Meeting Notes - January 19, 2004

Heritage Hall

Don Winters called the meeting to order.  Mark Masterson was ill tonight, and since he is moving out of the area, 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.


First on the agenda was the upcoming City Council informal (town hall) meeting with our neighborhood.  This is scheduled for Tuesday, April 27 at Heritage Hall, which is not a normal meeting night for us, but should work out.  The city will be mailing questionnaires to all residents in the Moss Bay Neighborhood, and as an association, we should identify four issues we would like to discuss.  Carolyn Hayek mentioned that it would be a good idea to use the questionnaire to ask members of homeowner associations (condos or apts) to identify themselves, so that we can have contact people within these organizations.


Ellen McMahon will be ordering yard signs for our association through the city.  We can get a better price by ordering along with other groups.  We will order about 35 signs, white with red letters -- "Moss Bay Neighborhood Meeting, Monday 7PM, Heritage Hall".


Ellen also reported on the progress of the improvements to Brink Park that were part of the "Neighborhood Connections" program that we participated in.  The pathway has just been completed and Ellen said it looks great!  The new "low style" lights (posts about 4 feet high) will be installed on the dock as soon as the Parks Dept. can schedule it in.


The upcoming 2005 Kirkland Centennial Celebration was discussed.  Mary Alyce Burleigh, our new mayor, was on hand to fill us in on the plans.  There will be several events scheduled over the course of the year to celebrate 100 years of Kirkland history.  A "centennial project" for our neighborhood to coincide with city wide activities is one idea being floated.  Parades, picnics, and even ideas such as planting 100 trees are some other suggestions.


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.  Don mentioned that there will be a forum on the project held Monday, Feb 2, at the University Universalist Church in Seattle.  Seattle City Councilpersons Peter Steinbrueck, and David Della, Kirkland City Councilperson Dave Asher, and several experts on lighting and wildlife biology will be on hand to educate us about the impacts of this massive project.


Don also updated us on the Pace Chemical site plans of the CamWest Corp.  They are in the process of buying the property and building approximately 60 living units, a blend of multi and single family homes.  The site is 5 acres and is zoned for 12 units per acre.  We will be following this development closely.


Kirkland City Councilperson Jim Lauinger briefed us on the Comprehensive Plan review that is scheduled for the Moss Bay neighborhood in 2007.  We should begin to think about what we would like to see in the plan and prepare input for the review.  Three pieces of property, 'Lakeshore Clinic', 'Pace Chemical', and 'Sauder Door', are possibly slated for redevelopment and we could influence how they are designed.


Carolyn Hayek gave us a summary of recent Planning Commission activities. Carolyn mentioned that the Lakeshore Plaza "lid" proposal, part of the "Downtown Strategic Plan" has been investigated and seems more feasible than first thought, due to the fact that new business locations on the lid would probably repay a good part of development costs.  Further plans are proceeding.  Central Way will be undergoing a sewer upgrade and the commission is considering possible narrowing of the street in conjunction.  The business block proposed for "ground zero", the corner of Lake and Central is awaiting a response from US Bank as to the possibility of including their property in the project.


Our next meeting will be March 15, 2004 at Heritage Hall.