Mark
Eliasen called the meeting to order. City Council Members Doreen
Marchione and Bob Sternoff were in attendance. We had a full house of about 70
due in part
to the continued controversy over the proposed Potala
Village project.
Our
first guest was Eric Shields, Kirkland Planning Director. Eric described the
process by which the Potala Village project is seeking approval. The project
is a mixed use building with office space and 143 apartment units, located on
the Southeast corner of Lake St. and 10th Ave. S. Eric explained how the
parcel is zoned Neighborhood Business (BN) which allows business uses plus
residential. There is no density limit on the residential. A shoreline permit
is required. Due to a SEPA decision appeal, an environmental impact statement
is now required for this project. The project passed its road concurrency
test, but this also has been appealed. On November 15,
2011, the City Council adopted a 60-day emergency moratorium
to consider Comprehensive Plan and/or Zoning Code amendments relating to the
Neighborhood Business (BN) zone.
The Kirkland Planning Commission will discuss the BN zoning of this parcel at
its Dec 8 meeting. In short, it's looking like a rocky road for the project
due to considerable opposition. Eric answered many questions, mostly from
neighbors who oppose the project. The City has a Potala
Village Page, and you can sign up for a listserv where you will receive
email updates. An interesting memo
created by Eric and Teresa Swan details the zoning history of the parcel.
Aaron
Hollingbery of CamWest Development told us about their new project, to be
named "Kirkland Commons", at State St. and 2nd Ave. S. It will be 15
condominium units consisting of two triplexes and 9 single family houses. One
unit will be "affordable". Site work is expected to start in Jan or
Feb and construction in early spring 2012. The houses will average 2000-2500
sq ft in size. Aaron forwarded a site
plan pdf. It was reported that CamWest
has been purchased by Toll Brothers, a large home builder from
Pennsylvania.
Aaron told us that this will not effect this project, as CamWest will operate
as a separate division for at least 3 years.
Heidi
Sowell and Sibel Yildiz of King County Wastewater Treatment Division told us
about the 3rd St. sewer pump station and "forcemain" replacement
project which is underway. Kirkland Ave. is in the process of being torn up
from 3rd St. to the RR tracks. The pump station will be replaced and the
street and sidewalks in the area upgraded. The portion of the project under
the Transit Center was completed along with the center. The entire project
will take 3 years with a summer 2014 completion. For more info check the
County
project web site.
Toby
Nixon was our next guest. Toby is leading in his race against Jessica Greenway
for Position 4 on the City Council, though the lead is only 182 votes. Toby
explained that many votes were not valid because of signature issues and those
might be corrected in the next few days. So stay tuned! If Toby does win, he
is committed to serving the entire city, even though he lives in the
annexation area. He is already familiar with Kirkland and the issues we face,
partly because he was a State Rep from a district which included half of the
city.
Our next meeting will be
Jan 16, 2012 7PM at
Heritage Hall, 203 Market. St.