King County Council member Carolyn Edmonds spent a recent Saturday morning walking the Burke-Gilman trail with Lake Forest Park residents and city officials to hear their concerns about the county’s plan to redevelop the trail through Lake Forest Park.
The portion of the trail that runs through Lake Forest Park is the oldest, most heavily used and is in need of repair and maintenance work, county officials say. It is also the most densely populated area the trail cuts through, running right by homes and driveways. Speed limit signs, stop signs and other mitigation devices have been installed over the years to help regulate traffic on this portion of the trail. King County has set aside $300,000 to create a plan for redeveloping the trail section.
The meeting was initiated by Lake Forest Park Council Member Mary Jane Goss.
“Our residents are concerned with speeding bicyclers and we have to be wary of King County and their vision for the trail in Lake Forest Park,” Goss said at the Dec. 11 City Council meeting.
“I’m miffed that King County has devoted so much to bicycling on their website (for this project), they are showing bias to bikers on this trail, and a lot of residents feel the outcome is already predetermined and they do not feel King County gives two hoots about what they feel.”
Edmonds said she agreed to spend Saturday, Dec. 13 on the trail and she met residents at the home of Dean Peterson, who lives in the 15000 block of Beach Drive, at the foot of 151st Street.
“I went out there because I wanted to walk the trail and let them talk to me about what they experience,” Edmonds said. “What I heard that day was that there are some significant issues that need to be addressed in any enhancements we do to the trail.
“I heard about problems with surface water drainage, problems over the transition from public right-of-way park use to private property, and they talked about the need for adequate signage regarding the rules of the trail.
“They also talked about trail safety as their priority and that’s my priority as well. The fact that the trail is so narrow it gets very congested with pedestrians and bikers and there’s often hazardous situations as a result of that.”
Peterson said he and about 200 other residents have to cross over the trail to access their driveways. He told Edmonds that the stop signs on the trail must be maintained to protect bikers from being hit by cars. He says he can’t see trail-users from his driveway and even had Edmonds drive his driveway across the trail to make his point.
“When I am in my car, I cannot see bikers, even when they are right there,” Peterson said. And since most bikers refuse to stop at the stop signs, it creates a hazardous situation, he said.
At an October public meeting on the issue, some bicyclists recommended homeowners install mirrors at the ends of their driveways to aid in crossing the trail.
Peterson said he has not installed mirrors to aid in crossing the trail because he says vandals would break them.
He suggested to Edmonds that instead, the county install red lights on top of the stop signs that are activated by the driveways, to give cyclists a clear signal to stop.
He also opposes widening the trail because he says it will only make bicyclers go faster.
“By widening it, it will become more of a speedway for cyclists,” he said.
Edmonds said she heard many of these suggestions for solutions and said the county is working right now to understand the issues and define the problem and will be using consultants, engineers and trail designers to help create the best solution.
One thing she is requesting is for the county to do a separate engineering study to study traffic on the trail. This is in direct response to public comment on the issue of traffic and usage she said and it would provide the county more information about who uses the trail and how it’s used.
Edmonds recently sent a letter to the City Council asking they agree with working together with the county in partnership on the issue of the Burke-Gilman trail.
“The history of this trail has been full of miscommunications and misunderstandings between the County and the residents,” Edmonds said.
“The county could just go ahead with this project without the city’s involvement but I want to go further, and make sure we take the process slower and try to have a partnership and involve Lake Forest Park in the decision-making process,” Edmonds said.
At their Dec. 11 meeting, Council members showed reluctance to work collaboratively with King County on this issue.
“She is asking us to bless a methodology, an approach to the project in advance, so when the conclusion comes up she can say we blessed the conclusion, and I don’t want to justify her approach one way or another,” said Council member Ed Sterner.
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