Kirkland will host the next Eastside Rail Corridor Regional Advisory Council (RAC) meeting on April 22, 2015. What is ERC RAC?  ERC RAC is comprised of five regional partners who hold fee title to parts of what was once the BNSF rail corridor in King County: City of Redmond, City of Kirkland, Sound Transit, Puget Sound Energy, and King County. The ERC RAC was created to plan how the owners of the Eastside Rail Corridor can develop a coordinated vision for the future of the Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC). The RAC met during 2013 and developed a report summarizing recommendations from the first phase of the planning effort. The RAC’s work will continue during 2014 and 2015.

The Agenda for the next meeting is: 
Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.
City Hall – Council Chambers
123 Fifth Avenue
Kirkland, WA 98033

2:00 p.m. – Welcome and Introductions
2:05 p.m. – Review 2015 RAC meeting schedule 
2:15 p.m. – Owners’ Updates
2:30 p.m. – Update on March ERC Open House for Legislators in Olympia 
2:40 p.m. – Review and discuss initial research on funders’ collaborative models; confirm direction 
3:10 p.m. – Discuss and provide feedback on the Creative Brief for branding activity 
3:40 p.m. – Discuss and approve 2015 RAC Work Plan 
4:15 p.m. – Public Comment
4:25 p.m. – Wrap Up
4:30 p.m. – Adjourn


Additional information about ERC RAC can be found on the King County Website here. 

Learn more about the regional partners efforts: 
City of Redmond: Redmond Central Connector
City of Kirkland: Cross Kirkland Corridor
Sound Transit: East Link, Long-Range Plan update
Puget Sound Energy: Energize Eastside
King County: Master Trail Planning

The Planning Commission will meet April 16 at 7:00pm. On the agenda for that meeting will be a review of draft amendments for the Everest Neighborhood Plan and provide city staff with direction on any changes. The final draft plan will be reviewed at a public hearing in summer 2015 in conjunction with the 2035 Comprehensive Plan update. The last major update to the Everest Neighborhood Plan was in 1988. Congratulations to the Everest neighborhood on getting their plan to the next step! 

You can find the last major update to the Everest Neighborhood Plan here as Attachment 1.

Here are the texts from the post-its left on the Other Topics poster board from our meeting on the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC) meeting of April 1, 2015:
Other Topics

• Waddell Property – Waddell property (view) is too valuable for affordable housing. Not a good use.
  
• Need affordable housing without parking. Also need family multi-family housing (i.e. 3 B/R, 4 B/R).Thank you Brian, Lisa, Cathy and others for your efforts in leading us in this important process ☺.
  
• Can we consider a women’s shelter in the Waddell property?
  
• How will Kirkland Corridor access to BC be accomplished?
  
• Now affordable housing in NC.

Here are the texts from the post-its left on the Transportation poster board from our meeting on the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC) meeting of April 1, 2015:
Transportation
Entrance, exits, streets, CKC Access, Transit, movement of auto & people

• Mixed use will bring in more children. Lakeview Elementary School is at maximum capacity.
  
• Please plan for safe areas for school bus stops – off the main streets.
  
• When property redevelops put parking underground with underpass under street to connect to other BC area.
  
• Transportation
  
• Traffic will drive everything about HC. Solve this first, then we can see what is possible.
  
• Reduce min parking requirements and replace with maximum parking limits. Encourage people who want to bus, work in neighborhood, use CKC for walk/bike.
  
• Transportation major problem will get worse. I do not see space to expand roads . Need better public transportation.
  
• Consolidate entrances & exits at Met Market & PCC/Houghton Mkt.
  
• Suggested change – 
  
• Have cars enter into PCC shopping zone through upper entry off 68th & exit out the lower driveway to increase traffic flow.
  
• Don’t let people’s fear of traffic prevent high density. Can have density with minimal traffic impact if parking requirements are sensible.
  
• Traffic – no further dev until 6th St S, 108th, 68th NE are resolved.
  
• Create a roundabout to assist with traffic flow around center.
  
• We need a corridor study for transportation (like the 100th Street Corridor Study in Juanita) to look at traffic & transit & bike & walk & parking in area as a whole.
  
• Transportation 
  
• How about a stoplight at NE 68 & 106th Ave NE. (Coordinate light w/one at 68th & 108th).
  
• Would help school traffic & those exiting from Houghton center turning left or right.
  
• Deal with traffic congestion issues 4 lane street expansion E&W and N&S.
  
• Access to CKC off of 68th by bridge. 
  
• Add more access points.
  
• Easy parking in/out BC
  
• Add access rom the CKC down to 68th near bridge and Lakeview Elementary.
  
• Parking consideration when planning.
  
• I like the idea of businesses that face the trail. Their plans should expect that that space will have light rail in the future. No acting surprised later!
  
• Eventual transit on CKC; making HENC a “transit oriented development”! 
  
• This might make higher density a good fit for the area.
  
• Adequate parking in the BC.
  
• Peak traffic flow needs to be managed better.
  
• Trolley Kirkland – downtown -> Park Place -> BC and back. Keep non-driving options for new appts on Central Way. Parking at Park Place (5000 cars planned).
  
• CKC connections
  
• Promote great CKC connections to HENC.
  
• I love the CKC and I am strongly in favor of light rail. When light rail comes to our area, I’d like the space to be expanded so we still have a trail next to the rail.
  
• More pedestrian access to the CKC.
  
• For example, a staircase at 68th for kids going to Lakeview.
  
• Need safer way to walk between current PCC/Metro areas - Stop Light? Overhead ramp?
  
• Center lane turn both E & South 6th Ave to the North
  
• Re look at traffic flow after Google up and running
  
• Need multi-family housing that will attract residents that use transit/CKC, not people who want to drive cars everywhere.
  
