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Heritage Hall
Mark Masterson called the meeting to order. Mark mentioned that he is moving out of the area and won't be able to remain in his position as chairperson of the MBNA. We will need a new Chairperson and other officers. Nominations are welcome. Don Winters reported on the Magnuson Park lighting issue -- Seattle's plans to install 640,000 watts of lighting at 11 new play fields at Sand Point. Don mentioned that the group "Eastside Friends of Lake Washington" has been busy working to head off this project, which they feel will cause unacceptable light pollution on the lake and in Kirkland. Several newly elected city officials, including Jessica Greenway in Kirkland and Tom Rasmussen in Seattle are concerned about the impact of the project, which could help. Mark Masterson mentioned the Matching Grant program and how we are eligible for $3500 in money from the city for projects we undertake. Our web site, a picnic, and landscaping for our neighborhood sign were some items mentioned. Further suggestions are welcome. Glenn Peterson, our liaison with KAN (Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods), reported on meetings with that group. Glenn mentioned that Bellevue now has a neighborhood mediation service that they have made available to Kirkland residents. Also, Kirkland will have new garbage and recycling services starting Dec 1 that can be checked out at the Waste Management web site http://www.wmnorthwest.com/kirkland/ Glenn gave us a brief update on the Downtown Strategic Plan. Kirkland City Manager Dave Ramsay was our next guest. Dave gave his "state of the city" talk, which he does once a year for our group. He discussed many issues, including the Magnuson Park issue (he thinks mitigation might be possible, but not a scaling down or elimination of the fields), the Marina Park restroom, which is about to be constructed, the "white ship", which hopefully will be leaving, as Westwater Real Estate has plans to rebuild the marina and install a breakwater by next summer. A new hotel will be built at 3rd Street and Kirkland Ave. in the near future, and a project is in the planning stages to build a large grocery with residential above and parking below at the corner of Lake Street and Central Way. The Central Way "calming" proposal, possibly eliminating a lane of traffic, might be implemented along with sewer work planned for 2005. The new transit center planned for the old Kirkland Hardware site, and the "75 State Street" project, are both waiting to start. The Transit Center needs rezoning, which has met some opposition. Kari Page, Kirkland's Neighborhood Services Coordinator, mentioned that our neighborhood sign will be installed at the corner of State Street and 68th St. by the end of the year. The Brink Park sidewalk is under construction now, and the new lights for the dock will be installed in the next few weeks. Carolyn Hayek, of our association and a Kirkland Planning Commission member, mentioned an opening on the planning commission. Carolyn also mentioned that her residence, Plaza on State, will be undergoing a four million dollar renovation this winter. She has a new location for her business also, which can be visited at www.kirklandplaza.com Detective Gary Eggleston of the Kirkland Police Dept. was the final speaker. Gary filled us in on two registered sex offenders who have been released and are living in Kirkland. Both live in Juanita and are considered likely to reoffend. Gary briefed us on how sex offenders are handled by the department and the various ways a community can protect themselves from these people. Our next meeting will be January 19, 2004 at Heritage Hall. This is tentative at this tme. Heritage Hall
Mark Masterson called to order our first meeting in the newly renovated Heritage Hall. Mark mentioned that our association "paver" had been installed in the front walkway to the hall with our new logo. We will be holding our neighborhood meetings at Heritage Hall from now on, as it is a perfect location and building for us. Our first speakers were Jessica Greenway and Jeff Clark, two candidates running to fill the retiring Sants Contreras' seat on the Kirkland City Council. Jessica , a current planning commission member, mentioned her qualifications and aspirations for Kirkland. Jeff mentioned that he grew up in Kirkland and has worked for and now owns an architectural firm. Jeff's hot issues are traffic congestion, efficiencies in city spending, and economic development. The primary election is Sept. 16. Danielle Sanine was on hand to tell us about the upcoming "Seniors Healthy Living Expo" to he held on Oct. 18, 2003 a the Kirkland Community Senior Center. For more information, visit the the City of Kirkland web site at http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/parks/pdfs/fall/boomers.pdf . Larry Martin of the Justen Company, is part of a team the city has working to come up with a proposal to redevelop the corner of Lake Street and Central Way, a parcel now occupied by a public parking lot. A pedestrian friendly project is envisioned with possibly one floor of retail and 3 floors residential above, with parking in the basement. For more info or to make suggestions for the site, email Larry at [email protected] Kirkland City Council Person Mary Alyce Burleigh was on hand and mentioned that the site is currently underutilized as parking lot, since it is considered "ground zero" or the main intersection in town. Ellen McMahon mentioned that a continuous retail strip might draw more shoppers to Kirkland, rather than isolated stores surrounded by non-retail uses. Don Winters spoke about the newly formed group, Eastside Friends of Lake Washington, which was formed in opposition to the the Seattle Parks Dept. plans to build eleven lighted sports fields at Magnuson Park. Don mentioned how the group has presented their case before the City Council and would continue to do so. For more information and to download and sign a petition against this project visit their web site www.eastsidefriends.org Mark Masterson spoke about the matching grant program and how we need projects to receive funds. Ellen McMahon mentioned that we could buy yard signs to advertise our meetings, and could also make up a mailing list for the neighborhood to send out information, in the hopes of increasing attendance at our meetings. Mark also mentioned the KAN (Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods) meeting he recently attended and the issues of interest that were brought up there. Our next meeting will be November 17, 2003 at Heritage Hall. Kirkland Library Meeting Room
