The agenda for the April 10, 2018  CHNA meeting is provided below. We will have Jennifer Matison, the City's Animal control officer, at the meeting to present the city's new animal control services program and responsibilities. David Wolbrecht, the City's Neighborhood Services Coordinator, will update us on the Housing Strategy plan, City Council Communications/Engagement programs with the community, and other citywide neighborhood topics. We also will present the status of the Neighborhood Safety projects, Rapid Flashing Beacons, and other upcoming events, such as the planning for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the merger of Houghton with the City of Kirkland. We also will discuss the need for new Board members for the CHNA. Please let us know if you are interested in being part of our Board, we would appreciate hearing from you and getting your input to help guide the future of the association. It doesn't take much time and you can learn a lot by being engaged in your neighborhood association. 

If you have any comments on the agenda or ideas for future topics, please email us at:
​​centralhoughton@gmail.com

At it's next meeting on Tuesday December 12, the Kirkland City Council is scheduled to review and take final action on  ordinances related to changes for the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC). The ordinances will amend the Central Houghton Neighborhood Plan and Everest Neighborhood Plan (which are part of the City's Comprehensive Plan) for the areas covering the HENC commercial district at the intersection of NE 68th Street with 6th Street S/108th Avenue NE. In addition, the ordinances will revise the zoning for the neighborhood center. This is the culmination of over 18 months of meetings on the HENC amendments. The staff packets for City Council meetings are usually available the Friday afternoon before the meeting. The City Council agendas can be found here.

The following provides an overview of the revisions for the Neighborhood Plans and associated zoning. It also summarizes options for property owners/developers for increasing the height of buildings in some locations. You can write to the Council to share your thoughts on the proposals and ordinances. You also can attend the meeting and speak during items from the audience. Comments during the items from the audience portion of the City Council meeting are limited to three speakers in support and three people against the subject topics. If you want to speak during that part of the meeting, get there early to sign up.

Under the base Plan and zoning, the existing maximum building height of 30-feet would be maintained throughout the HENC. Under the base  30-foot height limit, the Neighborhood Plans and zoning would be revised to require projects in the core area (called HENC1, including the Metropolitan Market, Menchie's, and PCC sites, as well as the offices adjacent to the Cross Kirkland Corridor- see area 1 in below graphic ) to go through the City's Design Review process. The revised zoning also would limit the amount of office space in a development and would also require wider sidewalks and improved connections to the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

Developments in the core HENC1 area could increase their building height to 35-feet (which would allow three stories) if certain conditions are met. Those conditions include requirements for a 20,000 square foot grocery, hardware, or drug store to be part of the development. In addition, minimum areas for public open space/gathering places and green building standards would need to be met.  Residential densities would be capped at 48 units per acre, with 10 percent of the units meeting the City's affordable housing criteria. The third story would need to be stepped-back from the second story.

At it's November 21 meeting, the Council directed staff to include amendments that would allow two additional stories on the properties north of NE 68th Street between 6th Street S and The Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC).  The following conditions would need to be met In order to obtain the additional two stories:

• The additional two stories are only authorized by a legislative Council-approved Master Plan, which the Council may approve or deny.
• The Master Plan must include providing a southbound right turn lane from 6th Street S to NE 68th Street. The turn lane must be built per approved Kirkland Public Works Department plans.
• The Master Plan must consolidate the property on the northwest corner of NE 68th Street and 6th Street S and property or properties west of the corner property. (This would include the area outlined in white below, as well as the existing offices between the area in the white boundary and the CKC.)
• The Master Plan must comply with all proposed regulations that apply to the three story, 35 foot height option except for the 48/unit per acre density limit.
• The Master Plan must include a circulation plan and a driveway consolidation plan for the Everest portion of the Houghton Everest Business District north of NE 68th Street.

Crossing Kirkland - September 9, 2017
​Great turnout for our first year. Thanks to everyone who came, all of our volunteers, and our sponsors. Hope you all had as much fun as we did! And if you'd like to be a part of next year's event let us know.

Important Upcoming Meetings and Events

• Dec 15th - Joint study session for the Houghton Community Council and the Planning Commission.  They will be discussing which options to bring forward to the public hearing in January concerning the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center.  There will be an Open House from 6:00 to 7:00 that evening to allow citizens to come early and ask questions.
• Sunday, 12/18 is the 5K walk/run starts at 9:30, 12K run starts at 9:35
• Next CHNA meeting January 4th
• February Officer Elections (please let us know if you are interested)

Minutes from December Meeting
John Marasco from Security Properties and PCC talked with us about potential future plans for PCC store. The current PCC store is not ideal for them. The PCC Fremont and Columbia City stores are closer to what they are hoping to have here in Kirkland. Current Kirkland store is about 12K sq ft and they would like to go to 25K sq ft with community space and cooking demo area. John wanted to hear what the neighborhood would like to see built in the area between Teriyaki Madness to Shamiana.

