Moss Bay Meeting Notes - March 2018

1. Kirkland Safe

• Leah Kliger and Paula White gave a presentation about Kirkland Safe, which spearheaded the effort to have Kirkland declare itself an inclusive city.
• You are welcome to join their meetings on the second Tuesday of every month. There are additional community events and activities that residents are encouraged to join.
• For more information and to participate, visit www.kirklandsafe.org

2. Central Way Development 

• Mark Craig and Anthony Jansen gave a presentation about the company’s history and plans for Central way.
• This was originally the George Henry Bartell company, and has been in business since the early 1900’s. They work for the Bartell company in a separate activity from the drugstore chain.
• Henbart Development is redeveloping the site at 312 Central Way, where Wendy’s is currently located. The project includes the alley behind the existing building, which will be redeveloped for traffic.
• The plan is to build a Bartell drugstore on the site, although it isn’t confirmed at this time. There will be additional retail space on the site. They will develop two levels of underground parking. They are tentatively planning for 70 apartments built on top of the retail.
• In the next month or so, the City will respond to their initial design. They estimate that it will be a year before they can break ground.

3. Kirkland’s Housing Strategy update

• Dawn Nelson, Planning Supervisor with the City of Kirkland provided information about the City’s Housing Strategy Plan.
• The City has had a Housing Strategy plan for about the last 20-25 years. It identifies priority issues for the City to address local housing goals and policies. For the last year, an advisory group made up of residents and stakeholders from businesses, education and the faith community has been meeting to help identify strategies that address these goals and policies.
• The updated plan is intended to provide guidance for the next 3-5 years.
• Over the year, the group sought community feedback through surveys, a workshop for Kirkland residents and focus groups.
• The outcome of the group’s work was a set of strategies that were presented to the City Council on March 6, 2018. Ultimately City Council will decide on the recommendations and they will be added to the City’s work plan.
• The three categories of strategies that the group identified are:
  1. Neighborhood Quality
  2. Expanded Housing Choices
  3. Housing Affordability
• For more information about the Housing Strategy, visit the City’s Housing Strategy Plan Advisory Group webpage.   

4. Human Services Commission

• Leslie Miller, the Human Services Administrator for the City of Kirkland, gave a presentation about the Human Services Commission and the grants that available for organizations with relevant missions.
• The Human Services area of focus are:
  • Food to eat and a roof overhead.
  • Supportive relationships within families, neighborhoods, and communities.
  • A safe haven from all forms of violence or abuse.
  • Health care to be as physically and mentally fit as possible.
  • Education and job skills to lead an independent life.
• The City participates in regional initiatives for human services as well as at the City level.
• There is an advisory Human Services Commission made up of 7 adults and 1 youth representative. They meet monthly and will determine the grant recipients.
• The 2019 – 2020 grant process is shared among 17 regional cities. This creates a more efficient process for non-profits who need to submit grant requests to multiple cities: now the non-profits can submit one grant application and check a box to request which cities they would like to consider their grants.
• Approximately $950,000 is available across the participating cities for agencies that provide services. The process can be found on the City’s website. Applications are due April 10, 2018.
• Residents can reach out to City Council directly or the Human Services Commission if they would like the City to take into consideration a particular area of focus.

5. Kirkland Police

• Captain St. Jean, who has been with the department for about 20 years, gave a presentation and answered questions.
• There are about 60 patrol officers and 100 officers in total. Kirkland hired 17 new officers in 2017 and are now fully staffed. Budget has been approved for two officers for “pro-act”, which is a proactive regional approach to property crimes. There is a detective assigned to the US Secret Service. He helps work on digital crime and fraud. By May 1st, two officers will be on traffic patrol on motorcycles.
• Crime update:
  • 1,100 reports have been filed using the online reporting tool since it started a year ago.
  • In Moss Bay, in the last 3 months, there were 52 crimes. Most are shoplifting theft in businesses in downtown Kirkland. Downtown also has more DUI’s than some other neighborhood because of the concentration of bars and restaurants.
  • You can go to crime mapping on the City’s website to look up police activity or trends.
  • You can report crime online for non-emergencies.
  • Violent crime has decreased in the last few years. Rape, robberies, assault, residential burglaries are all down.
  • What is increasing is motor vehicle theft and prowls. Stolen cars are often found in Everett or Auburn, and vehicles stolen from those areas can be found in Kirkland; thieves are using get between these cities. To try to combat this and other crime, the police request that citizens:
    • Don’t leave purses or laptops in cars, even if exiting the vehicle for just a moment.
    • Trust your gut if something or someone seems suspicious that help with property crimes.
    • For package theft: recommendations include having them delivered to your work or Amazon’s lockers, or use one of the lockbox products.
    • If you see needles in the parks, call 911, don’t touch it, and stay nearby so other people don’t accidentally get pricked by a needle.
  • Crime on the Cross Kirkland Corridor has been very low. They have two ATVs to patrol.
  • A question was asked about whether the rumors of the Kirkland library parking is unsafe – we hear that there is drug dealing. Captain St. Jean said they do extra patrols there and that the City Council is considering adding lighting and taking other measures to make people feel safer, such as replacing the cameras.

6. Neighborhood Safety Program

• We have one project submitted: adding a crosswalk at Marina Park’s north side. We will find out whether this project is funded by the April 17, 2018 City Council meeting.