Meredith Petit became the first woman to lead Bellevue's Parks & Community Services Department when she stepped into the director role in June.

Petit is the fourth person to hold the position, according to a profile published by 425Business. She oversees a department that maintains more than 2,700 acres of parks and open space, more than 80 miles of trails and recreation programs serving over 10,000 participants each year, according to the city's department page. The department also runs human services and probation divisions.

Her plate is full. Petit's work includes managing Airfield Park, a future aquatics center, the Grand Connection Crossing over Interstate 405 and new neighborhood parks, alongside maintaining existing infrastructure, according to 425Business.

A quiet leader's long path

Petit's first job was as a recreation leader with the city of Agoura Hills, California, where she spent summers leading day camps and enrichment programs. She eventually became a day camp director.

"I was generally a quiet leader — not necessarily the loudest person in the room," Petit told 425Business. "I remember hearing some version of, 'She doesn't talk much, but when she does, people listen.'"

She advanced through roles in Agoura Hills before becoming recreation superintendent for the city of El Segundo, where she focused on financial sustainability and corporate sponsorships. Her career later took her to Corvallis, Oregon, as parks and recreation director. There, one of her most meaningful projects was helping advance the redevelopment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

"That experience reinforced for me that leadership in local government isn't simply about delivering a project," Petit said. "It's about understanding who is affected, creating space for different perspectives, being transparent about the decisions and tradeoffs along the way."

Big projects ahead

The Grand Connection Crossing, a pedestrian and cyclist bridge over I-405 connecting downtown Bellevue to Eastrail, carried an initial project budget of $150 million to $200 million and a 2030 completion target when the Bellevue City Council unanimously supported next steps in early 2025, according to the Bellevue Downtown Association.

At Airfield Park, the city released a request for qualifications on Sept. 17 for a lead contractor and architect, according to SPLASHForward, a nonprofit fundraising partner. The selected team will also choose an architect for the new Bellevue Aquatic Center, a roughly 130,000-square-foot facility planned for the Airfield Park site. SPLASHForward said it anticipates raising more than $50 million in private funding toward a projected $125 million aquatic center concept plan.

Petit is also shaping a new eight-acre park in the BelRed neighborhood at 12525 NE Spring Blvd. In a city announcement about community design meetings for the park, Petit said the project is "an opportunity to create a space that reflects the needs, values and character of the BelRed community."

Asked how she hopes to be remembered, Petit told 425Business she wants her legacy measured not by completed projects alone "but by whether we strengthened the organization for the future — developing people, building sustainable systems, encouraging innovation, and positioning the next generation of leaders to carry that standard forward."