MEDINA, Wash. — The Medina City Council voted 6-1 on Monday night to approve a $4.2 million phased improvement plan for Fairweather Bay Park, ending two years of sometimes contentious deliberation over public access, shoreline habitat, and neighborhood traffic on the city’s Lake Washington waterfront.

The plan authorizes restoration of approximately 420 feet of shoreline, replacement of a failing bulkhead with a gradual gravel beach, construction of an ADA-accessible loop trail, and 14 delineated parking stalls on Evergreen Point Road. It also preserves 27 of 31 significant trees on the site and commits $380,000 to a five-year monitoring program for water quality and juvenile Chinook salmon habitat.

A compromise after long debate

“This is a compromise in the best sense,” Mayor Jessica Rossman said before the vote. “It opens the lake to residents who don’t own waterfront, while protecting what makes Medina — quiet streets, mature trees, and a healthy lake.”

Councilmember Barbara Lopez, the lone dissenting vote, said she supported restoration but opposed the parking expansion, citing cut-through traffic concerns on 84th Avenue NE.

“I want the beach,” Lopez said. “I don’t want the lot to become a regional boat-launch by another name.”

City Manager Steve Burns told the council the parking stalls would be signed for four-hour limits and enforced by the Medina Police Department, which contracts with Clyde Hill for marine patrol in summer months.

What the plan includes

According to the staff report and final resolution (Resolution No. 2026-14):

• Phase 1 (spring–fall 2027, $2.6 million): Shoreline grading, bulkhead removal, native plantings, loop trail, stormwater swale, and restroom renovation.
• Phase 2 (2028, $1.6 million): Overlook pavilion, swim-area buoys, interpretive signage developed with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, and parking delineation.
• Funding: $1.9 million from the city’s capital facilities fund, $1.4 million in King County Conservation Futures and state Recreation and Conservation Office grants, and $900,000 from private donations held by the Medina Park Foundation.

Public Works Director Ryan Osada said construction would avoid the March–June juvenile salmon migration window and would require hydraulic project approval from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“You don’t get many chances to turn a concrete wall back into a beach,” Osada said. “The science here is clear — gradual beaches support insects and forage fish that Chinook depend on.”

Public comment split but largely supportive

Of 42 written comments and 18 in-person speakers, 31 supported the plan, 9 opposed, and 2 requested amendments, according to the city clerk’s summary. Supporters included rowers from the Lake Washington Rowing Club, parents from Medina Elementary, and representatives of Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust.

Opponents raised concerns about evening noise, paddleboard congestion near private docks, and geese.

Resident Howard Feldman, who lives adjacent to the park, urged the council to require a one-year parking review.

“If stalls fill by 9 a.m. on Saturdays, we need a trigger to revisit,” Feldman said.

The council adopted that amendment unanimously, directing staff to report back in fall 2028 with counts, noise complaints, and water-quality data.

Regional context

Medina, a city of about 3,100 residents between Bellevue and Seattle, has just three public Lake Washington access points. The Washington State Department of Ecology has ranked the Fairweather shoreline as “impaired” for armoring and runoff since 2019.

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, whose district includes Medina, praised the vote in a statement Tuesday, calling it “a model for how a small city can do big habitat work without losing neighborhood character.”

What’s next

Staff will submit joint aquatic resource permit applications to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife by Nov. 15. Bidding is scheduled for January 2027, with groundbreaking in April, pending permits.

The council’s next regular meeting is Oct. 13 at Medina City Hall, where members are expected to take up the 2027–28 biennial budget and a proposed interlocal agreement for e-bike enforcement on the SR 520 Trail.