(The Center Square) – The Bellevue City Council showed support for the preservation of natural spaces rather than more housing in its recent private property purchase.
The city council unanimously approved Resolution 10461 on Tuesday, which authorizes purchasing more than 12 acres of land for $19.1 million to extend the Coal Creek Natural Area.
According to the city, adding this open space would help improve connections in the city’s regional trail system, including buying private lands both east and west of Lakemont Boulevard adjacent to existing parks.
The city claims the land would link an existing city-owned trail that connects the Cougar Mountain Regional Park and Red Town trailhead to the city’s trail system in the Coal Creek Natural Area.
The land parcel is owned by a private developer which had plans to build 35 homes on the site. The city is choosing to preserve this land for the use of providing more natural areas to the public.
The 35 units of housing could have helped the city reach its goal of providing sufficient capacity to accommodate the 35,000 units projected to be built by 2044, as part of its 2044 Comprehensive Plan.
Instead, the property acquisition aligns with the city’s conservation goals of protecting natural spaces within the city.
The city is purchasing the property for $19.1 million after it initially provided a verbal offer of $18.5 million with an estimated closing date at the end of January 2025.
The purchase was made possible in part to a $9.2 million grant from the King County Conservation Futures Fund the city received last year.
“I was proud to support this once-in-a-generation opportunity to conserve our green space, fill in a critical wildlife corridor, and preserve local history while also adding more trails to one of our region’s most popular hiking destinations,” King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn said in a statement.
The Conservation Futures Fund reaches tax money due to its voter-approved levy, which has a tax rate of 6.25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. A homeowner with the county’s average home valuation of $45,000 pays approximately $50 annually toward the levy.