Comments made regarding the PCC property:

• Free parking, underground parking, some curbside parking for quick access
• Concerns around traffic – provide better access in/out of area as well as within the area
• If housing is added, want to be residents of neighborhood, not resident housing for local companies
• Wide sidewalks, set backs, bulk of building off the street
• Keep the charm of our neighborhood – make it look like Kirkland
• Make employee parking planned into the development
• Underground power
• Not 5 stories

Some of John’s comments about the area:

• Site can handle more retail than just PCC
• Currently 30’ – area would go from 2 to 3-5 stories.
• PCC is owner of land
• Most likely be mix use – commercial space @ ground level, housing above
• Discussion at HENC workshop did not give a conclusive answer to how to handle these areas.
• Neighborhood should look at using incentives as a tradeoff to height increases. As an example, “only develop 70% above X stories with setbacks”.

The timeline for the HENC project:

• 12/15/16 Joint Planning Commission & Houghton Community Council Study Session (Open House from 6:00 to 7:00)
• 01/17/17 City Council Study Session Update
• 01/26/17 Joint Hearing Planning Commission & Houghton Community Council
• After the January 26th meeting, they will determine if we need to continue the hearing and/or need an additional meeting in February to complete the recommendation to the City Council.

Comments and emails to:
Houghton Community Council HoughtonCouncil@kirklandwa.gov
Planning Commission PlanningCommissioners@kirklandwa.gov
And the senior Planner for the project, Angela Ruggeri aruggeri@kirklandwa.gov

NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY MASTER PLAN
Sidebar has all the specific sections of the proposed Plan. Of special interest is the Project Narrative and the Traffic Impact Analysis pdfs.

Major highlights:

• Over the next 6-years or by 2022, an increase of approximately 370 students is projected for the Kirkland campus resulting in a total campus population of 1,600 students. In 20-years (2037), the campus student population is anticipated to increase by approximately 770 students for a total of approximately 2,000 students.
• 6 court tennis facility that will be a 50’ high building along 53rd Street, first item to be constructed
• 300 bed dorm addition
• Athletic Field Improvements including new AstroTurf and lighting(80’ tall, on until 9:30 at night) with New Field House and bleachers at the athletic fields. These fields will also be “rented out” to other sports teams. Traffic to enter/exit along 53rd Street.
• Additional new trips(cars traffic) per day from new students, tennis center and sports fields is 2,130 by 2022 and 3,820 by 2037, along 53rd Street and 108th Avenue. See Traffic Impact Analysis, page 29, Table 16

All comments to go to Senior planner, Tony Leavitt tleavitt@kirklandwa.gov

The 12K of Christmas map is below:

Sound Transit released its ST3 Draft Plan at its March 24 Board Meeting. While the overall plan includes plans for transit in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, there were some projects which will impact the Kirkland area:

• Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on I-405 from Lynwood to Burien
• An inline bus station at NE 85th and I-405
• Business Access Transit (BAT) lanes extending toward Downtown Kirkland from the station on 85th 
• New parking facilities at Kingsgate
• An environmental study to examine HCT options from Bothell to Bellevue via Kirkland

The ST3 Draft Plan does not include funding for construction of High Capacity Transit (HCT) on the Cross Kirkland Corridor. 

There is an open comment period from now until June when the elements for the November ballot measure will be finalized. You can send your comments to the Sound Transit Board via the Sound Transit ST3 website or by sending email to the Sound Transit Board or by calling 206-903-7000. 

The Kirkland City Council will receive an update and discuss the draft plan at its regular meeting on Tuesday April 5.

Draft plan documents from the March 24 meeting follow:

Google hopes you can join them at an exciting event! They'd love to have folks from the neighborhood join us as we officially open the new building.

Space is limited, so please ask those who wish to attend to RSVP here.
​

Happy New Year to all!
 
We will not be having a meeting tonight, Jan 6th.
Our next meeting will be on Wed, Feb 3rd, 7pm at Fire Station 22.
We will be having elections during this meeting.
 
Elections
We are really interested in getting new neighbors to run CHNA. We are looking for candidates for all positions: Chair, Secretary and Treasure.  Those who have been in these positions in the past are happy to support you. If you are interested, please send back an email response and/or come to the February meeting. 2016 is a great year to get involved!
 
