Election Day is THIS TUESDAY November 3rd. There is still time to drop off your ballot - ballot boxes are open 24x7 until 8pm on Election Day. Check in with friends and family to make sure they have voted as well!

To eliminate the risk of your vote not getting counted due to mail processing changes, find a ballot drop box (there are now three in Kirkland!) to use instead of your mailbox, especially if you are voting close to election day.

Kirkland has officially launched its one-year Electric Equipment Pilot Program at Phyllis A. Needy Houghton Park, swapping out gas-powered gear for quieter, cleaner electric mowers, edgers, and blowers.

To support the transition and keep our neighborhood parks pristine, community members are gathering on Tuesday afternoons this fall for quick, fun manual leaf-raking sessions. Liveable Kirkland members who joined past sessions had a blast. In the first week, four volunteers cleared the entire area in just 23 minutes! Last week we also helped with the area adjacent to the street and did the whole space in 40 minutes.

If you’ve been looking for a low-barrier way to give back, connect with neighbors, and support sustainable park maintenance, we’d love to have you join us.

The proposed budget includes $150,000 to hire consultants to work on the Totem Lake Southern Industrial Subarea (SIS) Plan. However, the description of the item acknowledges that this may not be enough to complete the project. The SIS is along the Cross Kirkland Corridor, west of I-405 and south of NE 116th St. The area is predominantly light industrial, warehouse, and commercial uses today. The sub area plan could allow for more housing in the area, but that would likely replace some of the current uses. Losing these uses is a concern for some councilmembers, so it’s still not clear how much housing capacity the City Council is actually interested in allowing for here.

Back in 2022, the City was approached by a property owner in the SIS seeking a re-zone that would allow them to develop an apartment building project. The City Council evaluated the request during the Comprehensive Plan update which was completed in 2024. The City Council decided to expand the project to look at zoning and planning in this entire sub area, while the original request would have only affected properties owned by the requestor. The city received a grant that allowed for a visioning project in collaboration with BLOXHUB earlier this year. While some high-level concepts have been discussed, they were more focused on re-use and extension of the current development pattern of the area, and didn’t discuss zoning. Without a clear indication of how much housing the plan would allow for, it’s hard to say if the plan would be worth the money, staff time, and public meeting time required to finish it.

As part of council’s discussion on potentially raising Kirkland’s minimum wage staff will present council with four options:

Staff is recommending updates to Section 3.02 of the City Council’s policies and procedures, concerning how the agenda for council meetings are set. The current language of section 3.02 does not reflect the actual practice of the City Council today, and the updates will correct this mismatch.

The general process for setting an agenda is as follows:

Councilmember Tymczyszyn has also proposed two policy updates after reviewing Staff’s proposal. His first amendment would require City Council meetings to end at 11 PM, or 10:30 PM if there is a scheduled executive session, with any unfinished items being postponed. His second amendment would allow councilmembers other than the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to attend the agenda setting meetings on a rotating basis. This third councilmember would not be required to attend, and the amendment doesn’t appear to give them the right to revise the agenda.

Serving on Kirkland’s City Council is considered a part-time occupation, and many councilmembers have other work to do outside of city business. While late-running meetings can be challenging for these councilmembers, it’s worth noting that the Redmond and Bellevue City Councils generally meet 4 times a month, and serving on them is also considered a part-time occupation. The Kirkland City Council meets 2 times per month, and only once in August and December. Limiting meeting times may make it more difficult for the City Council to complete their agenda items.

Following discussion in their September 15th meeting, the City Council will decide on a name for the 85th St Station Area. This decision was postponed from the October 6th meeting due to the agenda running long.

Though no formal vote was taken during the previous discussion, “The Forge District” seemed to be the favored name. “The Rise District” also had positive reactions. “The Union District” brought concerns of confusion with Seattle (Lake Union, Union Station, Union St).

Developers have been slow to propose projects in the Station Area. Fulfilling the vision of the Station Area Plan continues to be a stated priority of the City Council, but there aren’t any plans for regulatory changes to help spur development. While there were some minor updates earlier this year, they don’t seem to have driven up developer activity. Naming the Station Area is a part of the broader plan to market the Station Area to developers and drum up interest, but the underlying zoning is slated to remain the same.

“Bikelash”, or backlash against bike lanes, can come as a reactionary response to the addition of bike and pedestrian infrastructure in places currently dominated by cars. This reaction happens despite the fact that creating viable alternatives to driving makes cities safer and improves mobility for all road users, not just drivers.

“Oh The Urbanity” on YouTube points out how this backlash takes a similar shape across different cities, with Lyon, France as an example. A common thread runs throughout: opponents usually fight these changes rather than advocate for specific improvements. The main takeaway is that we must build this infrastructure while the opportunity exists. Future opposition may react, but once communities use established bike and pedestrian infrastructure, decision-makers rarely remove it. Plans, on the other hand, are easy to cancel or postpone.

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.