At its January 16 regular meeting, the Kirkland City Council adopted the zoning to implement the amended Comprehensive Plan for the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center (HENC) which was approved on December 12, 2017 (see discussion of Ordinance O-4629 starting on page 353 of the December 12 Council packet).  The adopted ordinance contains changes to the Zoning Map for the HENC, specifying the types of allowable land uses and requirements for development within the mixed-use neighborhood center. The ordinance and specific changes can be accessed here. With the adoption of the zoning changes, the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning are now in alignment. This was a major goal of the planning process.

A big thank you to all of the people that participated in the process. It is important to share your ideas with City staff, the Planning Commission, Houghton Community Council, City Council, and with each other. While the final Plan and Zoning do not fully meet the desires or fully address the concerns of many of the residents of the Central Houghton and Everest neighborhoods, the result is (in my opinion) much better than the zoning that was previously in place.

The next steps will be to work with the City Council to get funding for key transportation improvements and to monitor development applications for properties within the HENC. As development applications are submitted, we will work to alert people through this web site, our Facebook page, and as part of our monthly meetings (and associated agenda and notes). 

If you have any questions or want additional information please email us at:
centralhoughton@gmail.com

Larry Toedtli
President CHNA
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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.

​The notes from the November 14, 2017 Central Houghton Neighborhood Meeting are available below followed by Northwest University's presentation on the status of the update to their master plan.
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If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at:
centralhoughton@gmail.com​

At its meeting on November 8, the Kirkland City Council discussed the potential to provide incentives to allow increased building heights up to 5 stories (compared to the 3 stories in the Planning Commission recommendations) on the Menchie’s and PCC site (see white box on below map) if the developers fund construction of the southbound right turn lane from 6th Street S to westbound NE 68th Street. The City Council was split 3-3 (Councilmember Nixon was not in attendance).

You can watch the start of the staff presentation at the 2:05:50 time stamp of the video of the meeting (here). The City Council discussion starts at about 2:09:00 of the video. 

The Council will discuss the potential incentives again at their November 21 meeting when all seven members are expected to be present. 

​The City Council's schedule is to take action on the HENC Plan and associated zoning at its meeting on Tuesday, December 12 (the CHNA meeting will be held on Thursday December 14 because of the conflict with the City Council meeting).

The agenda for the November 14 CHNA meeting is provided below. In addition to topics related to the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center and 6th Street Corridor study, We will have a presentation and discussion with a representative from Northwest University on their proposed Master Plan.

​The CHNA Board also is proposing revisions to the Bylaws, which can be accessed in the files below. The files include a summary of the proposed changes which basically revise the Bylaws into how the organization currently operates (without dues and the structure for officers).  The current Bylaws require changes to the Bylaws to be approved by the membership (i.e. those in attendance at the meeting). The proposed revisions will allow 3/4 majority of the Board to revise the Bylaws.