Save Coal Creek Update
Wilson’s Warbler in Coal Creek Natural Area by Andy McCormick
Eastside Audubon and Save Coal Creek supporters are thrilled to report that King County will award a $9.2 million 2024 Conservation Futures grant to the City of Bellevue for the purchase of several properties near Lakemont Boulevard in south Bellevue, including the Milt Swanson property. This purchase is the long-desired goal of Save Coal Creek. The generous grant requires a 25 percent funding match by the city of Bellevue.
Eastside Audubon was the first organization, after Issaquah Alps Trails Club started the Save Coal Creek initiative in 2019, to advocate for preserving the Milt Swanson property because of the value of its wildlife corridor. The property is wedged between King County’s largest park, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, and Bellevue’s largest park, the Coal Creek Natural Area. A developer, Isola, has proposed a 35-home development for the privately-owned parcel, making acquisition urgent.
In summer 2020, Eastside Audubon’s Andy McCormick, Peter Marshall and others wrote a detailed comment letter about expected environmental impacts of the proposal for 35 homes, and requested that the City of Bellevue require an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). Andy McCormick of Eastside Audubon also used birding records to document the presence of 38 species of birds in the Swanson property area in 2022 and submitted this information to both the King County Council and the Bellevue City Council. Numerous other letters were sent to the city from the general public and other organizations, including the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust.
American Dipper in Coal Creek Natural Area by Hilary Barnes
Save Coal Creek steering committee chair Sally Lawrence reports, “As of this writing [August 17], we have not yet heard a legal decision on our SEPA [State Environmental Policy Act] appeal of the city’s January 2023 determination that a full EIS would not be required for the Isola proposal. However, even without a SEPA decision, this huge County grant provides a compelling path forward. Bellevue has enough parks levy money to make the match.
“Please thank our King County councilmembers Claudia Balducci and Reagan Dunn for their amazing support for the County grant,” Lawrence said. “And please, write to City Council counciloffice@bellevuewa.gov to stress the importance of providing matching funds for this important conservation effort. This purchase is a no-brainer - a win for Coal Creek, its salmon and other wildlife, the hiking public, for local coal mining history, AND for the developer.”