Transit on CKC
1) Kirkland officials host Jan. 11 community update on Sound Transit 3 candidate projects - the City of Kirkland is hosting a second community update on high capacity transit candidate projects that are being considered by Sound Transit as part of the ST3 ballot measure. The City’s public event will be held on Monday, January 11, 2016 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, 11605 132nd Avenue NE, Room W404. Sound Transit officials will present basic information regarding three candidate projects (PDF) that propose high capacity transit to serve Kirkland:

• Candidate Project E-02/Bus Rapid Transit on I-405 in the Express Toll Lane from Lynnwood to Renton
• Candidate Project E-03/Light Rail Transit along the Eastside Rail Corridor from Kirkland/Totem Lake to Issaquah via Bellevue; and
• Candidate Project E-06/Bus Rapid Transit on the Eastside Rail Corridor from Kirkland to Bellevue.

2) Save Our Trail Urges all to Sign Petition - Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC) would destroy the ambiance and peace of this parkland treasure for walkers and bicyclists, and would significantly increase safety risks for them and school kids. These issues have been widely discussed in local media.

What has NOT BEEN DISCUSSED is much more important to the average Kirkland resident who does not personally use or live on the Corridor: namely, the COST vs. the BENEFIT of Sound Transit’s proposed ST3 Option E-06 (BRT on the CKC), compared to Option E-02 (BRT on I-405), which SaveOurTrail.org emphatically endorses. Here’s why:
 
Based on Sound Transit’s own statistics and projections for the two projects, as shown graphically in the attachment:

• BRT on 405 will cost 40% less to build per rider than BRT on the Trail 
• BRT on 405 will cost 38% less to operate per rider than BRT on the Trail
• BRT on 405 will move riders 22% faster than BRT on the Trail
• BRT on 405 will support 27% more riders than BRT on the Trail

On January 19th, the City Council will make a final decision on which of these alternatives to recommend to Sound Transit as part of its ST3 package on next November's ballot. Right now they are firmly leaning toward BRT on the Trail! Please contact them before January 11th and urge them to recommend BRT on 405, instead. Also, please sign the Save Our Trail Petition on change.org.  
 
NW University Master Plan
John Kappler has been working with the Mayor, the City Manager as well as Dr Castleberry, President of NW University on the update the University’s  Master Plan and “uses for the campus”. The recommendation is to have conversations go through the city manager’s office (a single point of contact) so everything can be easily disseminated through a city list serve email. This way everyone could see the whole process. Next CHNA meeting we hope to provide an update on the process as well as see if Dr. Castleberry can come to one of our meetings.
 
CERT
Margaret Bull has had a few conversations with NW University about using their campus as a meeting point for CERTs in Houghton during a disaster. It is more centrally located than Metropolitan Market for liaising. They have agreed to let us do this using either the cafeteria or the gym. Margaret is looking for other to join her to  look at these locations to see where we might meet and set up communications.
 
Patti Jean Hooper has been working with NW University to set up a Stone Soup arrangement there. NW University already has a generator on their campus that is owned by the city.  This is an exciting development in providing help to our neighborhood during a disaster. We will be called upon to help with the Stone Soup project. That is another good reason to change our meeting location to the college.
 
405 Toll Lanes
For those interested, there is a petition to stop tolling on 405 - Please pass legislation to stop tolling on I-405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood, restore the lanes to 2-person carpool lanes during the day and open to all at night and remove the double-lines for open access. To sign the petition, go to http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop405tolls
 
Please join us at the February meeting. We hope you consider running for a position on CHNA. We need your time and energy to address the topics above as well as Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center and the Neighborhood Safety Program.
 
Central Houghton Neighborhood Association (CHNA)
Find us on the web at http://www.houghtonlives.com 
And on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/centralhoughton 
 

​KIRKLAND, Wash. – The City of Kirkland is hosting a second community update on high capacity transit candidate projects that are being considered by Sound Transit as part of the ST3 ballot measure. The City’s public event will be held on Monday, January 11, 2016 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, 11605 132nd Avenue NE, Room W404. Sound Transit officials will present basic information regarding three candidate projects that propose high capacity transit to serve Kirkland:

• Candidate Project E-02/Bus Rapid Transit on I-405 in the Express Toll Lane from Lynnwood to Renton
• Candidate Project E-03/Light Rail Transit along the Eastside Rail Corridor from Kirkland/Totem Lake to Issaquah via Bellevue; and
• Candidate Project E-06/Bus Rapid Transit on the Eastside Rail Corridor from Kirkland to Bellevue. 

