Mark
Eliasen called the meeting to order.
We had
a turnout of about 80 for the meeting, many of them neighbors of the proposed
Potala Village development at 1020 Lake St. S. Our first guest was Lobsang
Dargey, principal of Potala Village. Charlie Morgan, architect on the project,
was also on hand. Lobsang gave us the details of his project which will be a
143 unit four story apartment building with 6000 square feet of retail on the
ground level. The property is under what is called a "ground lease"
which runs for 100 years. The building will be the first LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designated residential
building on the Eastside, and will incorporate such features as a "green
roof". There is an open plaza planned for the front of the property on
Lake St. The apartments will average 700 square feet and the rents will range
from $1200 - $2600. There will be an underground parking garage. Moss Bay has received
detailed information from the Kirkland Planning Dept., including how to
comment on the project, which is available here.
Bea
Nahon gave us the KAN (Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods) report. Coming up
on May 30 is the 7
Hills of Kirkland bicycle event which is a benefit for KITH (Kirkland
Interfaith Transition in Housing). Jim McElwee told us how this is a very
worthwhile event which needs volunteers . Send a message to volunteer@7hillskirkland.com
if you can help. All volunteer hours should be reported to donw@mossbay.org
so we can apply this to our matching grant.
Kari
Page showed us a video with great information on the upcoming 520 tolling
system called "Good to Go". The video is also available online here.
The tolling, which was scheduled to start April 15, has been delayed until May
or June because of various problems.
Don
Winters updated the group on several issues. There will be a walk to benefit
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) at Marina Park on May 14. 1500
walkers are expected. Visit the NAMI
web site for more info and to contact the organizers.
Phase
2 of the the Hector's project, which was to start in June, has been pushed
back until at least the end of the year. The owner of the property wants to
lease existing office space in the phase 1 area before proceeding.
Don
reported that the former Pace Chemical property on 7th Ave. S. will undergo
yet another cleanup attempt. A 30 day comment period will be created and we
will be notified of this.
A PAR
request has been made by MRM Development to change the zoning on their
property located at 434 Kirkland Way. They want multi-family to be the
predominate use rather than the minor use currently allowed. In addition they
want a maximum height of 8 stories rather than the current allowable 3-5
stories. In a memo to the Planning Commission, the Planning staff recommends
putting this request off until 2012.
John
Charpentier, of our association, reported that the property on the corner of
State St. and 2nd Ave. S. is being sold to a developer who wants to build
housing, possibly 12 detached-condo style units similar to Nettleton
Commons.
Our next meeting will be
May 16, 2011 7PM at
Heritage Hall, 203 Market. St.