Don Winters called the meeting to order. We had a turnout of about 40 members. Melinda O'Rourke again brought delicious cookies she baked at home. City Council Members Dave Asher and Shelley Kloba were in attendance.
Greg Arms of Milestone Northwest gave us an informative presentation on his project "The Walk", whish is located at 314 7th Ave. S. There will be 20 detached 3 story homes, each with 4 or 5 bedrooms and tentatively priced from $850 - $950,000. The units will include 2 car garages and will be 2600-2900 sq ft in size. Construction has started and the project should be finished by Sept, 2016. The project will include 8 guest parking spots. Greg mentioned that he may want to reroute the walkway to the Lakeview school yard that currently meanders through the Moss Bay Vista condo property. Greg can be contacted at 206-817-4192 or [email protected] Bill Pollard of Talon Private Capital gave us more details (in addition to what we learned at our last meeting) on the proposed redevelopment of Park Place. Talon hopes to start the project in 2016 after design and review by the DRB. Construction is expected to last 3-5 years. Phase 1 of the project will be the construction of a new QFC with multi-family housing above. Talon has provided a Park Place FAQ, with very detailed information on this project. At the Jan 29 Planning Commission meeting, Talon will make recommendations to the City Council on the zoning text changes that they are requesting which include: * Increase allowed residential square footage from 10% of total gross floor area to 30%. * Include a 10% affordable housing requirement if residential percentage is increased. * Allow one drive through facility for a bank or related financial service. * Increase the movie theater incentive from 10% to 20% of required retail square footage There are links on the Planning Commission web page to site plans and other info on this project. Kari Page briefed us on the Cross Kirkland Corridor, which is set for a soft opening "12th Man Party" on Jan. 31, and a grand opening in April. Flashing beacon crosswalks, school connections, fencing and a compacted crushed rock surface are all in place. The Google segment will be closed until June, 2015, but a detour is in place. Kari covered the Neighborhood Safety Program. Moss Bay decided on two projects to submit -- Stairs to the street from the CKC to NE 68th St., and new sidewalk, crosswalk and other improvements on the north side of Kirkland Ave. just east of 6th St. S. Our application for these possible projects is in progress. We can apply for $3,135 in Matching Grants for the City for a use of our choice. Support for Kirkland's 4th of July celebration, or possible use for improved neighborhood communications were the ideas approved by those attending. We would need to apply by Jan 31, 2015. Jeanne Large of the newly formed "Solarize Kirkland" (chapter of Solarize Washington) organization, told us how the group helps private citizens, companies, and public buildings to negotiate the purchase and installation solar panels. The City can install public solar panels and citizens can invest in them, getting money back in their electric bills. Bea Nahon, our rep to and co-chair of the Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods (KAN) gave the following report: · KAN meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM at City Hall in the Peter Kirk room. All are welcome to attend and it’s a great way to learn what is going on in all neighborhoods and in the City. · There is interest by the 4 neighborhoods that adjoin the Houghton Neighborhood Business District (intersection of NE 70th and 108th Ave NE). The Central Houghton Neighborhood Association has invited our neighborhood, Everest and Lakeview to meet with them so that we can all discuss common goals, issues and vision for this important area. The first meeting will be on Wednesday 4/1/15 at 7PM at Fire Station 22 on 108th Ave NE and in future “even” months. · The Totem Lake Mall may actually be about to be sold to a developer! The purchaser is Centercal which proposes to develop it with retail, office and housing. Representatives from Centercal will be at KAN at its next meeting (2/11/15) so please come to learn more. · As part of the Kirkland 2035 process, all Neighborhood Plans are having an interim update. Ours was the first to go before the Planning Commission and thus far, there are no changes to the current draft. It will next go to a Public Hearing at the Planning Commission in a few months, and then to City Council. Thank you to everyone in our Neighborhood who has participated in this process and to City Planning Supervisor Jeremy McMahan who is our assigned staff for this project. · We hope to know more in the near future about Designated Urban Centers and how our downtown core might qualify. This could lead to more funding for things like roads and other infrastructure. Totem Lake has this designation already as do some other locations in King County. · The City Council is looking at preliminary options for Downtown parking and had an initial report presented to it in early January. A stakeholder input process is the next step and then it will be back to Council later this year for further consideration. · KAN has organized a Communications Workshop, led by Karen Story from the Highlands Neighborhood. The workshop will be on January 29 at 7PM at City Hall. Don, Aimee and Bea will attend and all are welcome to join us. · Mayor Walen and City Manager Triplett will present the State of the City for neighborhoods on February 25 at 7PM at City Hall and we encourage all to attend. Don Winters reported on a couple of projects. The "Wells Fargo" mixed use project on Central Way is still in the planning stages as Polygon Development and the bank work out the details. Potala Village is again in limbo awaiting a State Supreme Court decision on the number of units that will be allowed. Our next meeting will be March 16, 2015 7PM at Heritage Hall, 203 Market. St. Comments are closed.
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