Mark
Eliasen called the meeting to order. City Council Members Doreen
Marchione, Bob Sternoff, and Dave Asher were in attendance.
Walt
Krueger, President of Kirkland Kiwanis, told us about the upcoming pancake
breakfast to benefit KITH (Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing). The
breakfast is scheduled for Saturday, May 28, 2011 from 7:30am – 11:30am and
will be held at Peter Kirk Community Center, 352 Kirkland Ave. There is
a $7 donation. Visit the Kiwanis
web site for more info. The Moss Bay Neighborhood Association approved
using our City neighborhood grant this year to benefit KITH.
Don Winters and Mark Eliasen reminded the
group to be sure to track their hours performing volunteer work for projects
benefiting the neighborhood, as we need to accumulate those in order to earn
our grant funds from the City. Hours should be reported to Don Winters at donw@mossbay.org
Joe
Razore, owner of property at 434 Kirkland Way, was our next guest. Joe has a
PAR request pending to change the zoning on the property. The changes would
allow residential to be the predominant use. Currently the site is limited to
12% residential. In addition, the height allowed would increase from 3-5
stories to 8 stories, similar to the changes made in the zoning of Park Place,
which is an adjacent property. This would result in a building height of 100'.
Joe told us how he believes the buildings on the site would be more appealing
with the increased height which would allow a smaller footprint and more step
backs. The PAR is likely to be considered by the Planning Commission in 2012.
Lobsang
Dargey, who presented at our March meeting about his planned Potala Village,
gave us an update. The project is a 143 unit apartment building on 4 levels.
Lobsang has agreed to meet the zoning requirements for parking rather than
seek a parking modification. He feels that since the project is in a
residential area, that this will keep overflow parking off local
streets. There will be no retail at the site, as originally planned, but
professional office instead. The project will be an environmentally friendly,
"high end" quality building with a gym, conference center, and yoga.
Environmental testing has been done and while the ground water is OK,
the soil will need some cleanup due to previous uses, which included a dry
cleaners and a gas station.
Teresa Swan, of the Kirkland Planning Dept,
was on hand to help clarify zoning issues in relation to Potala Village. The
height of the building is in relation to the "average building
elevation" which means some areas of the building will be higher and
others lower than the 30' allowed. A shoreline permit is required from the
Dept of Ecology because part of the site is within 200' of Lake
Washington. There is no design review necessary for this project because it is
not in the Central Business District. For more information, including how to
comment on the project, refer to the project
data sheet.
Rob
Butcher, editor of Kirkland
Views, spoke about Kirkland
Kudos. This is a program that recognizes businesses and individuals that
are helping neighbors, picking up litter, sweeping sidewalks, participating in events and volunteering in our community.
Don Winters mentioned that the Kirkland
Heritage Society is trying to finish the entry sidewalk at Heritage Hall
by selling pavers engraved with names of the purchasers. A printable form is
available here which
can be mailed to the Heritage Society to order a paver. This is a very
worthwhile project and a great way to have your name carved in stone.
Several "neighborhood updates"
were also mentioned. Overlake
Hospital has leased space on the northwest corner of 3rd St. and Central Way
and will open a medical clinic there. The property at State St. and 2nd Ave.
S. will not be sold to a prospective buyer as reported last meeting but is
still be marketed by SRM Development as a 12 unit detached-condo project and a
couple of developers are interested. Google is occupying the third building in
their complex on 6th St. S.
AP Hurd of Touchstone Development reported
in an email that they secured Design Review Board Approval for the Parkplace project in December 2010. They are continuing more detailed design and actively marketing the project to potential tenants and investors. The project is likely to be kicked off once a significant office prelease has been signed ensuring that capital can be secured to fully build out the first phase.
Dori Gillam of Senior
Services told us about "Aging
Your Way", a regional planning session for senior programs that was
held on May 18.
Our next meeting will be
May 16, 2011 7PM at
Heritage Hall, 203 Market. St.