City officials will share its analysis of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal on the Cross Kirkland Corridor (Candidate Project E-06.) The informational presentation will be given at 6:30 to 7:30 and repeated from 7:45 to 8:45 p.m. City and Sound Transit staff will be available to answer questions in Room W401 throughout the event. 

The City is analyzing how high capacity transit could be designed to address concerns expressed by the Kirkland community such as access to the CKC, safety, noise, protecting sensitive areas and ensuring safety on the CKC.  The City also analyzed how BRT on I-405 could be designed to address basic access issues. General findings will be presented during the two informational presentations.  Sound Transit’s analysis of all of the candidate ST3 projects can be found at www.soundtransit3.org and select “Shaping ST3.” 

On December 4, 2015, Sound Transit released its analysis and project templates for each ST3 Candidate Project and is seeking technical input from the City of Kirkland regarding the three candidate projects located in Kirkland by January 21, 2016. The Kirkland City Council will be discussing its response letter to Sound Transit at its January 5 and January 19 Regular Meetings. 

For background on the City’s outreach efforts, go to www.kirklandwa.gov/ST3. For specific questions, please email ST3questions@kirklandwa.gov or contact the Public Works Department at 425-587-3800. 

Through March 2016, Sound Transit will continue to develop its Draft System Plan and will initiate a public involvement process in April 2016. The Sound Transit Board of Directors will approve the Final System Plan in June 2016 that will be presented to regional voters in the November 2016 General Election.(12.29.15)

Last weekend, fourteen hearty souls built new steps connecting the end of 55th street to the Cross Kirkland Corridor. The project was a collaboration between the local neighborhood and the City of Kirkland. The neighbors contributed the labor and purchased the building materials while the city, thanks to the effort of Kari Page, CKC Coordinator, did the preliminary excavation work, provided a site supervisor, and will install a metal handrail. The CKC has quickly become an important part of the neighborhood as a gathering place for exercise and friendship. It is wonderful to have safe steps to access the trail.

Kudos to our neighbors at 55th!

This is the report from the Save Our Trail Meeting as authored by Rob Butcher:

Thank you to the 50+ people who attended our Nov. 30 meeting at the Houghton Fire Station. We had a presentation and Q&A session with Deb Eddy, Eastside Rail Corridor Program Manager for the King County Council. We discussed next steps and how individuals, like you, can get involved and make a difference. Thank you to Deb Eddy for speaking to us as it is always good to hear from our government to better understand the impacts and implications governmental policies will have on us.


Several proposed themes were presented at this meeting and we have settled on one. We are keeping things simple and concise: Save Our Trail. This message is easy to remember and speaks to the widest audience. You may personally have additional arguments to make and we encourage you to do so.


1.  Next Meeting - Our next Save Our Trail meeting will take place December 14 at 6:00 pm at the Nytec Building (located on the trail at 416 Sixth Street South).

2.  Your Expertise is Needed - Is there any credible study (or could someone do one quickly) showing that E02's planned park-and-ride, side transit routes, and bike/walking connections to Kirkland's downtown, Park Place, Totem Lake and other employment and shopping centers would be better than Corridor BRT would provide? We hope so, especially considering the difficulty of creating park-and-ride facilities near the Corridor, vs. creating them near I-405. Please let us know if you or someone you know may be able to help.

3.  Community Meetings to Attend - Speak out during Items from the Audience at various public meetings held during the month of December. Here are a few suggestions:

• Attend your December neighborhood meeting
• Attend City Council special meeting December 8
  City Council Study Session & Special Meeting, Chamber
  Study Session, 6:00 p.m.
  Healthy Kirkland Initiative Update
  Special Meeting, 7:30 p.m.
  Rest of Agenda...
• Attend Houghton Community Council special meeting December 14 at 7:00 pm

4.  Get the word out - Communicate with your friends and neighbors and encourage them to learn more about this subject, speak at public meetings, write letters to the Sound Transit Board and the Kirkland City Council as well as letters to the editor. Get more details at http://saveourtrail.org/get-involved

5.  Help Wanted - We need YOU to step up and use your skills to organize, lead and coordinate efforts such as this. Contact us!

6. Print at Home Flyer - Save Our Trail flyers to print at home click here, http://saveourtrail.org/print-at-home-flyer.
Finally, some folks have requested yard signs and banner artwork. This project has been pushed out until our next meeting on Dec. 14 as we need to ensure that the messaging we have on our Save Our Trail banners is finalized before printing. We will have an update on Dec. 14.
​
Thank you for being involved in our city. 

Best,
Rob and Save Our Trail Team
www.saveourtrail.org