Government Liaison

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Coal Creek Retention Pond • I-405 Expansion Project • NEP
Other Projects • Valley Hospital District • West Ravine
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The Government Liaison Chair maintains an awareness of issues and opportunities of likely import to Newport Hills. This is accomplished by monitoring the various communications from the city, attendance of council, board and commission meetings as appropriate.

The Liaison communicates items of interest to the club board and membership and communicates the clubs positions to local government officials and staff. The following are key issues and opportunities facing Newport Hills. Following these are links to various government resources and contacts.

Your Government Liaison Chair is Ray Osburn. If you need to contact him, you can send email directly to govliaison@newporthillscommunityclub.org or use the web form on the Contacts page.

**Because of recent changes to the City of Bellevue web site, a few of the links below no longer work. We are working to update them. **

Coal Creek Retention Pond Project

First phase of Coal Creek restoration complete (10/05/2006 Press Release):

http://www.bellevuewa.gov/coal_creek_restoration_news_release.htm

June-2006 Final Environmental Impact Study: (Link Temporarily Lost):

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I-405 Renton to Bellevue Expansion

Washington State DOT's I-405 Project Web Site

3/9/2006 Environmental impact statement for project includes good Executive Summery and Ch. 4 project summary.

City of Bellevue information on this project

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Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP)

The Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) has been a significant component of the city's overall outreach effort since 1988. Bellevue residents identify projects that will improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods, collectively prioritize those projects, and work with city staff to implement the improvements. The program is on a three-year cycle.

Newport Hills residents received mailings in September, 2006, a workshop was hosted in January, 2007 and voting occurred in March, 2007. A new Coal Creek Park access trail project was selected. The trail starts near the Newport Hills entry sign on SE 60th above Coal Creek Parkway and connects to the Coal Creek Natural Area trail that follows the creek and beyond to Cougar Mountain and its trail network.

For more information on the program and project you can visit:
http://www.bellevuewa.gov/newport.htm

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Other Projects in Your Area

Projects in our Neighborhood (City of Bellevue web site)
A few of the larger projects include:

60th St. Sidewalk partially funded by 2004 NEP monies (from 114th Pl SE to just east of 116th Ave SE)
Walkway / Bikeway - 119th Ave SE (SE 60th St to Lake Height description)
60th St. Sidewalk funded by 2004 NEP monies (PROJECT COMPLETED) (8/1/2005 council brief to describe project and award contract)
Critical Areas Update & Growth Management Act (Bellevue & Washington)
Factoria Area Transportation Study - FATS

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Valley Hospital District

Most of us in Newport Hills and the shore community to our west are in King County Hospital District #1 (known as the Valley Medical Hospital District with a northern boundary of either SE 48th or 49th). Bellevue residents, nearly all of them in Newport Hills, are now paying $590,000 each year ($200 to $250 per house per year) for emergency medical services at Valley Medical Hospital in Renton.

In a 12 month period, five emergency transport trips out of 219 went to Valley Medical. Most of the rest went to Overlake. These statistics came from work that the Bellevue staff prepared for the council in response to resident complaints about the increase in their tax bills (from $0.09/$1,000 last year to $0.59/$1,000 this year.) You'll find the tax listed as "other" on your annual property tax bills.

Hospital districts were formed in part to serve rural communities; Overlake Hospital is not part of a hospital district and most of Bellevue pays no hospital tax.

A very good description of the issue, the difficulty in getting out of this district, and a map showing which Greater Newport Hills homes are in the levy district can be found in the staff brief for the 4/24/06 council meeting:

City Staff Brief on Hospital District issue for 4/24/2006 City Council Meeting:

Look for item 1c under Regional Issues

City Council Meeting web cast. This includes club members appeals during oral communications portion of replay, staff presentation and council comments.

To reach the web cast, click on the April 24th Extended Session: http://bellevue.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3

In the April 24th meeting, the council asked city staff to prepare a resolution expressing support for our withdrawal from the district. At the 5/15/2006 meeting a resolution was proposed and passed by the council. It did three things:

Expressed the council's support of withdrawing Bellevue residents from the taxing district
Directed staff to set up a meeting with the Hospital District's Board of Commissioners with the intent to ask them to release us from the levy district.
Directed staff to explore legislative remedies to the current state statutes governing our potential withdrawal.

May 15, 2006 City Council Resolution supporting withdrawal

The resolution text is linked below: http://www.cityofbellevue.org/citygov/CityCouncil/pdf/PA_05152006_8h_RS.pdf

A club representative thanked the council for its work and urged passage of the resolution during oral comments at the 8PM regular session. The resolution passed with little fanfare. The April 24th web cast and minutes better reflect the council's support of this issue.

Check this web site for updates after the city reports on its meeting with the Hospital District Board, and on potential legislative remedies. In early June the Hospital Board stated that they would not be releasing any communities from the district, so there is a good chance that it will take new state law to enable Newport Hills to withdraw. Most likely any effort to withdraw will require residents to become more actively involved in enlisting the help of our legislators and ensuring the continued support of our city representatives. An update from the city has been requested.

West Ravine

The "West Ravine" is a series of undeveloped natural properties stretching from SE 60th Street west of Eastside Catholic and following the small tributary northward to the Newcastle Park and Ride area:

Boundary Map of the Newport Hills Community Club

This land is largely zoned for single family residences, some high and some medium. Because of environmental constraints, including wetlands and steep slopes, access would be difficult and much of the land would be unusable. Over time though, there have been several requests for re-zoning to make the properties more economical to build on. Past requests have included a change in designation to multi-family and light industrial uses. The latter was potentially for the development of a mini-storage facility, but most past attempts have centered on apartments or condominiums.

Many residents and club members who live on the properties adjacent and above the West Ravine are very concerned about this sort of development because of potential land stability issues. There are also concerns about impacts on critical wildlife habitat and on the visual character of a key entry point to Newport Hills. The property could also be a nice addition to the Bellevue park system. Each time a zoning change has been requested, residents adjacent to the ravine have voiced their objections and been successful in blocking the change.

In March and April of 2005, affected residents (primarily on 116th Ave SE and 116th Place SE) formed the West Ravine Alliance and passed a petition for the city to pursue the acquisition of the West Ravine property as public space, either directly as park land, or through State Department of Transportation wetland mitigation funds associated with the future expansion of I-405. The Community Club Board voted to support the resolution, and joined Alliance members in presenting the petitions and a request to study the issue to the city council on 4/28/2005.

City Manager, Steve Sarkozy later informed us that the DOT had filled its wetland mitigation requirement with other properties, and the City currently lacked funding for such an acquisition. This was not altogether unexpected, but the exercise served as a reminder to the council that many Bellevue residents remain concerned over potential future development of this natural area.

The club will look for future opportunities to bring the issue in front of the City Council and the Parks Board.

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