Mark Masterson called the meeting to order. We had a good turnout due to our publicizing the Magnuson Park Lighting Issue. The first to speak were Kim Wells and Vance Thompson of "Friends of Magnuson Park", a Seattle group that is leading the effort to prevent the Magnuson Park Playfields from being built with their massive amount of lighting -- 640 individual lights of 1000 watts each on 80 light poles. Kim and Vance covered the basics of their opposition to the project, including lighting, loss of wetlands and noise. Don Winters of MBNA, also spoke about how we can work to get our Kirkland city government to actively oppose the project and it's negative impacts. Don mentioned that the Environmental Impact Statement issued for the park project did not address the impacts on Kirkland and that alone should be reason enough for our government to act. Kirkland City Council Persons Jim Lauinger and Dave Asher were on hand and mentioned that we should present our case at a City Council Meeting. We will be doing that in early August. Mark Masterson showed off our new neighborhood logo, which will be on the paver we bought for the walkway at Heritage Hall on Market Street. Mark also mentioned that we will be meeting in the new hall in September -- one of the first groups to use the newly dedicated building! Mark asked for persons willing to be co chair or to work on a committee for MBNA. Julie McAvoy, a new Kirklander, said she might be interested. Mark mentioned the Matching Grant Program and what projects we might pursue. Mass mailings, additional neighborhood signs, a neighborhood picnic, were some of the ideas. Kari Page, Kirkland's Neighborhood Services Coordinator, mentioned that our one sign was paid for by the city and that would be installed when the turn lane on 68th Street and State Street was completed in the fall. We could use Matching grant money if we wanted additional signs (about $5000 each). Kari also mentioned that the "Neighborhood Connections" programs would be going forward. The lights -- low style, about four feet tall -- would be installed on the Brink Park dock. The walkway at Brink would also be extended so that the north end would connect back up to the sidewalk on Lake Street. Flower pots will be installed along Park Lane as part of the program with Kirkland Downtown on the Lake agreeing to contribute plants and maintenance. Glenn Peterson has been active representing our group both with the Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods (KAN) and on the working group that will be developing an implementation strategy for the Lakeshore Plaza project of the Downtown Strategic Plan. Kirkland Library Meeting Room
Our new Co-Chair, Mark Masterson, called the meeting to order. Laura Lee Pritt was not in attendance, but it was announced that she was not moving to Boston after all and would remain with the association. Mark Masterson gave some background information on himself. A former member of the Air Force, and now a retired Boeing employee, Mark volunteers his time for several local causes. We discussed our meeting time and it was decided to continued meeting on the third Monday of the odd numbered months. Our next meeting will be July 21. Don Winters updated the group on the status of the Magnuson Park lighting issue. Don mentioned that Mark Eliasen has been working on this issue for MBNA and has been in contact with Kirkland Parks Dept. members and City Council people. Don also attended a meeting of the "Friends of Magnuson Park" on May 29 and reported on that. Right now the focus is on challenging the Environmental Impact Statement for the Park. Have other locations been explored? Sinclair Jones of our group asked if the impact of the lighting on the Eastside had been properly addressed in the EIS and we will be looking into that. Meanwhile, we are trying to get City of Kirkland officials to more actively question the wisdom of installing 11 ball fields lighted with 640 1000 watt lights on Kirkland's "front porch". We will be working closely with the City of Kirkland and with Friends of Magnuson Park on this issue. Our webmaster has created a new Magnuson Park Lighting Issue Page on the Moss Bay NA web site. Kirkland's "Neighborhood Connections Program" and where the chosen projects stand was our next item. Of the three options that won in the voting, it appears the flower pots for downtown will not be done, because there is no money in the parks budget to maintain them. Glenn Peterson, our liaison with Kirkland Downtown on the Lake will look into this. The other winning items, the sidewalk at Brink Park and the lights on the dock at Brink, will go forward. We were asked what type of lights we would prefer in the park and decided the lower style of light (about 4 feet in height) was a better option for a neighborhood park. These are shaded while the other choice -- the style of light now installed at Marina Park -- has a visible light source that is annoying. Ideas were solicited for use of our "matching fund" money, about $3500. Carolyn Hayek suggested a seating area away from the path in Peter Kirk Park. Currently kids congregate on the path because benches are located right on the walkway. An area separate from the path might alleviate this problem. We will pursue this idea. Our participation in the 4th of July celebration was next on the agenda. Ellen McMahon suggested that we might locate in part of KDL's booth. This would afford us a presence at the celebration without a lot of setup. Mark