Mayor vetoes restrictions on Burke-Gilman Trail

By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

Mayor David Hutchinson

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It was Hutchinson's first veto in nine years as mayor of the North King County city.

The City Council last month narrowly approved an ordinance requiring that any expansion of the trail within Lake Forest Park would have to be made with porous materials that let water pass through.

The King County Parks Department said the ordinance would prevent the county from enlarging the trail, as it had planned.

"I do not believe that (the ordinance) will solve the access, safety, liability and signage issues that are important in the redevelopment of the Burke-Gilman Trail," said Hutchinson, in a letter to council members. "The issues surrounding the redevelopment of the Burke-Gilman Trail have become overly contentious and divisive."

City officials said 85 percent of Lake Forest Park residents who contacted the city opposed the ordinance.

The council approved the measure 4-3; it will take five votes to override Hutchinson's veto.

The mayor has asked the council to delay any action on the ordinance and a companion measure until July 22, when Lake Forest Park plans to begin work on an interlocal agreement with King County for development of the trail.

The second measure, which would subject the trail to a conditional-use permit, is on Thursday's agenda along with the veto vote. It would require that different kinds of trail users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians, be separated on the trail and that the trail could cross driveways only where there was no other practical solution.

Plans for upgrading a two-mile section of the trail from Northeast 145th Street to Logboom Park in Kenmore have caused divisions in Lake Forest Park. Some long-time residents who support the ordinance said bikers go too fast on the trail and King County hasn't taken good care of it.

An existing Lake Forest Park law says that public and private trails in wetland buffers can't be made of impervious surfaces, but it exempts the Burke-Gilman Trail. The ordinance passed last month removed that exemption.
 
"I agree with the members of the City Council who raised issues about the importance of preserving our wetlands and stream crossings," Hutchinson said. "This ordinance, however, does not address these issues and has the unanticipated outcome of possibly blocking the redevelopment of the trail, and it may not enhance our environmental resources."

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com