Committee of the Whole - Parks and Environmental Sustainability Meeting - September 23, 2025
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Committee of the Whole - Parks and Environmental Sustainability Meeting - September 23, 2025
The Redmond City Council Committee of the Whole for Parks and Environmental Sustainability met on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, commencing at 4:32 PM. The meeting covered three informational items: an update on the Old Fire House facility recommendation process, the Public Art Master Plan update, and the Community Based Events Innovation Fund overview. Council also considered a consent agenda item for approval of the Sixth Amendment to the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement for watershed trail maintenance.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Sixth Amendment to Interlocal Cooperation Agreement Between King County and the City of Redmond for Maintenance of Redmond Watershed Trails (CM 25-508): The amendment adjusts the county's annual contribution for inflation, with the first year remittance set at $8,220.50. Council had no questions, and the item is scheduled for approval on the consent agenda of the October 7th business meeting.
Discussion Items
- Old Fire House Facility Recommendation Process Update (CM 25-514): Parks Planning Manager Lindsay Falkenberg presented the community engagement process for the Old Fire House Teen Center. A stakeholder group of 23 participants (including teens, parents, service providers, commissioners, alumni, and city staff) has been convened and will meet six times. Two meetings have already occurred (September 10 and 17); four remain (October 1, 8, 22, 29). The group will use multi-objective decision analysis to recommend whether to renovate or investigate a rebuild (location is out of scope for this phase). Focus groups launched with 30 community members at the first session on September 22. A second focus group is scheduled for September 24. Final recommendation is expected at a study session on November 12, with a decision goal of November 18. Councilmember Fields expressed concerns that the stakeholder group composition was not fully collaborative, and he urged that the group be allowed to consider costs to safely reopen the facility. Council President Kritzer affirmed that the scope was set by council direction at the July 22 study session and that a majority did not support reopening discussion. Parks Director Hamilton noted that delaying a decision past November would risk building failure over winter, requiring emergency investments.
- Public Art Master Plan Update (CM 25-512): Cultural Arts Supervisor Chris Weber reported that consultant MIG has conducted site visits, stakeholder interviews, and outreach at Derby Days and the Downtown Redmond Art Walk. A citywide questionnaire is live, and additional focus groups are planned, including a creative economy forum in November. Draft plan expected December 2025, public review in January 2026, study session February 27, 2026, and final plan by March 2026. The plan will align with Redmond 2050 and incorporate existing public art on private property and other agency collections. Next committee update will be November 27.
- Community Based Events Innovation Fund Overview (CM 25-483): Marketing and Events Supervisor Lindsay Tusing detailed the $25,000 pilot program. Eligible organizations: active nonprofits or fiscally sponsored groups with budgets under $500,000, operational since January 1, 2025. Events must be on city property, free/open to public, require a special event permit or have 100+ attendees, and serve missions around community building, arts, wellness, or cultural heritage. Awards range from $250 to $5,000 per organization per year (one grant per org). Applications open in coming weeks for 2026 events; all qualifying applicants receive some funding. Scoring is based on innovation, community impact, accessibility, and financial need (evenly weighted). Payment is direct (not reimbursement); post-event reports required. Councilmembers provided feedback on eligibility thresholds, logo placement, and promotion of alternative city partnerships.
Key Outcomes
- The Sixth Amendment will be placed on the October 7 consent agenda for final approval.
- Old Fire House stakeholder group will continue meeting; staff will present an updated process report on October 28. Final recommendation and focus group report will be delivered to council on November 12, with a decision anticipated November 18. Council did not direct a change in scope to include reopening analysis.
- Public Art Master Plan timeline confirmed: next update November 27, draft plan December 2025, study session February 27, 2026.
- Community Events Innovation Fund applications will launch in the coming weeks for 2026 events; staff will add alternative partnership information to the website.
