Following a series of community meetings that at times stretched the limits of public decorum, inflaming passions and testing tempers, the City of Sammamish Parks and Recreation department has put together what it hopes will be a Master Plan for the future development of Beaver Lake Park.

Such is the importance of the park to its immediate neighbors and residents all over the Plateau, that many people who love the park reacted angrily to the possibility that synthetic turf would replace the grass playing fields and huge light towers would further pollute the already diminished night sky.

At the other end of the park, the city sought to allow sufficient room on the lake’s shore for the often conflicting uses of swimming and fishing.

Looming over all of these uses was the issue of parking and pedestrian access, as the planners seek ways to maintain the functionality and aesthetic of a park that draws hundreds of users a week, many more in the summer, from not just Sammamish, Issaquah and Redmond, but all over the county.

At a final park plan community meeting at city hall earlier this month, the Parks and Recreation department presented their preferred plan for the park. It is an amalgamation of the three plans presented to the public over the last few months, with two new additions – a community vegetable garden and a sign feature near the intersection of Southeast 24th Street and 244th Avenue Southeast to let visitors know where they are.

There will also be arrival and wayfinding signage at the corner of Southeast 24th Street and 251st Avenue Southeast, near the current entrance.

The plan attempts to balance the demands of sporting groups with concerns over annoying nearby residents, and disrupting local wildlife, with flood lights.

It retains the three existing baseball fields, and introduces one multi-use rectangle field, suitable for soccer and lacrosse.

Under this plan, the rectangle field will be lit and covered with synthetic turf. The infield sections of the baseball field may also be converted with synthetic turf, but the outfields will remain grass.

The plan calls for the shortening of the large outfields, and according to park project manager Anjali Myer, even with the new field, the overall space given to sporting fields will be reduced.

“On the baseball fields, we found that much of the outfields were typically not used, and in fact a fence often had to be erected, shortening the field,” she said. “With the inclusion of the lacrosse field, our consultant estimates that there will be a marginal reduction in the total square footage of the sports fields.”

Myer said the reaction to the fields plan at the community meetings was one of relief, and that many parents were pleased there would be additional field space, providing a positive outlet for young people and a valuable community resource.

One of the things the reduction of the baseball outfields will allow is a thin extension of the off-leash dog area, connecting it, along the southern boundary of the baseball fields, with the car park near the western boundary. That car park will be expanded slightly, to accommodate 25 extra spaces.

The driveway from 244th Avenue to that western car park will be moved south by about 100 feet, bringing it away from the buffer zone of Laughing Jacobs Creek, which it currently impacts.

Myer said she hoped the positioning of the lacrosse field would reduce the impact of light pollution on nearby residents.

“We wanted to keep it away from the (homes on the) southern boundary,” she said. “And it will be located next to 244th, which is already lit anyway.”

In the central section of the park, known in the plan as “The Woods,” public sentiment dictated there be few, if any, changes.

The preferred option largely honors that, with the exception of a recommendation to pave the “spine” trail running west to east through the northern section of the park along a sewer line easement.

Myer said some park users had commented that wet conditions in the winter made the trail boggy. Paving it would also improve accessibility for people with wheelchairs.

On the shores of Beaver Lake, the preferred plan calls for the construction of a netted swimming area extending from the beach. “The Point,” to its south, will be designated for fishing.

The roundabout in the lakeside portion of the main parking lot will be removed, and an additional 30 parking spaces constructed.

Access to the park itself was a big concern at the public meetings, particularly pedestrian access.

As a result, the city will build complete sidewalks along the western and northern boundaries of the park, making it easier and safer to walk to the park from local neighborhoods.

It is up to the city council now whether this preferred option for the Beaver Lake Park Master Plan is the one the city actually adopts.

On Wednesday night, Dec. 9, the Sammamish Parks and Recreation Commission will discuss the plan.

The Sammamish City Council is scheduled to begin its examination at their meeting at city hall on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

More detail about the plan can be found at the City of Sammamish Web site at www.ci.sammamish.wa.us