Sustainable Bellevue Plan Update

To address climate issues in terms of transportation and land use, we need to encourage and incentivize residents to utilize sustainable transportation systems, such as light rail, bussing, or walking and cycling.

This means building and maintaining our current transportation infrastructure and building new ped/bike/transit infrastructure such as removing general travel lines for bicycle and transit infrastructure, protected bike lanes, protected intersections, mid-block crossings, curb extensions and pedestrian refuge islands, BAT lanes, bus queue jumping, etc.

Nobody will take transit/bike/walk if it isn’t comfortable.

Bellevue has good N-W biking corridors (but we need more overlap/provide direct connections to places people want to go). 108th Ave is great, but it’s one N-S connection, when we have other great streets like 112th, 110th, etc. that can be connections.

We need better E-W connectors. Bike Bellevue wanted to implement a E-W connection on Bel-Red but that was killed. NE 20th was a great option too, but was also killed with Bike Bellevue.

Painted bike lanes is not bicycle infrastructure. Sharrows alone is not bicycle infrastructure. Invest in real bicycle infrastructure like protected intersections, protected bike lanes, dedicated bike signals, etc.

There is a project on NE 8th Street from 156th to about 164th to add bike lanes along the corridor. But going west on 156th at NE 8th, the bike lanes will drop you end and cyclists will have to brave through NE 8th going west. This is not comfortable, we need a real bike network.

Look to Redmond for bike infrastructure. They have a great protected intersection near the Overlake Village station, and the two way cycle track near the Microsoft campus is great.

Pedestrian infrastructure needs to be improved. Many curb ramps are not per ADA standards. Curb radii is wide to allow cars to make faster turns, which is dangerous for pedestrians. Many intersections do not have high-visibility crosswalk markings for pedestrian safety. Pedestrian level street lighting would also be appreciated for safety.

Sidewalks needs to be improved. Greater widths to prevent conflict would be great, especially along Bellevue Way. Maintaining existing sidewalks should be a priority. Mid-block crossings are needed in a lot of areas. More complete streets projects around Bellevue would make walking a viable way of commuting for many residents.

Queue Jumping and BAT lanes will improve reliability for bus schedules and encourage more riders to take transit.

BRT with level boarding, off bus payment, comfortable shelters and ample lighting will also be great for ridership. Working with KCM and ST on the K Line and Stride is a great first step.

We spend millions repaving roads for cars, but spend nothing in comparison for pedestrian/bike/bus infrastructure.

We also need more housing density. The more density we have, the less people will drive to job centers and third places. This means updating the comprehensive plan and land use code to reflect higher density in growth areas such as downtown, wilburton, crossroads, Factoria, etc. We need to encourage additional ideas such as neighborhood shops to add character to the city and add third places to the city.

Allowing multiple units on one lot and ADUs/DADUs like Seattle would address density. This would work towards a more sustainable future.

Having a combination of t better transportation infrastructure and denser housing will greatly reduce carbon emissions and work towards a more sustainable and equitable Bellevue.

Hi, as both a resident and employee for the City of Bellevue, I am passionate about the community's urban forest and resilience to extreme heat. I recommend we strive to achieve what neighboring cities are pursuing--increasing tree canopy cover by 2050 instead of maintaining the status quo of 40%. For example, Issaquah strives to increase their canopy 7% by 2035. Increased tree canopy will help mitigate heat, provide stormwater benefits, and much more in the wake of extreme climate-induced events.

What partnerships and collaboration’s are being involved in developing a stakeholder analysis with local , national and global academia including @CENDEP @UNITAR to achieve best practice models within urban settings that are at risk of geological impact due to climate change.
Current modeling from Asian-Pacific Rim cities have been documented and FEMA’s coastal hazard awareness modules include modeling for climate change and rising sea levels in urban areas with specific planning requirements for communities at identified risk to mitigate impact to life and property.
COB has an obligation under human rights law to provide safe risk analysis for future generations.
We have many current technological advances which could be implemented at city level to achieve a Carbon Neutral city by 2050 and we quietly wonder if it acceptable not to lead by example on a global stage, to achieve sustainable development and climate change action goals.
Youth council members have articulated an interest in being included in this stakeholder analysis as their is a risk of food dessert’s and already a lack of affordable safe housing within the City of Bellevue.Creative ideas and documents exist from children and young people.How will the department include these documents as the project develops?

It is technically impossible to reach a carbon neutral position by 2050 for a couple of reasons. The status quo workes just fine. It is economically unjustifiable to change the status quo. Wind and solar cannot compete.

I see that one of the goals is to have 100% electric vehicles. What happens when the electric grid is down? What do we do when there's a third house fire, and the electric firetrucks can handle only two without taking time out for charging?

I love that m city is doing this.!on board. Have solar panels, support green energy, recycle, compost, 1 car family…

In order for Bellevue to meet their goals, Puget Sound Energy needs to actually continue to make steady "glidepath" progress on their clean renewable solar and wind energy -- which I do not believe they are doing. Instead they "make a plan to make a plan" rather than actually building new wind and solar. Please get busy making sure Puget actually makes real linear progress towards their 2045 State Clean Energy Requirements.