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).

Thanks to so many people participating in the Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center Comprehensive Plan and Zoning update process. The following summarizes what has happened since the March 23 public hearing at which several hundred attended and more than 40 people spoke and provided written comments to the City’s Planning Commission (PC) and Houghton Community Council (HCC). 

The public hearing was just the start of the discussions on what will ultimately be adopted by the City Council. The following summarizes the meetings that have be held, where the PC and HCC have landed on major topics, and the next steps. 

You still have opportunities to provide input to the City Council as it takes up the discussion on June 6. More direction on that is provided below.

Since the March 23rd meeting, the HCC and PC have discussed and deliberated on recommendations for the HENC Comprehensive Plan amendments and associated changes to the City zoning code at several meetings:
•    HCC – March 27 
•    PC – April 13 
•    HCC – April 24
•    PC – May 11
•    HCC – May 15
•    PC – May 25
In addition, the City’s Design Review Board (DRB) met Monday May 22 to discuss staff’s proposed Design Guidelines for the HENC, as well as input from the HCC and PC.

The packets and information from all the previous PC and HCC meetings can be found at the following webpages:

Current Recommendations for HENC Plan Amendments and Zoning
Following the public input and several rounds of deliberations, the PC and HCC have agreed on many of the key items for the HENC. However, there are a few items where the HCC and PC do not fully agree. Because the HCC has the authority to potentially veto the Plan and zoning changes for the Houghton area (south of NE 68th Street) the PC and HCC have gone back and forth to resolve any differences. The HCC has identified one policy/code change that they indicated they would strongly consider vetoing the Plan/zoning for. They also identified several other items that they want passed on to the City Council for consideration, should the PC not support. These agreements and disagreements for the major items for the Plan and zoning are summarized in the table at the end of this post. The table references the three subareas of the HENC. These are described and shown below.

How Can You Add to the Discussion with the City Council?
The City Council will receive the recommendations of the PC and HCC at a Study Session at its June 6 meeting. The Study Session is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm, with the regular meeting starting at 7:30 pm. You can provide input to the City Council up to the date they take final action to approve the Plan amendments and associated zoning changes. We do not know when the City Council will take action on the HENC, so the sooner you get your comments in, the better.
Your input to the City Council should focus on the proposed Plan and zoning changes because that is what they will be addressing in their meetings. You should let the City Council know what PC and HCC recommendations you support and which ones you don’t. It’s always good to provide at least a brief reason as to why you support or disagree with the PC and/or HCC recommendations. 

Your letter or email should reference the project name and number:

Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center, Permit Number CAM16-0274

​The following provides the City Council’s email addresses. You should also copy Angela Ruggeri, Senior Planner. If you want to you also can copy the Planning Commission and Houghton Community Council.

• City Council: citycouncil@kirklandwa.gov
• Angela Ruggeri: aruggeri@kirklandwa.gov
• Planning Commission: planningInfo@kirklandwa.gov
• Houghton Community Council: HoughtonCouncil@kirklandwa.gov

Please contact us at centralhoughton@gmail.com if you have any questions about the current HENC recommendations, City Council review process, or about submitting comments to the Council.

Houghton Everest Neighborhood Center Zoning Districts

​•    HENC 1 – this includes the core commercial area of the HENC, including the Metropolitan Market/Bartell Drug site, Starbucks, Bank of America, PCC site, Shamiana, Menchie’s, Teriyaki Madness, and the offices north of NE 68th Street and east of the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC).

•    HENC 2 – covers the existing apartments between the CKC and 
106th Avenue NE. The HENC 2 site originally included two additional parcels south of the boundary shown in the graphic. These two properties (shown in light green) are owned by the City of Kirkland and were deleted from the HENC 2 zone during the course of the PC/HCC review.

•    HENC 3 – includes properties immediately east of 6th Street S/108th Avenue NE. The existing 7/11, dry cleaners, and Shell service station are part of HENC 3. The parcel immediately east of the 7/11 and dry cleaners is also included in HENC 3.

•    Other areas – the existing PR 3.6 zone area including the Northwest University office building and other offices east of the Shell station are part of the planning study area but are not included in the special zoning districts.