It was in 2003 that the stewards of Sammamish’s parks and recreation facilities first began to ponder how best to maintain the valued asset of Pine Lake Park.

Their goal was to make sure the water and shoreline could still be enjoyed by the many residents and visitors to the lake, while at the same time doing what was felt to be right in terms of environmental conservation.

Six years later, the vision of those planners is coming into view.

Residents who have been down to Pine Lake in recent weeks will have noticed the changes — a new dock, solid railing between the planter beds and the lake’s edge, and pebbles on the beach area where before there was a mixture of coarse sand and mud.

These are part of the city’s Pine Lake Park Phase 2 improvements.

Staff at the City of Sammamish have reported fielding some concerns from users of the park, particularly about the use of pebbles to make up the “beach” area, and splinters on the new dock.

Last week Sammamish Parks and Recreation Director Jessi Richardson sent an e-mail out to city staff and the council to help them respond to such concerns, providing more information about the motivation for the new works.

Regarding reduction in beach area, Richardson wrote, “one of the outcomes of our meetings with the public, the Parks Commission, and the City Council was to prioritize shoreline restoration and tree preservation during Phase 2. To accomplish this goal we had to create a system that could sustain heavy park use, protect the shoreline trees, and allow for re-establishment of native vegetation.”

“We achieved this by incorporating root zone protection areas (planted areas with native vegetation) around the base of the shoreline trees.”

“The net result of the root zone protection areas, is a loss of beach area. I should mention, however, that we’ve added a new plaza area for seating adjacent to the restroom building and increased the size of the dock.”

“The lake water is high right now – we’ve compared pictures from last summer and anticipate that the lake will drop at least another two feet this summer, opening up additional beach area for park patrons.”

“If a larger beachfront area is desired, the compromise will be the removal of a number of shoreline trees.”

Richardson wrote that state environmental regulations prevented the use of imported sand in the beach area, as sand migrates to the bottom of the lake, causing sediment build-up, which negatively impacts water quality. She said the practice of importing sand to the lake on an annual basis had been discontinued some years ago.

“The pebbles help to stabilize the shoreline and minimize the erosion problems we were experiencing due to heavy use,” Richardson wrote. “Uncontrolled erosion will lead to continued loss of beach area and further degradation of the shoreline.”

Richardson wrote that she was surprised to hear that splinters were causing a problem for users, and said the city would continue to monitor for rough spots and respond accordingly.

The official park re-opening is scheduled in July, to coincide with the first summer concert of the year.

The city allocated $1.5 million dollars in the 2007/08 budget for the Phase 2 improvements.