Meeting Notes: March 11, 2019

1. Kelli Curtis - Newest City Council member
   1. Kelli has lived in Kirkland for 25 years and served on Houghton Council in the past as well as on the Housing Strategy Advisory Board.
   2. She is assigned to the legislative workgroup that works with legislature on items that are important to Kirkland. She is also on the Planning and Economic Committee.
   3. Her term is until December 31st and she will be running for the Council seat again in November 2019.
   4. Kelli’s priorities as a City Council member include:
      1. Livability – affordability for all residents, including senior citizens, those who are downsizing, and young Kirkland residents who need to find a place of their own.
      2. Parks – accessibility and recreational opportunities.
      3. Community – how can we continue to build a welcoming, inclusive community.
2. Richard Chung – rep for Moss Bay on the Park board
   1. The Park board is a committee of volunteers appointed by the City Council to provide oversight and guidance to City Council on any topics related to parks and recreation. They are a liaison between the community and the City.
      1. Each of the Park board members are assigned Neighborhood Associations to liaison with; Richard is our rep for the Moss Bay Neighborhood Association.
      2. If we have questions or concerns relevant to the Park board, we can email Richard at [email protected].  The public is also welcomed to attend Park Board meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 7 PM at Council Chambers.
   2. Park updates
      1. Richard shared that there is an initiative to assess the shoreline parks. They will be drilling several holes into the bulkhead at Brink Park to assess the condition of the shoreline. If you have questions about this project, you can email Mary Gardocki, Park Planning and Development Manager for Department of Parks and Community Services at [email protected].
   3. Juanita Beach park will have a new bath house. Construction is planned to start towards the end of 2019.
   4. Totem Lake Park is at 90% designed. They are working on playground equipment.
   5. Peter Kirk and Kirkland Urban’s parks are in process.
3. Christian Knight – Neighborhood Services Outreach Coordinator working in the Capital Improvement Program.
   1. Kirkland Urban
      1. There are 11 tenants already committed and include iPic, Top Golf, Shake Shack, Evergreens Salad, Dough Zone, Mud Bay Pets, Purple Wine Bar, Restore Hyper Wellness, Soi, Bright Horizons Childcare and Early Learning, Home Street Bank, Café Ladro, AT&T and a new QFC.
      2. There will be a new stoplight at Central Way leading into Kirkland Urban, which will replace the existing crosswalk.
   2. 6th Street work
      1. The stoplight was scheduled to be completed at the end of March. However, there were some delays due to worker strikes and other issues and may slip.
      2. Street paving project will happen after the sewer main project, which is scheduled to end in April 2019. The paving is scheduled for July 2019.
      3. The paving process will take longer than normal because it is severely damaged, and part of the street needs to be rebuilt. The average cost is $17,000 to repave but to rebuild is $65,000.
4. Lakefront Bicycle and Pedestrian improvements
   1. They are making improvements along Juanita Bay park with a new bike box at the intersection. It allows the bicyclists to move forward at the stoplights to get a head start before cars move forward when the light turns green.
   2. The City has rebuilt 100 curb ramps to be compliant with the ADA (American with Disabilities Act).
   3. Kirkland Scramble is a proposed project to turn the intersection at Kirkland Ave and Lake Street into an all-way crosswalk. The purpose of these types of intersections is to improve traffic and pedestrian flow. It works well in areas where there is a lot of automobile traffic.
      1. $1.2 M has been proposed for this project in state legislature, proposed by Amy Whalen. If approved, it will be completed in 2021.
      2. The expense involves engineering costs and the work to change the streets and curbs.
      3. The right turn lane “pocket” on Kirkland Ave to turn right on Lake Street would be removed. This is part of improving the safety of pedestrians crossing this intersection.
5. Karen Story from the Highlands Neighborhood Association is proposing that Park Lane be closed on Sundays in summer months. To provide input to City Council on this topic, you can attend the March 19, 2019 City Council meeting at 7:30 PM in Council chambers.
6. Meeting participants provided feedback to Christian that there is a utility box in the walkway near the Bank of America building that makes it difficult to navigate in wheelchairs.
7. We had a discussion about whether the sidewalks along Lake Washington Blvd would be widened to better accommodate pedestrians. Council Member Toby Nixon was in attendance and said that it was on the list of items for City Council to consider. The tradeoff is removing parking spots.
8. We had a discussion about how traffic volumes are measured and how new developments impact road capacity. In the past, concurrency was measured by automobile traffic at intersections. Now all modes of transportation including bikes and pedestrians are counted because Kirkland residents have consistently asked the City Council to make Kirkland more walkable. For more information about what concurrency means for roads, traffic and development, visit https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Kirkland/?Kirkland25/Kirkland25.html and https://www.kirklandwa.gov/depart/Public_Works/Transportation_and_Traffic/Development_Concurrency.htm
9. Troy Thiel - legislation for housing development
   1. Troy is part of a group called Community for Affordable Housing (CFAH). He speaks to different groups about the climate and need for affordable housing.
   2. Home prices have more than doubled in a 7-year period. People are considered over-burdened when the spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.
   3. In the 2nd half of 2018, 25% fewer homes in King County were sold than in the six months prior.
   4. In the state legislature, proposed solutions include:
      1. Improving condo and conversion laws. The average cost now is $950 per square feet for new multi-family dwellings. Enabling conversions could make new condo ownership possible. The current laws require the apartment owner to keep it as an apartment for 7 years and then completely empty the building before it could be converted. The first in Washington is a 21-unit conversion on Slater, but the starting prices are still too high.
      2. Upzoning where appropriate
      3. Smaller multi-family that addresses the “missing middle”
      4. TOD (Transit-Oriented Development)/Mixed use residential. This bill was shut down.
      5. Better ADU (Accessory Dwelling Units) policies (changes reduce restrictions including the required parking spaces, the size of the ADU’s); however, this measure was eliminated from legislation and won’t be voted on.
      6. Learning from other cities and states
      7. Excess public lands
      8. Improve prefab/modular laws
   5. Condo law fixes:
      1. Defining “defect”. In the 1980’s there were few consumer protections for condo buyers when buildings had defects. There wasn’t a good definition of defect. This will clarify it and also give developers opportunities to remedy issues during the warranty period.
      2. New construction is expensive and takes a long time to get through the permitting process.
   6. Tiny home neighborhoods are not likely in Kirkland.
   7. There is a possibility that the real estate transaction tax will increase. Graduated taxes are also proposed. Homes under $700K will have lower home sales tax while high-end homes will pay more.
   8. Tenant protections: it looks like a law for just cause evictions will pass. Currently if rent is late 4-5 days, they could be evicted.
   9. Resources to learn more about the issues:
      1. The sightline.org provides resources – you can go to the Bill Tracker page to learn about where bills are in process.
      2. Community for Affordable Housing and Livin’ Small Facebook group pages.
   10. 11% of the market is condominium purchases; many of them are purchased by investors.
   11. Average cost of home in Moss Bay in 2018 years is $1.624 M.
   12. In 2018, 140 condos have sold; average price is $1.4 M. Average market time is 28 days.
10. Bea Nahon - KAN Update
    1. The Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month at City Hall with representatives from all Neighborhood Associations.
    2. KAN has been discussing housings issues and will be talking about it at the meeting on March 13, 2019.
    3. At the January 2019, they talked about state-mandated housing. KAN members wanted zoning decisions to remain with cities and not mandated at the state level.