- The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:00 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. Call to order the meeting of the parks and environmental sustainability meeting for Tuesday, September 23rd, commencing at 432. All council members are in attendance. The first item we have tonight is an approval for the Sixth Amendment to interlocal cooperation agreement between King County and the Redmond, City of Redmond for maintenance of the Redmond watershed trails. All right. Good afternoon. I'm Meg Antifine, one of the park operations supervisors, and I will be presenting this tonight. I won't go through the whole title again. In 1989, a King County bond measure financed the acquisition, construction, and development of public green spaces, including the Redmond Watershed Preserve. As part of this agreement, King County has a financial obligation to support maintenance, operations, and administration of the trails and support system until the watershed has contiguous boundaries with Redmond or some other city. In 2001, the original agreement was amended to reduce the county's annual contribution from $30,000 to $20,000 to more accurately reflect maintenance, operation, and administrative costs. That amendment also provided for a reduction in the county's annual contribution when new regional connecting trails were developed outside the watershed. In 2010, the Third Amendment to this agreement reduced the county's annual contribution to $6200 in recognition of new regional trails constructed through Redmond Ridge Trilogy and the resulting reduction in the amount of regional trail in the watershed preserve. Subsequent amendments, including this Sixth Amendment, include adjustments for inflation as defined in the agreement. The first year of this term calls for remittance of 82 $220 and 50 cents from county to the city. And our hope is that this is placed on the consent agenda of our next business meeting. Yes. Thank you. Any questions from council. Fabulous. That was an easy one. Thank you so much. Next on our agenda, we have informational item on the fire old firehouse facility recommendation process update. A couple of handouts. Ah, fabulous two. Good afternoon, City Council. So this item is an update on our stakeholder engagement process for the Old Firehouse Teen Center. I'm joined today by Lindsay Falkenberg, who is our parks planning manager. She is the project manager for this engagement process, working with SA, our consulting team, and she is going to present this item. Hello, Council President Kritzer and the members of City Council. I'm Lindsey Falkenberg, the Parks Planning Manager. And I'm here this evening to provide an update about the community engagement process for the old firehouse facility recommendation. So the last you heard from Parks and Recreation on this topic was during your July 22nd study session when Parks Director Lorene Hamilton and consultants from Pratit and McKenzie presented the facility's condition assessment. That report outlined the current state of the building and the challenges it presents. Since then, we've launched a community engagement process designed to provide this council with a community-informed recommendation to guide your decision on the future of the facility. So we began by convening a staple stakeholder group of 23 participants. This group was formed collaboratively with input from park staff, city leadership, and the city council teen center subcommittee to ensure a balanced and diverse representation. Members include teens from a range of backgrounds and experiences, including service providers, uh community organizations, commissioners, parents, city staff, alumni, and teens. The full list of members is in front of you, and it's available publicly on uh redmond.gov backslash OFH as well for the public to see. For privacy reasons, the name of the teen participants are anonymized. The stakeholder group will meet six times in total. We've already met twice on September 10th and 17th, and we have four more meetings scheduled on October 1st, 8th, 22nd, and 29th. The first two meetings have been focused on leveling everyone's knowledge of the project through sharing more information about the facility, its use over the years, the challenges inherent in maintaining it, and the facilities condition assessment, and more. And the following meetings will be focused on providing stakeholder space to discuss for discussion, centering around stakeholder desires, visualizations, opinions, knowledge, wants, and needs. While the first two meetings have been information heavy, our facility facilitator Darcy Edmonds has carefully built in time for stakeholders to ask questions and be engaged. The stakeholders stakeholder goal is to recommend whether to renovate or rebuild the old firehouse or investigate a rebuild of the old firehouse. And the location of a potential rebuild is outside the scope of their recommendation work. To reach this recommendation, we're using a carefully guided community engagement process led by our facilitation experts at Stepherson's and Associates. The process is a tool called multi-objective decision analysis, which is aligned or outlined in attachment A of your packet. And I've provided with you with an updated paper version of the factors that are involved in the in the process.
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