Neighbors:
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Did you know that the Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC) runs more than 25 miles through King County? The former railway turned multi-purpose corridor connects the cities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Woodinville, and Redmond. To raise awareness about the corridor and celebrate its multi-purpose vision (trail, high capacity transit, and utility uses), we are beginning a naming and branding effort. Don’t worry, the Cross Kirkland Corridor and Redmond Central Connector names won’t change- we’re only considering renaming the Eastside Rail Corridor as a whole.  We want to hear from you! Please take a few moments to share your insights on the ERC.
 
Start this quick survey by clicking on this link
https://www.research.net/r/ERCBranding
 

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: