Today we’d like to highlight local usage of bikes to move things around, both here in the Puget Sound and up north in British Columbia.

First, let us introduce you to Cascade Bicycle Club’s Pedaling Relief Project (PRP). This is a six-year-old effort to bring food that would otherwise have gone to waste to people experiencing food insecurity using people on bikes. PRP operates in Seattle and Bellevue and delivers to Byrd Barr Place, the University District Food Bank, White Center Food Bank, Hopelink Bellevue Market, and Food Not Bombs.

They just hit an amazing milestone of having delivered over two million pounds of rescued food.

Second, Nic Laporte just put out a video about Victoria, BC — another Pacific Northwest City, where usage of cargo bikes has absolutely boomed. Why did this happen? Because the city made sincere efforts over the last decade to build out a connected all-ages-and-abilities (AAA) bike network that gives people a whole new way to get around.

Ready to make a visible difference? Liveable Kirkland is heading out for our ninth and tenth litter cleanup events, 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. 🧹

The Kingsgate cleanup will be first, on Saturday, November 21st from 10a - 12p and you can sign up for that one here.

The Juanita cleanup will be second, on Sunday, December 6th also from 10a - 12p and you can sign up for that one here.

Don’t worry about gear: the City of Kirkland provides everything we’ll need (pickers, vests, gloves, and bags). It’s a rewarding way to spend a morning outdoors with neighbors. Many hands make light work!

While we’ll need to wait for the final precinct level results to know how the initiatives officially did, here are the results for the votes counted by Election Night in Kirkland:

Budget Discussion and Public Hearing

Staff provided an update on the budget process, including changes to the proposal (usually based on new information) since the draft budget book was first published in late October. They also answered questions raised by Councilmembers at previous discussions. 

The draft budget assumes that the price of parking at the City’s pay lots will rise from $1 an hour to $2 an hour, and that parking will be paid during the summer at Juanita Beach Park and Houghton Beach Park. Parking rates were discussed further this year but the Council has not yet formally approved changes. Staff projects that the changes would result in a net increase of about $430k to both the Streets Fund and General Fund over 2027-28. After discussion, the City Council seems broadly in favor of the parking changes, though formal action will happen later.

The Council also discussed implementing the 0.01% sales tax authorized by ESHB 2442, which would go to funding services for families and children, such as childcare and shelter services. King County has implemented this already, so Kirkland taking action will not increase the sales tax in Kirkland, rather it will make the revenue go to Kirkland rather than the County. The City Council is supportive of implementing the tax locally.

Overall, the discussion items were fairly limited. Though there are details to be worked out, the City Council seems overall in favor of the proposal from the City Manager. Budget discussion will continue at the City Council’s November 17th meeting.

Minimum Wage Evaluation

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

Council directed staff to pursue a mix of options 2 and 4, specifically:

When staff come back to this discussion as part of the budget discussion they may propose adjusting the timeline after accounting for the resources the city has available.

Policies and Procedures Update

The City Attorney presented the updates to the City Council’s Policies and Procedures as described in the meeting packet in order to get feedback. The City Council approved of the updates to section 3.02 which update the description of how meeting agendas are set, bringing the language in line with current practice.

Councilmember Tymczyszyn’s amendment to invite other councilmembers to the agenda setting meeting on a rotating basis was also discussed. The Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Councilmember Arnold (former Deputy Mayor) felt that there wasn’t a need to formally codify this; if any Councilmember wants to attend the agenda setting meeting they are welcome to do so. Councilmembers Tymczyszyn and Falcone voted in favor of the amendment, but the other 5 members voted no.

Councilmember Tymczyszyn’s amendment to set an end time for City Council meetings was also discussed. He highlighted that 8 of the 19 City Council’s meetings so far this year went past 11 PM, and argued that this is a barrier to serving on the City Council. Other councilmembers agreed with the problem statement and goal, but felt that this solution may not be the right fit. The City Council voted 7-0 to discuss this issue further at their next Council Retreat before making any policy changes.

Station Area Naming

The City Council voted to name the 85th St Station Area as “The Forge District”. Staff will work with their hired consultants to develop branding and marketing materials in the coming months.

Since the last discussion, the Kirkland Heritage Society proposed “Kellett District” as an alternative, named after George Kellett who was a founding figure of Kirkland. Though it was not selected, Councilmembers expressed support for naming something else after Kellett.

Middle Housing Optimization

The Planning Commission will hold their first study session for the Middle Housing Focused Optimization project. The goal of this project is to make targeted zoning changes which are easy to implement and will encourage further middle housing development in Kirkland. More than half of the land in Kirkland is zoned as “low density residential”, so encouraging more units per lot instead of large single homes can make a big impact on the supply of homes in the city.

The Planning Commission suggested a scope for this project during the Planning Work Program process earlier this year, but the City Council had not formally discussed the scope until their October 20th meeting. The City Council affirmed the idea of the project, stressing the desire for quick, simple changes.

Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is one of the two main topics in this project. Staff has proposed 4 possible approaches:

Lot Coverage is the other main topic. The considerations and trade-offs are fairly similar to the options for FAR. Staff has proposed 3 possible approaches:

Lot Coverage in Kirkland also includes hardscape surfaces like driveways, parking stalls, patios and walkways, in addition to building footprints. Staff advises that there are situations where increasing lot coverage could simply result in more hardscape rather than more housing. Staff also notes that 60% is the typical lot coverage in medium density zones, which is a similar scale of development to a maximized middle housing project. Finally, staff notes that projects with higher lot coverage can lead to stormwater detention requirements taking effect, which are expensive. Small projects may not take advantage of increased lot coverage if it would require stormwater improvements, while large projects will need to build stormwater detention either way.

Staff found that Middle Housing projects on large properties are currently able to build to the maximum number of units while being within FAR and Lot Coverage limits, and so are recommending that these updates focus on properties that are 20,000 sq ft or smaller.

The City Council also expressed interest in code updates that would incentivize retaining existing homes during development, incentivize age-friendly homes, and general streamlining changes. Ideas from staff include:

The Planning Commission will discuss these possible approaches and state their preferences. Staff will then develop code updates based on their feedback for discussion at a future meeting.

Public Hearing: Annual Comp Plan Updates

The Planning Commission will also hold a public hearing regarding the annual amendments to Kirkland’s Comprehensive Plan. There are no policy changes in the amendments. 3 properties are having their land use designation changed to “Park” following their acquisition by the city for such purposes, the term “master plan” is being replaced by “implementation plan” for the Green Loop project in Finn Hill, and a reference to stormwater standards is being updated to specifically refer to the King County manual, which Kirkland already follows.

Cities are allowed to update their Comprehensive Plans only once a year. Annual updates are generally meant for routine changes, with major updates happening every 10 years. Kirkland’s Comprehensive Plan was re-done in 2024. There is also a 5-year check-in after each major update to evaluate progress on growth targets and other goals set during the 10 year update.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

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(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.