We have a small but dedicated group of volunteers that run a Bike Valet at various events throughout Kirkland. Volunteers tag each bike as they come in, watch over them during the event, and return each bike to their rider when they’re ready to leave. Bike Valet makes it easy to enjoy Kirkland events without having to drive - or lock up!

There are more events we’d like to have Bike Valet at, but we need more volunteers! Specifically, we need help for:

If you’re interested in helping, there are sign-up instructions on our website. You can also get more info by posting in the #bike-valet channel of our Discord server, or sending an email to [email protected].

Tool Library

The City received just one proposal for its Request for Proposals (RFP) to create and operate a tool library in Kirkland: The Eastside Tool Collective (ETC). The Eastside Tool Collective will be a 501(c)(3) with Penny Sweet (former Kirkland Mayor), Judy Nguyen (volunteer at the Shoreline Tool Library), Jonathan Heuer (Board Chair of the Kirkland Community Foundation), and Kurt Dresner (co-founder of Liveable Kirkland and early proponent of the tool library initiative). The tool library will operate on a membership model with a pay-what-you-can sliding scale (with $80 as the standard suggested annual donation).

ETC has proposed two options for siting the tool library:

The City Council will give staff direction on how to proceed now that the city has received the ETC proposal.

If you’re interested in more updates as the project progresses, the ETC has a newsletter as well.

Housing on Faith Owned Land

City Council will receive a briefing on code amendments to allow additional housing on land owned by faith-based organizations. This is in response to recent State law which requires cities to set up this type of regulation. The Planning Commission asked to go straight to a public hearing with these code updates, but the City Council has requested to have a briefing first.

Under the proposal from City Staff, housing projects where at least 50% of the units are set aside for households at or below 80% of Area Median Income, or where 20% of units are set aside for households at or below 50% AMI would be subject to alternate setback, lot coverage, and height limits. In a low density zone, this would allow development equivalent to a medium density zone. Staff pointed out that low and medium density zones often border each other, so this isn’t a dramatic change.

The updates would also encourage retaining existing buildings by exempting them from lot coverage requirements, freeing up that capacity to go to building homes elsewhere on the property. Also, projects that provide more than the required number of affordable homes can request additional building height beyond the capacity described above.

BLOXHUB Visioning in Totem Lake

Staff will brief the City Council on the outcome of the visioning collaboration between the City, BLOXHUB, and stakeholders in the Totem Lake Southern Industrial Subarea. The goal of the project was to envision what re-development could look like in this area, which is within the Totem Lake Regional Growth Center, west of 405, and bisected by the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

As we previously reported, much of BLOXHUB’s report looks at what it would be like to re-use the existing warehouse structures, or build new structures attached to them (i.e. homes on the roof). It also discusses placemaking, wayfinding, green space, and identity. 

While the report does offer many compelling concepts, it is quite different from the request that led to the City undertaking this visioning. In 2022, the City received a Community Amendment Request (CAR) from a property owner in the area, seeking allowances to build up to 1,200 homes across five parcels, with much higher heights. During the Comprehensive Plan process, the City Council first asked staff to look at performing a similar level of upzoning throughout the entire subarea, leaving the CAR un-decided. Later on, Councilmember Pascal asked for a Subarea Plan to be developed, increasing the scope of the project beyond that of an upzone, and a policy was added to the adopted Comprehensive Plan. The policy shifts the focus of planning efforts in the area more towards maintaining existing commercial and light industrial capacity, but allowing housing “where appropriate”.

Put another way, increasing housing supply in this area has been discussed for 4 years, but it’s still unclear how much will be allowed, or where it will be. It’s still possible for the City to allow more intense housing development in certain parcels, as was originally requested in 2022, while maintaining existing uses elsewhere. But what will happen is still up in the air, and the subarea plan as currently described still needs a substantial amount of time and city resources to develop.

Do you know what to do if you see ICE in our community? Indivisible Eastside has partnered with other groups to develop training for this, and will be hosting an in-person training in Kirkland for the first time next week.

Wednesday, August 12
7 – 8:30pm
Register for address:
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisibleeastside/event/982569/

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!)