Please share your thoughts! We are in the process of updating the current Council adopted Bellevue Airfield Park master plan. A series of community meeting and workshops to help gather community preferences for park amenities and refine park plan alternatives began in June 2022 and is expected to conclude in Winter of 2023.
What are your park amenity preferences, and what are your plan preferences?
Please take the most recent survey with the updated park alternatives, and let us know!
- Your comments and inquiries can also be shared anytime with the project manager, Pam Fehrman.
- All feedback will be shared with the Parks & Community Services Board and City Council
Next Steps
We will share community preferences and the Parks & Community Services Board Bellevue Airfield Park Master Plan recommendation with the City Council on April 3, 2023. We look for Council input and seek direction to complete the environmental review process. Environmental review is anticipated to take approximately a year to complete at which time we will return to Council for adoption of the updated Master Plan.
Background
The City Council adopted the current Bellevue Airfield Park master plan in 2012, following extensive community outreach. If the Park Master Plan is not updated, development of the current master plan would include: two lighted, synthetic-turf sports fields, wooded picnic areas, trail connections, playgrounds, restrooms, parking, an expansion of the off-leash dog area at Robinswood Park (from 1.75 to 5.75 acres), and woodland buffers between the park and nearby residences.
Past Meetings
- February 14, 2023 - Parks & Community Services Board meeting:
- Meeting Memo
- Meeting Presentation
- the Park Board unanimously recommended that City Council adopt proposed Bellevue Airfield Park Concept #2 with the following modifications:
- Add picnic shelters included in Concept #1
- Evaluate options to include covered pickleball court area
- Evaluate options to include full courts for the basketball area
- January 19, 2023 - Community Workshop 3, 6:30-8 p.m., South Bellevue Community Center
- December 5, 2022 - City Council Meeting:
- October 11, 2022 - Parks & Community Services Board meeting:
- September 22, 2022 -Community Meeting 2, 6:30-8 p.m., South Bellevue Community Center:
- July 26, 2022: Community Meeting 1, 6:30-8 p.m. - Virtual Zoom Meeting
- June 23, 2022: Neighborhood Site Walk, 5:30-7pm – Bellevue Airfield Site
2022 Bellevue Airfield Park Master Plan Update - Reviewing Aquatic Facility Needs
City Council has directed an update of the Bellevue Airfield Park Master Plan to both hear Bellevue community’s development preferences for this community park and to evaluate the impacts of an aquatic facility on the site.
A master plan update offers an opportunity to address the growing aquatic needs of Bellevue. The only public facility – Bellevue Aquatic Center - is reaching the end of its useful life. Built in 1970, it has served Bellevue’s approximate 150,000 residents for over 50 years. Its age, capacity, and inability to provide a full range of aquatic programing make it inadequate to meet the current and future demand for swimming facilities in Bellevue. Please see the Aquatic Feasibility website for additional information.
The Bellevue Airfield Park site is currently the only undeveloped City-owned site large enough to accommodate the recommended Aquatic Facility Concept plan (10-11 acres). Additional elements recommending an aquatic facility at this site are:
- Easy access off I-90,
- Existing shared parking agreements with owners of the surrounding office park
- Site size that could allow for a park and an aquatic center
- Complementary outdoor recreation and open space development
- Previous community input, from 2008-2012, identified aquatic facility preferences at this site
The master planning update effort will be led by Parks & Community services staff with the assistance of an architecture and engineering team led by Walker|Macy and is anticipated to be complete in about two years. The master plan update process will include:
- A robust community outreach process to inform development parameters/feasibility.
- A master plan recommendation from the Parks & Community Services Board.
- State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) review
Parks Master Plan Process
A park master plan is a conceptual plan that lays the groundwork for a site’s long-term development and potential phased implementation. A park master plan is based on the community’s preferences, the Parks & Community Services Board reviews and recommendations of a preferred park plan, and City Council review and adoption. A typical Master Planning process can take two to four years to complete. A park is constructed based on the Council adopted park master plan when Council approves funding.
An estimated timeline of our outreach process is outlined below. We’ll look to gather community preferences and refine master plan alternatives at each consecutive meeting. City of Bellevue Parks & Community Services welcomes your input at any time!
| Date (estimated) | Community Meetings | |
|---|---|---|
| 6/13/2022 | Parks & Community Services Meeting | |
| 6/23/2022 | Neighborhood Outreach Site Walk Meeting | |
| 7/26/2022 | Community Meeting 1 | |
| 9/22/2022 | Community Meeting 2 | |
| 10/11/2022 | Parks & Community Services meeting | |
| 12/05/2022 | City of Bellevue Council Meeting | |
| 01/19/2023 | Community Meeting 3 | |
| 02/14/2023 | Parks & Community Services Board Meeting | |
| 04/03/2023 | City of Bellevue Council Meeting | |
| 2023 | State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) Review | |
| Winter 2023 | City of Bellevue Council Meeting - Master Plan Adoption! |
In 2002, recognizing that the Bellevue Airfield site may represent the last opportunity to acquire a large, undeveloped, relatively flat parcel of property in Bellevue, Council authorized the purchase of the properties with the intent of developing an active recreational use community park.
The Bellevue Airfield Park is currently an undeveloped site comprised of three parcels totaling 27.5 acres (aerial vicinity map). The site is accessed by vehicles from the south, just off I-90, and is surrounded by residential neighbors to the north and west and office parks to the east, south and west. Significant to development considerations are the historical operations of the Bellevue Airfield (until 1983) and operation of a municipal landfill from 1951 to 1964. From a development perspective, the site is rife with utility system easements (abandoned and operational) such as a landfill gas migration system, ground water monitoring wells, storm water systems, and a major King County Metro sewer line, among others.
- City Council Agenda - 7-2-12, item 8(f)
- City Council Presentation - 6-25-12
- City Council Presentation - 2-1-10
- City Council Presentation - 1-4-10
- Park Board Presentation - 10-13-09
- Park Board Presentation - 9-10-09
- Meeting #4 Agenda
- Meeting #4 Presentation
- Meeting #4 Handout - Design Alternatives
- City Council Presentation - 3-9-09
- Park Board Presentation - 1-13-09
- Meeting #3 Agenda
- Meeting #3 Presentation
- Meeting #2 Agenda
- Meeting #2 Presentation
- Meeting #1 Agenda
- Meeting #1 Presentation