• Include policies to require public access to corridor when the 3.6 property redevelops in BC.
  
• Assume that use of public transportation will increase over time
  
• Make plans that work for more buses and light rail not only for cars.
  
• Solve parking problem
  
• 9th Ave
  
• Center
  
• From the Potala experience I think the hardest thing on transportation issues is to get the city to look at making street amenable to desired development rather than thinking of streets that don’t work well as fixed & making development work around them. Example: 10th will become impassable when Potala is built.
  
• Transportation
  
• Already bad, increased density/stories/housing will make it impossible. A neighborhood center should serve the neighborhood.

Here are the texts from the post-its left on the Mixed Use poster board from our meeting on the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC) meeting of April 1, 2015:

Mix Use 
% of housing, office & retail

• Mixed Use – Priority is meeting neighborhood need for goods and services, (undecipherable), retail. Office and residential are ok but secondary.
  
• Residential density can be increased but must be capped (at ? 24 unites/acre).
  
• Design Review for BC zone to prevent lawsuit scale and density.
  
• Need lots of residential. But min parking regulations currently in place would choke neighborhood with traffic. Need housing that will attract car-light/car-free residents.
  
• High density residential. Need enough residents to support increased businesses and make it economically feasible for redevelopment. At least 4 stories.
  
• Somehow find ways to encourage/support retention infill of smaller housing stock & retain green space/breathing space, not stacked up giant boxes.
  
• Should put in density caps for neighborhood center so a potential Potala Village redux is avoided.
  
• Height & setbacks is not enough definition to guide development. Huge difference of impact if a developer puts many tiny housing units v. fewer bigger ones in a given # of acres. Need to look at BC (HENC) as a whole, not as 2 separate pieces.
  
• Mix Use – No low-income housing. It essentially subsidizes big business because it enables those businesses to keep their wages low since there are more available people to work for lower wages.
  
• Support mixed use – retail restaurants, and business.
  
• Access for each category – inc. parking & congestion.
  
• Mixed use – Height limits can go up – a little. HC could be view property from upper stories. 3-4 stories is ok w/me. (If traffic and density issues are solved.)
  
• Limits on heights and density in Neighborhood Center.
  
• Retail low profiles of buildings = keep them no highter than average street trees = human scale.
  
• Restaurants
  
• Would support mixed use? – 
  
• How to back to corridor & front
  
• Parking – adequate.
  
• I would trade off common areas in BC for variances in height and setbacks, possibly.
  
• 4-5 story mixed uses businesses fronting sidewalk. 
  
• No parking lots fronting streets. Parking underground or behind buildings.
  
• Density!
  
• Don’t want 200 square foot apartments.
  
• Need to keep in line w/other similar mixed use to maintain property values.
  
• No office /day use other than commercial in HENC. Possible residential mixed use.
  
• Ensure ample retail/business to support walkable nature of neighborhoods for essential – not another packed in housing center such as the S. K. P&R TOD w/limited retail require (illegible). 
  
• Architectural requirements
  
• I would like to see the city put in some building codes that would encourage more craftsman style homes vs. the ugly square glass and concrete modern-architecture homes.
  
• The BC should be mostly retail, some housing, and almost no office. We have other office space nearby.
  
• Mixed use – Even the city has been surprised by the “unlimited density”. We need definition & limit.
  
• Mixed use - % of housing, office, retail
  
• Don’t add housing. We need the retail options more for the residences that are already here. If density increases a lot (via added height) then we end up with underground parking which isn’t user friendly for quick stops to the grocery.
  
• Limit density in BC zones to prevents excessive density like Potala issue.
  
• If taller buildings are allowed, require public access to rooftop view areas.
  
• Parking for businesses and residences.
  
• The Everest side of the B.C. has many small, separately owned parcels.
  
• How do we discourage a mish-mash of developments on small lots.
  
• One floor of retail with residential above would make sense, especially if transit were to go in on the CKC.
  
• Plan for enough retail height to allow for supermarkets and drugstores.
  
• The Houghton 2011 plan only allowed for 12’ high retail space – this is not enough for grocery stores/drug stores.
  
• We need to do everything we can to preserve grocery & drug stores in business center. – don’t allow conversion to total residential or residential and only low quality retail.

Here are the texts from the post-its left on the Other Entities poster board from our meeting on the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC) meeting of April 1, 2015:

Other Entities
Who should be in this converstation?
When should they join?
What should be their role

• Businesses, School, City should be at meetings.
  
• School District, Metro? Kids use Orca passes in HS so transit is critical for safety. Join after 3 neighborhood mtgs.
  
• Businesses should participate in 2nd/3rd meetings.
  
• Keep these meetings with residents. Meet with businesses in 2016.
  
• PCC has been in the neighborhood a long time. I’d like the BC to work with their commitment & their welcoming behavior towards people.
  
• Non- adjacent neighborhoods should not be involved.
  
• Include Lakeview Elementary PCC Google in addition to current neighborhoods.
  
• Representatives from the city, HCC, CHNA, Everest, Lakeview, Business owners, school district should all be involved in the process.
  
• Other parties – how will PCC & Metro stay during major renovation? – w/o relocating. Need to help.
  
• All Kirkland neighborhoods should be involved because they shop at Met Market & PCC & travel through the corridor.
  

I just got done entering all the post-its into a Word doc file from Wednesday's (4/1) meeting about the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center. Before I go through too much digestion of what they had to say, I thought it would be fun to create a Wordle or Word Cloud of the post-its. Fun times and more to come!

FYI - a wordle or Word Cloud is an image composed of words used in a particular text or subject, in which the size of each word indicates its frequency.