Redmond: Viewpoint residents see transportation, safety as top concerns

In Redmond’s Viewpoint neighborhood, people are talking about how they’d like their community to look and function in the year 2030. An eleven-member Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) and senior planner Kim Dietz of the City of Redmond are collecting ideas from residents on all aspects of living, working or playing in Viewpoint.

The neighborhood’s boundaries stretch from the southern portion of Marymoor Park at West Lake Sammamish Parkway, south along Bel-Red Road to Northeast 40th Street, west along 40th Street to 172nd Avenue Northeast, south to Northeast 20th Street and then east to the Lake Sammamish shoreline. Prominent features include Audubon Elementary School, the Viewpoint Open Space, Viewpoint Neighborhood Park and Idylwood Park.

The process to update Viewpoint began in early 2007 with focus groups, neighborhood surveys and a City Services Fair and Open House. A Neighborhood Citizen Academy met twice monthly from fall of ‘07 through February 2008 and the CAC was recognized by the mayor and city council this past April.

The ongoing dialogue with Viewpoint neighbors includes a “long laundry list of priorities, such as transportation, neighborhood character and some utilities. This is just a starting point. We’ll send postcards out to the residents when we get closer to an open house in the fall. Input is one of the most significant things we can ask from the community,” Dietz noted.

We asked her what issues have been prevalent, so far.

“Traffic is one,” she replied. “How to best use West Lake Sammamish Parkway as a multi-modal corridor. Also preserving neighborhood character, since it’s a built-out community. And water quality, such as uses on the water (Lake Sammamish) and lawn care practices.”

Safety has also been mentioned, especially with regard to emergency preparedness.

“They would love a neighborhood center — a place to go for warming or other emergency services — if we had a storm or other power outage that left the neighborhood isolated,” Dietz continued. “And there have been pedestrian/bicycle safety concerns, at 180th and 24th and where 36th and 77th cross. These are uncontrolled intersections other than stop signs and people have suggested that safety analysis could be performed.”

Better and more public transit options are also being discussed.

Dietz said people are receptive to ways to get out of single-occupant vehicles, “so we need to look at a customer-oriented transportation system suitable for 2030.”

The Viewpoint neighborhood CAC will continue to meet twice per month through May 2009 and the public is always invited to attend and share their thoughts, said Dietz. A neighborhood Open House is anticipated in October — and right now, the city’s neighborhood Web page has a survey that residents can complete electronically. Visit http://www.redmond.gov/intheworks/viewpoint/default.asp.

Residents can also contact Kim Dietz directly at kdietz@redmond.gov or (425) 556-2415.

Contact Redmond Reporter Reporter Mary Stevens Decker at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com or (425) 867-0353, ext. 5052.

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