Masterson said that he would be willing to write a neighborhood article for the Kirkland Courier each month. He asked for suggestions as to what topics he might cover. Carolyn Hayek said that it might be a good idea for the association to keep abreast of proposed projects downtown, including hotels that have been mentioned for both the old Salvation Army (Safeway) site and the corner of Lake Street and Central Way -- "ground zero" as it has been called. Carolyn also suggested that we might more closely work with Condo Associations in our area, including inviting them to at least one meeting per year. The meeting was adjourned. Kirkland Library Meeting Room Laura Lee Pritt called the meeting to order. Kari Page, Kirkland's Neighborhood Services Coordinator, presented the results of the voting on the Neighborhood Connections Program and the projects that won the voting to receive funding. The project receiving the most votes was expansion of the downtown flower pot program by the addition of 20 pots along Park Lane. No 2 in the voting was the connection of the sidewalk along Lake Washington Boulevard to the waterfront walkway at the north end of Brink Park. Money would also be available to fund No 4 in the voting, replacing light fixtures at Brink Park. These projects will now go forward. The next topic of discussion was ideas for our Matching Grant money, $3500 in matching funds to do work in the neighborhood. Some ideas were floated, such as installing benches near our neighborhood sign at the corner of 68th St. NE and State St., once the new right turn lane at that intersection is installed (probably this summer). A discussion took place concerning designs for our neighborhood logo. Several preliminary designs were submitted by the designer and we picked elements from several and voted to approve a new design to be finalized by our next meeting. We discussed the lighted playfields being built at Magnuson Park in Seattle. See the minutes our January meeting for details. Mark Eliasen proposed and Don Winters seconded a motion to endorse the Friends of Magnuson Park (www.saveourpark.org), a group opposed to the scope of the lighting. The motion passed and we will be notifying that group and the City of Kirkland of our position. City Councilperson Dave Asher was on hand and mentioned that, at this point, the project will be built and that mitigation of the effects of the lights would be the best option to persue. Laura Lee Pritt is moving out of the area and will be stepping down as chairperson of the association. Leslie Keller nominated Mark Masterson for the position, Glenn Peterson seconded, and Mark was unanimously elected by a show of hands. Congratulations, Mark! Glenn also commended Laura Lee for a job well done, another unanimous sentiment. She has served as chairperson for three years and done an excellent job. Mr. Peterson has agreed to take on the task of being our liaison with KAN (Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods), and KDL (Kirkland Downtown on the Lake). He will be contacting Ellen McMahon, our former representative to these groups. Sue Peterson, Promotions Chairperson for KDL, was on hand. She wants to improve communication between our groups and with the general public. We agreed to distribute info from KDL via our email list and on our web site. The meeting was adjourned Kirkland Teen Center
Laura Lee Pritt called the meeting to order. Vance Thompson and Basia Belza of Friends of Magnuson Park gave a presentation concerning the impact of proposed changes at the Park at Sand Point in Seattle on the city of Kirkland. 15 new playfields are planned for the park, 11 of which will be lighted. 80 poles, each about 80 feet in height, will contain 640 individual lights. The group feels this will create an unacceptable amount of light shining into neighborhoods both in Seattle and across the Lake in Kirkland, and asked our support in fighting the proposal. Moss Bay NA discussed this issue and decided to gather info from other sources to balance our perspective before taking a stance. More information is available at the group's web site www.saveourpark.org Kari Page, Kirkland's Neighborhood Services Coordinator, presented the latest version of the "idea list" for the Neighborhood Connections Program. In addition to the proposals discussed at our last meeting a couple of new proposals were added. One is the possibility of commissioning murals on buildings in downtown, including the west wall of the "Hallmark Realty" building which faces Marina Park. Susan Thornes, the Design Committee Chairperson of Kirkland Downtown on the Lake, was on hand to discuss several proposals in the downtown core, including flower pots and new fountains and benches on Park Lane. The final list of proposals will be available soon and each household in our neighborhood will receive a ballot. Laura Lee Pritt discussed our options for the 2003 Matching Grant money. Several possible projects are options this year including Kiosks, benches, and 4th of July Parade floats. The group decided to wait until the Neighborhood Connections money is decided, so that it would be more clear what was needed. Laura Lee mentioned that the Lakeshore Clinic on State Street has applied for a zoning variance as preparation for possible redevelopment of the site. Carolyn Hyek mentioned that the city would rather look at the zoning of a whole area rather than rezone a particular parcel. We discussed our officers. The present slate of officers, Chairperson Laura Lee Pritt, secretary and webmaster Don Winters, and treasurer Leslie Keller were renominated and elected by a show of hands. Mark Masterson said he might be able to share some of the Chairperson duties and will contact Laura Lee. We discussed a new Neighborhood Logo. Michael Lillevold has submitted some ideas for a logo which were well received. We also have some donated design time to use with another designer. The meeting was adjourned and our next meeting will be Monday, March 17, 7PM, at the Kirkland Library. |
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