of place, there will be no no result for that.

And that's something that I think we we should consider more seriously.

Um so yeah, like I think that was one of my suggestions after visiting all the parks, right?

Like for the parks that the name was either after somebody's name, like not obvious, like Eastgate Park or Eastgate Commons.

We should have a little description, like we talked about, like if it's possible that at the park, explain why the park is named this way, like Eastgate Commons, Eastgate Park that doesn't require like much explanation, but like Zoom diac, you know, why it's called Zoom Decks.

Here's a person, right?

Like, yeah, yeah.

So all right.

Thank you.

Thanks, Michelle.

Any final words before we move to a motion?

Do we need a check with Paul and Steve too?

Or we already have a quorum five.

We have a quorum.

Um yeah, and then Paul's note didn't include, sorry, I should have mentioned it didn't include a preferred plan or a preferred name.

So okay.

Um was that is there a motion to recommend to the city council Eastgate Commons as the preferred name for a new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

When did the second Eileen did the second?

Okay.

Thank you.

Would anyone like to speak to the motion?

All right.

All in favor of the motion to recommend to the city council Eastgate Commons as a preferred name for a new park in the Eastgate neighborhood.

Say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say no.

All right.

The motion has been approved unanimously.

Thank you.

Oh, okay.

That's exciting.

Yeah, thank you all.

Thank you.

It was ready for debate.

I know.

It happens this way all the time, right?

Come on.

Zoran, you want to hit your last couple of slides on next steps.

Oh, just to round just to round it out.

So the next steps, uh, this is an estimate planning schedule.

Um we hope to be at uh council uh in November of this year.

Um and bringing um now both the uh a preferred plan and uh the name.

And uh and that was that was it.

Cool.

And once we have the council date um confirmed really before that, we'll uh work with the chair and and vice chair, and um usually as is typical, we'll have the chair um be part of that presentation to the council.

All right, looking forward to it.

I know the neighborhood's so excited about it.

I think the number one question is when you all start.

So thank you for all your work.

Sorry, and parks, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, beautiful designs.

I think yeah.

Thank you so much.

All right.

So the next item on the agenda uh is the third quarter uh 2025 report and communication to council, although this is the second report.

Yeah.

It's our second letter of the year.

How about that?

The second letter of the year because we had a fusion earlier.

Um so the so I'll turn it over to Cameron uh talk about it.

Yes.

Uh yes, our past and normal practices to have uh quarterly letters uh that we got a little off this year with some uh canceled meetings here and there, but our our first letter covered January to April.

Uh this letter covers uh the May and July meetings, and then we'll have a third letter at the uh in January that we'll cover October and November.

Um so looking forward.

The draft uh was included in the packet, uh just high-level summary.

We noted um all the various uh changes that have gurden in the board composition um with uh change in our uh vice chair and uh leadership for the next year, as well as uh board member uh Heather Trescast's um terming ending her term and a new board member uh Eric uh coming on board as well, and then uh touched on the presentations that uh and discussions that occurred on those two board meetings um in May uh on on this topic that on the Eastgate topic at that stage in the process, and then uh the presentations and input that the board provided um on the sustainable bellevue plan as well as the uh neighborhood area plans.

So hopefully sort of captured uh summary of those um as well as mentioning uh we did have a presentation on the department's um park system renovation and refurbishment program as well, which sparked a lot of questions and information um for uh at that meeting.

Uh so with that I'll pause and see if y'all have any comments, and then this is also an action item.

So uh once agreed, uh we do have a motion to transmit the um memo on to city council.

All right, uh does anyone have any comments about the memo?

Uh Michelle?

Yeah, okay.

I just had one um comment that I'd love to to share with y'all.

Um on the park system renovation and refurbishment section.

Um it could be good to, or again, a recommendation is to mention a few of the recent renovation and refurbishment projects or kind of highlight those.

If if we could, or if we were open to giving some of those examples.

Again, let's say the input for neighborhood area plans or for the refurbishment, like just some more details in there and data points on why we've made some decisions could be useful.

But okay.

Yeah, thank you.

So yeah, moving forward, adding more kind of substantial things that we talk about in our meeting into the memo.

And then for this memo in particular, you want to we you're asking us, uh we should add some like concrete examples of recent renovation and refurbishment project.

Yeah, just if if we read, you know, parks, trails, and natural areas are a key component.

So we kind of explain how important it is, you know, to have this.

And then the service in these areas is enhanced.

Um, you know, we we give priority.

So we kind of explain what we're doing, and then we talk about in July, the board learn about um.

So we talked about what we learned, but it would be great to also highlight the good work of the department that presented to us with some of the the like recent highlights and wins as well.

Because we learned about that as well, too.

So process-wise, so uh yeah, so adding some facts and figures uh, you know, about the renovation uh program, uh we can sort of plug those from the presentation that was given.

Um that's a um an easy ed to make if the board had consensus around that.

Um we could sort of take a note of what exactly we would be adding um and then uh have the board approve um approve the letter substantially, and then uh we would work on those specific items that you identified, uh work with the chair and vice chair to incorporate those and then transmit it on without having to come back to the board at a future meeting for approval, if that makes that process makes sense.

Okay, yeah.

So we'll work together to uh add more to that, more details to that final period.

Yeah, and like Cameron said, I think all of this is within the presentations that came to us, but just kind of adding adding that um would be great.

And like I said, I think for this time, really just highlighting something in the park system and renovation if that's something that the rest of the board would consider.

And I think we can work towards this refining or adding more facts and figures in the rest of the letter for the next iteration.

Sure.

Yeah, sounds good.

Yeah, I I concur concur with that thought, and I'm willing for consensus to uh move move forward and approve the memo with the additions.

Uh and I trust staff to be able to document that for us.

Okay, thanks, Eric.

Maybe I should just read the motion and then we could re redo it with the motion powers then.

Uh so is there a motion to transmit the report for me to August 2025 to city councils substantially as presented.

All in favor.

Oh, so yeah.

So ahead.

Sorry.

So moved.

Okay, thanks, Elizabeth.

Second.

Thank you, Michelle.

All right, now let's put it to a vote.

All in favor, uh say aye.

Aye.

Okay, any opposed, say no.

All right.

Thank you.

The the motion has been approved unanimously.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Um, so the next item on the agenda is new business, and we'll turn it over to Cameron to talk about agenda items we could expect to cover during the October meeting.

Yes.

So looking forward to October, um, at this point, we have um two presentations um in the queue.

One is uh a presentation from our staff that work on our um marketing and social media um plan.

There's a plan and then a program that goes along with that.

And we have also a new staff person that has come on board somewhat recently within the past six months that you'll get to meet who sort of is in charge of those elements of uh telling the public about the work we do.

And then uh this month, um, in fact, within probably about a week or so, we should be hearing if our departmental um reaccreditation is approved by the National Uh Parks and Recreation Association um accreditation wing.

And so in October, uh we um would like to come back and sort of give you all an update on that process and the and the what we expect to be a good result.

Oh, Eric.

So on October 15th, 6 p.m.

Yes, yes.

How often do we re-accredit?

It uh occurs on a five-year cycle.

So every five years.

All right, any other questions to Cameron about next meeting.

Um with that, are there any board members that wish to request remote participation at the October meeting?

And you have until noon the day prior as well.

And then Eileen, did you say that's October 15th?

15th.

October 15th.

Just remember parking because we won't take people.

Yeah, because I'll view essentials.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh no remote participation.

Um with that, um, all agenda items are complete.

So I call the meeting now adjourned.

Yay.

Thank you very much.