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July 19 Litter Cleanup: Join us!
Ready to make a visible difference? Liveable Kirkland is heading out for our fourth litter cleanup, and we’d love your help! We’ve officially adopted two stretches of road—one in North Juanita and one in Kingsgate—and it’s time to give them some TLC. 🧹
We’ll start at 10a at both sites and will probably finish around noon. Don’t worry about gear; the City of Kirkland provides everything you need (pickers, vests, gloves, and bags). It’s a rewarding way to spend a morning outdoors with neighbors. Many hands make light work!
CITY COUNCIL
Recap of the July 7th Meeting
Parking Pricing Study
Staff from Public Works presented a set of options for requiring people to pay to park in more areas of Kirkland for the purpose of increasing the number of people who can visit and to provide revenue.
Utilizing the fact that the city doesn’t charge for parking on Sundays but does on Saturdays, staff were able to show that there is more turnover of parking spots when the city charges for parking on Saturdays without meaningful impacts to parking occupancy rates.
Option 1 would raise the rate of Lake & Central and Lakeshore Plaza from $1 to $2 generating an estimated net annual revenue of $461,187/year.
Option 2 would add a $3 rate to the parking at waterfront parks during summer generating an estimated net annual revenue of $1,211,869/year. This parking is currently free.
Option 2A is the same as 2, but would only apply to Juanita Beach’s paved lot generating an estimated net annual revenue of $686,501/year.
Option 3 would add a $2 rate to downtown on-street parking, which is currently free. This option would generate an estimated net annual revenue of $439,570/year.
Option 4 would add a $2 rate to the municipal garage (connected to the Kirkland library), which is currently free. This option would generate an estimated net annual revenue of $497,300.
Many council members expressed concerns at this idea
Councilmember Falcone also asked staff to look at allowing Kirkland residents who qualify for the city’s low income support program to receive a discount.
Kraken Iceplex Lease
The City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 5740 to update legal agreements with Slapshot, Inc (owners of the Kraken) to keep financing and construction timelines on track. Due to contractor changes, the projected completion date of the Iceplex has been pushed from October 2027 to November 2027.
The City Council also unanimously adopted Ordinance 4944 to declare the access road to the former park and ride property as a public right-of-way. This was a necessary step for WSDOT to consider allowing cars to enter/exit the property at 116th Ave NE. However, the City still has to ask WSDOT for this permission, and WSDOT may not allow it. WSDOT controls the intersections around the on and off ramps for I-405, and highway traffic flow will be their top priority.
School Zone Flashing Beacons
Due to project costs, city staff offered the city council two options for the level of remote connectivity for new school zone flashing beacons:
Add remote connectivity only at the 8 existing school zone beacons at an initial cost of $544,000 and $39,000 every 10 years (Staff’s recommendation)
Add remote connectivity on all 26 new beacons at a cost of $598,000 and $127,000 every 10 years
Following a brief discussion, the city council directed staff to pursue Option 1.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Come out and get involved!
Jul 15 (weekly on Wed): Coffee Outside ☕
Drop by to meet neighbors and to enjoy a hot drink and a fresh-baked vegan muffin! Kids and dogs welcome.
7 - 9:30a · Kirkland Rotary Central Station
Jul 19 (weekly on Sun): ToDo’s Bike Garage 🚲
Work on bike maintenance and get advice!
Confirm via Insta or phone (323.926.8054) beforehand11a - 2p · 14151 123rd Ave NE
Jul 19: Litter Pickup Event 🗑️
Join us for our 4th Adopt-A-Road cleanup event for our roads in North Juanita and Kingsgate! Register here if you’d like to help out.
9 - 11a
Jul 20: Downtown Kirkland Meetup 🍺
Let's meet to eat, drink, hang out, and discuss the liveability of our city!
Jul 25: CKC Habitat Restoration Work Party
Help water newly-planted native species and weed out invasives in the green space near the picnic shelter (where we meet for Coffee Outside)!
9 - 11a · Kirkland Rotary Central StationAug 19: Urbanism Book Club 📕
This month’s Urbanism Book Club discussion is on Human Transit. Feel free to join for tacos beforehand at 5p at Taco Del Mar. No time to read a book? Come anyway!
6 - 7:30p · BookTree Kirkland
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Dylan snapped this photo of “Vlad and the Dads” kicking off the summer concert series at Feriton Spur Park
Join the conversation online!
Join Liveable Kirkland in a conversation about our city’s present and future! We have an active community on Discord and Facebook and we’d love it if you joined in too : )
(And if you add a picture you took to #photos on Discord it might get featured in next week’s issue!)
Until next week,
Liveable Kirkland