Lake Forest Park hearing examines proposed Lion Creek waterfront park, dock and missing plan pages

Lake Forest Park’s hearing examiner heard day‑long testimony Feb. 24 on a consolidated permit package to expand the Lion Creek Waterfront Preserve and develop adjoining parcels for lake access and recreation.

The applicant, the City of Lake Forest Park, is seeking a shoreline substantial development permit, a shoreline conditional‑use permit, a shoreline variance, a zoning conditional‑use permit and the city’s SEPA determination was appealed; the hearing will continue after the examiner ordered additional plan sheets be added to exhibit 1 for review.

The project would combine three parcels at the north end of Lake Washington — the existing Lion Creek Waterfront Preserve and two recently acquired Turner parcels — to add waterfront recreation and public water access while relocating concentrated use off the most sensitive creek buffer areas, city project manager and landscape architect Amber Miklusick said. “Roughly 85% of residents have to actually leave the city, to legally gain access to Lake Washington,” Miklusick said, describing the city’s rationale for acquiring the parcels.

Why it matters: The project would add shoreline and recreation amenities in a city that currently has almost no public water access. Neighbors and appellants, Jesse and Tyler Fudge, have appealed the city’s SEPA determination and pressed the…