County Parks Asks Kirkland Fire Officials to Replant Damaged Area of Big Finn Park

King County Parks is asking Kirkland fire officials to replant an area where a at the proposed site of a fire station in Big Finn Hill Park, and to provide better public notice in the future.

“We had our district manager take a look,” said Kevin Brown, director of King County Parks. “It was his opinion the damage was not that extensive and he preferred the fire district put some seed in there and replant with native vegetation.”

He noted that a special use permit the county issued to Fire District 41 for the work – to dig test bores to determine drainage characteristics – required the area be restored afterward.

Residents expressed concern and anger after the two-person backhoe crew cut tracks into the forest and cleared native vegetation from three areas, each about 400 to 500 square feet. No public notice of the work had been given – the first public hearing on the plan to locate the new fire station in the park is on March 8.

Brown called that “a foul-up.”

“It did catch some folks off-guard,” he said, “and we’re working with the fire district to make sure more public notice is given.”

The 2-acre site is inside the county’s 220-acre Big Finn Hill Park, in an unincorporated part of King County that will become part of the City of Kirkland on June 1, when an annexation vote approved last year takes effect. The city and Fire District 41, which provides service to the area but will cease to exist when annexation takes effect, have been negotiating for months with King County to acquire the site for a new station.

Fire officials want to sell two smaller, aging stations on Finn Hill and consolidate them into one larger station in 220-acre Big Finn Hill Park, which they say will be better located to improve response time and cheaper to operate. Proceeds from the sale of the existing stations will pay for the new one.

The backhoe cut several tracks through the site, which is at the intersection of Juanita Drive and Northeast 138th Place, and cleared three areas of at least 400 square feet each, apparently to dig for soil samples. Most of the native vegetation along the tracks was destroyed, and at one spot a track cut across a park trail popular among hikers and mountain bikers.

Fire District 41 commissioner Jim Lloyd, who lives on Finn Hill, said plant restoration work was planned all along. He added that the engineering firm the district hired failed to notify all parties before the test bores were dug.

“The geo-tech was supposed to notify the county and us – that’s where the ball was dropped,” he said.

County and/or fire district officials then could have been on hand during the work.

Lloyd did meet with members of the Denny Creek Neighborhood Association (DCNA) about the fire station plan in December.

“We all along have been trying to keep the public aware of what’s going on,” he said, adding that materials necessary for a public meeting could not be developed until the test work was done.

“It’s our goal to put in a fire station that will really blend in with the environment,” he said. “We want to do what is right for our constituents on the hill.”

Big Finn is an expansive park of mostly native coniferous forests, bisected by Juanita Drive. It has been designated a regional park by the county, which will retain control when the area becomes part of Kirkland. It includes four developed baseball fields, a soccer field and playground. Big Finn's forests, along with those of the adjacent 400-acre Saint Edward State Park, still host blacktailed deer, bald eagles, hawks, owls, coyote, raccoons, Douglas squirrels and many other native species.

Fire officials say the county is insisting in negotiations that the city include in its plans a 20-car public parking lot. The current parking areas are near the ballfields on the east side of Juanita Drive, while the fire station site and perhaps half of the park's forest are on the west side.

The first public hearing on the plan will be on Tuesday, March 8, at 7 p.m., at the Mormon Stake Center on Finn Hill at the intersection of Juanita Drive and Northeast 132nd Street.

Scott Morris, DCNA president, said residents will have plenty of questions.

“The park is a big asset for the community,” he said. “Once you lose a bit of open space, you never get it back. Obviously, public safety is very important. But what will be the footprint of the site, and what is the justification for a new 20-car parking lot?

“Why do you need to put it there and take a piece of a public park?”