At a public workshop in Burien on March 16, King County Parks director Kevin Brown said planners received excellent feedback on the Burien portion of the Lake to Sound Trail.

The trail is a proposed 16-mile-long biking and walking trail that would link the shoreline of Lake Washington at Gene Coulon Park in Renton to the shoreline of Puget Sound at Beach Park in Des Moines, while also passing through the cities of Tukwila, SeaTac and Burien.

The trail would also connect to four regional trails: The Des Moines Creek and Westside trails, plus King County's Green River and Cedar River regional trails.

Part of the trail would be along Des Moines Memorial Drive from South 156th Street in SeaTac to South Normandy Road in Burien.

The Burien portion is the first phase of new trail to be built.
Brown said he expects the design to be completed by mid-2012.

"We are aggressively looking for state and federal funding,' Brown declared.
He admitted that with the economic downturn, "the grant process is more competitive."
But he noted that the county, along with the five cities involved, are committed to the project.

He couldn't say whether the proposed trail would be compatible with the planned planting of elm trees along Des Moines Memorial Drive. However, he acknowledged that "history will continued be recognized along the memorial drive, whether by monument or trees."
Burien Councilwoman Rose Clark, who was also at the workshop, indicated that she is adamant that the trees should be planted.

She said she was in "total shock" when she learned the trees might not fit in with plans for the trail.
Trees along the drive from South Park to Des Moines have long served as a memorial to the soldiers from Washington state who were killed in World War I. Through the years, due to urbanization and disease, many of the original trees have died or been removed. But plans are underway to renovate the drive by replanting American elm trees.

In order to receive state historic preservation status, new elm trees must be planted to replace the original elms, according to Clark.

The entire route will not be replanted. In the previously unincorporated area north of South 128th Street, county workers installed a line of red bricks with gold stars encased in plaques at spots where the trees were originally planted.

But Clark said memorial proponents want to have as many elm trees replanted as possible.