October 1-8 is Week Without Driving: a challenge where participants do their best not to drive themselves. Whether you walk, bike, ride transit, roll, carpool, or catch a rideshare, the goal is to get around without taking the wheel.

It isn’t always easy, but that’s the point. While Kirkland is making great strides in expanding transportation options, our community is still largely car-dependent. For the nearly 30% of our neighbors who can’t drive (including non-drivers with disabilities, youth, and seniors) that car dependency severely restricts mobility. Spending a week in their shoes is an eye-opening experience, and there are still a few days left to give it a try! If you do end up needing to drive, take a moment to reflect: “What would I have done if driving simply wasn't an option?” Would you have had to skip an errand, cancel an event, or pay for an expensive rideshare?

If you can snap some photos of your experiences this week finding an alternate way to get around, share them with us in the #photos channel in our Discord server!

Week Without Driving often overlaps with Harvest Festival here in Kirkland, so once again the Liveable Kirkland crew (both for our booth and for the bike valet) transported everything to the event with cargo bikes and trailers.

This year we set up the bike valet right next to the Liveable Kirkland booth and it was popping!

At peak capacity, the bike valet was packed with everything from road bikes and e-bikes to scooters and strollers. Convenient active transportation options help people get around easily and keep valuable parking spaces open for everyone else!

Staff will brief the Council on recommendations to implement citywide speed limit changes under the Kirkland Transportation Safety Action Plan. Proposals include:

Council will review a completed economic competitiveness study and a minimum wage white paper prepared by the consultant, ECOnorthwest. The economic competitiveness study highlights how Kirkland’s lack of a local Business and Operations (B&O) tax sets it apart from cities like Bellevue and Issaquah (Bothell and Redmond also lack a B&O tax). The minimum wage white paper shows how the minimum wage varies in different jurisdictions in Washington State:

A recent Op-Ed in The Urbanist calls on the City Council to raise the minimum wage, specifically by matching the King County minimum wage for unincorporated areas with a phase-in to allow businesses to adjust.

Earlier this year, the City Council approved purchasing the former LDS Church property located in the Evergreen Hill neighborhood, across from 132nd Square Park. This presented a rare opportunity to increase the amount of community center space in the city. However, the City has limited resources to devote to community programs, and will be focused on programming the new community center at the Kraken Iceplex in South Rose Hill for the next few years. 

Staff is suggesting that the City seek to lease out the property to a community organization for 2027 and 2028, and then transferring North Kirkland Community Center programming to the new property in 2029 and 2030 to allow NKCC to be renovated.

Staff are evaluating what community uses will be allowed on the property after it is acquired and zoned as “Park” as directed by Council. Staff will be identifying parties that provide allowed programs and are interested in leasing all or a portion of the building for community purposes for a period of approximately two years.

Staff is asking the City Council to formally take a vote on this topic to provide direction to Staff.

Staff will present a response to the Legislative Request Memos submitted by Councilmembers Falcone and Pascal in the August 5th City Council Meeting. Certain development standards, particularly lot coverage limits and tree removal restrictions, are different in the Holmes Point Overlay as compared to the rest of the city and are holdovers from before the area was annexed into Kirkland. 

Staff will present information about what regulatory changes could be considered and what city resources would be required. The City Council will then vote on how to proceed, possibly directing City Staff to return with code amendments at a future meeting.

PLANNING COMMISSION

The city is working on developing code updates that would allow a greater variety of home-based occupations and allow more kinds of stores and services to be located in residential zones. Allowing businesses to be closer to where people live can make it easier for residents to meet their daily needs, reduce driving distances, and create stronger communities.

Following a first look by both the City Council and Planning Commission, Staff will present the results of community engagement efforts (such as the survey that concluded last month) and staff research. Staff will also ask the commission for guidance on a number of topics so they can begin the process of drafting amendments to city code.

Discussion questions in the packet include:

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to gather public input on a batch of minor amendments to the city’s zoning code and municipal code. Staff tends to bundle up a batch of minor amendments once a year that would be too small to be worth considering on their own. 

The proposed code amendments largely aim to clarify existing practices, update outdated terms, fix oversights, and improve administrative processes.

The City of Kirkland is piloting a new event series called “Conversations With Council”, which are informal times you can chat with City Councilmembers about issues that matter to you. There are only three events left this year, so if you want to take advantage of it, we’ve included the dates and locations below. We encourage you to get to know our local leaders and make sure they know what issues you care about!

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!)

Additional stories, articles, and media for those who want a little more.