Planning continues for Redmond Central Connector: Residents encourged to provide input for development of downtown rail corridor

When Glenn Eades moved to Redmond more than 40 years ago, there was only one traffic light in town. The longtime resident has seen the city grow and change in many ways and the Redmond Central Connector (RCC) is just one more thing to add to the list. On Thursday evening, Eades and dozens of other Redmond residents attended the city's third public meeting about the RCC, during which a more detailed plan for the downtown area was revealed in a half-hour presentation.

January 28, 2011 5:04 pm
Here is a conceptual design of a downtown portion of the Redmond Central Connector (RCC). The downtown portion of the RCC will be a mix of both urban and natural entities to match the downtown environment. The City of Redmond held a public meeting on Jan. 27 for citizens to learn more about the updated design as well as ask questions and provide feedback.
Here is a conceptual design of a downtown portion of the Redmond Central Connector (RCC). The downtown portion of the RCC will be a mix of both urban and natural entities to match the downtown environment. The City of Redmond held a public meeting on Jan. 27 for citizens to learn more about the updated design as well as ask questions and provide feedback.

When Glenn Eades moved to Redmond more than 40 years ago, there was only one traffic light in town.

The longtime resident has seen the city grow and change in many ways and the Redmond Central Connector (RCC) is just one more thing to add to the list.

On Thursday evening, Eades and dozens of other Redmond residents attended the city’s third public meeting about the RCC, during which a more detailed plan for the downtown area was revealed in a half-hour presentation.

The purpose of the meeting was to give the Redmond community the opportunity to review the updated conceptual designs for the Redmond-owned portion of the trail and park space along the former Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corridor. This space includes a 3.89-mile-long linear stretch of land extending from the east end of the Bear Creek Trail in Redmond Town Center to Northeast 124th Street. Attendees were also able to ask questions and give comments and suggestions on the plans.

Redmond residents who were unable to attend the meeting can view the design concepts online at www.redmond.gov/rcc under the Document Library link. Comments will be accepted through Feb. 14. For more information, or to provide comments, contact project manager Carolyn Hope at (425) 556-2313, cjhope@redmond.gov or PO Box 97010 Redmond, Wa. 98073-9710.

Eades didn’t have any suggestions but did have some positive things to say about what he saw.

“I think it’s great. I’m very impressed with what they’ve done,” Eades said after the presentation. “It’s all looking pretty good.”

Guy Michaelsen of The Berger Partnership, the Settle-based landscaping architecture consultants for the project, gave the presentation and said the firm has been focusing on the near-term plans, which revolve around downtown Redmond and are on a timeline that ends around 2016. He added that their biggest accomplishment since November’s public meeting has been coming up with a design concept to match the area’s environmental fluctuations from urban to natural. In the presentation, Michaelsen said this will be accomplished by using a combination of landings, ties, islands and eddies in strategically placed areas.

One challenge the planning team has faced is figuring out how the near-term plans will mesh with the long-term plans for 2025 so there will be no need to backtrack. Michaelsen said in the near-term planning, there is more space on the south side of the trail, but it flips once light rail comes to Redmond. Developing on the north side will be up to property owners, but Michaelsen said it will give businesses the opportunity to have a second front door opening onto a public space.

Since the beginning, art has been an important part of the planning process. Perri Lynch of the Seattle-based art studio Velocity Made Good, has been involved since the beginning. Michaelsen said including the artistic element in such a project is unusual, but not necessarily a bad thing.

“It’s a very unorthodox approach, but I think the results will be much richer because of it,” he said.

To give residents an idea of what could be done artistically, the city has provided pictures of things that have been done around the world on similar projects. Eades said some of the pictures he has seen are a bit on the wild side and wouldn’t work in Redmond, but they have helped citizens think outside of the box.

Like Eades, Cindy Jayne has many good things to say about the RCC. She said the artistic portion has been well done. This being said, Jayne, a City of Redmond Parks and Trail Commissioner, is eager to see the project completed.

“I’d love to see it all happen quickly,” she said. “It’d be great if it could all be done tomorrow.”

Completion may be a little ways off, but Michealsen said things may be realized faster than expected because so many things are falling into place: strong and positive community input, excited property owners and a supportive city government.

However long it may take, Eades has confidence in the planners’ visions and said they are going in a direction he believes works for Redmond.

“We liked it when we came (to Redmond),” he said. “Obviously things change, but overall, I think Redmond has done a good job with evolving.”