Bellevue 2044: Environment

I think having a few really big parks would be awesome. I think having a good tree canopy overall is good, but our only decently sized park is the downtown park. We should make space to have an even bigger park with a lot of outdoor activities available, like basketball, tennis, roller skating, etc. The downtown park has this, but have another one or two would be really nice for residents.

People will keep trees if they make the lot more valuable to a developer than a lot without trees. The presence of significant trees on the property should count as a credit toward the on-site parking requirement in areas that have RPZ controls to prevent people from hogging the street parking.

I think "100% of residents living within 1/3 mile of a park, open space, and/or trail" is impractical [for parks and trails]. It creates many small, fragmented parks that are expensive to manage. More over, the quality of each of the parks will vary drastically breeding inequality. A more efficient solution is to connect residents to frequent, [direct], and reliable transit to several mega-parks. [In addition to transit, there should be safe walking and biking paths between residents and parks and between parks.]

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Major support for renewable energy.

The situation with Puget Sound Energy is catastrophically bad, where they are seeking a 20% rate increase immediately, but are making no real commitment to actually reduce GHG emission. Unfortunately, their "Energize Eastside" experience has taught them that they can say anything to Bellevue, do anything to Bellevue, and City of Bellevue will simply shrug their shoulders and go along. I am an electrical engineer, MIT.

Carefully select the best National Model(s), adapt them for our best practices in Bellevue and Eastside Cities and collaborate to make maximum positive impact. No more kicking-the-can and then claiming to listen or respond to residents, voters and taxpayers. It's immoral to say the least. Time to wake up Bellevue!

Bellevue Buildings, Offices, Condos, Apartments and Shopping Malls are NOT SUSTAINABLE and places great burdens on the Environment. In the long range, say within 25 years, as Climate wrecks the State of WA, I do not see Bellevue as a livable place to live or work. Just my strong opinion. I would be able to show a FAR BETTER PATH compared to Bellevue Comprehensive Plans & Planners. Master Planners & leaders around the world are doing reasonable & ethical planning for their populations. Infrastructure will be the biggest downfall for King County and Eastside. Water, sewer, power and planning issues cannot adapt at the rate of change or growth. Without any focus or leadership in government, "we're TOAST"! PASS IT ON. Thanks.

Stop the growth and don't allow foreign investors to keep buying up everything!

Assess an annual 'luxury' tax on single family 'mega' houses. They gobble up more energy than standard size single family residences. Ban wood burning fireplaces. Not only does wood smoke cause damage to our lungs but it is an inefficient form of heat. After enduring the effects of the wildfire smoke, the stench from fireplaces is a horrible reminder of the harmful smokey air.

Have lost many trees in NE Bellevue to developers who have bought up homes and then scraped the lot property line to property line. We have a few that took out every tree on the lot even when they did not bulldoze the house. If they do leave trees, it is a few sickly ones on the perimeter that will have to be removed by the new owner. Bellevue cannot claim to be interested in the environment and allow this destruction to continue.

There should be mandatory requirements in place TODAY that insist that developers investment a significant percentage of the build cost into sustainable products such as solar panals, solar windows, recycled water systems, etc. that assist the city and our environment in maintaining the quality of area. This gives them longterm savings (I realize they only care about short term gains). I know it appears that rents/purchase costs will be higher but they are already high and going up! Some tax relief should be provided by the city either upfront or over a decade. The city currently has to build and refurbish infrastructure when they do not install these products. This should help reduce the exponential growth on the local utilities and most people want to live in these more efficient residences, it is part of the reason we live here.

Why don't we abandon the scorched earth policy currently allowed when mega-houses are built on small, modest neighborhood lots and instead apply limitations which will (a) preserve neighborhood balance, and (b) existing tree canopy?

Remove graffiti and garbage immediately before it becomes worse, do not allow parking for more than 24 hours!

Completely agree with the other commenter!

A lot of pollution, noise as well, is caused by people commuting to Bellevue because they work here! If we had more housing, increasing supply by upzoning things, increasing density, getting rid of parking requirements, making it easier for builders to build, we'd be able to have more people live in the Bellevue area and cause way less traffic + pollution + noise pollution.

On top of that we could invest in better alternatives to car dependent infrastructure. Cement protected bike lanes that flow throughout the area, more bus only lanes + more buses, light rail, etc. All of these alternatives to car dependency would help with pollution.

Since 40% of workers are too poor to live in Bellevue, they have very long commutes! This is discrimination! This causes stress, lost time with family, pollution, accidents and slow traffic. TEACHERS, police, FirePersonnel, staff, labor, clerks and service people can not live where they serve!
SUGGESTION: Require moderate & low income housing in all projects and all new construction. Emphasize multiUSE buildings - including loRENT and affordable rent storeFronts! Do not allow most projects to be exempt!