Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting - November 19, 2024
Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting - November 19, 2024
The Kirkland City Council met on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, for a study session starting at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m., adjourning at 11:27 p.m. The meeting included a study session on the 2044 Comprehensive Plan, a public hearing on the 2025-2026 budget, and action on several resolutions and ordinances. The council also heard from numerous public speakers on various topics, including housing, transportation, and climate action.
Consent Calendar
- Approved 7-0 by voice vote. Items included approval of minutes from October 24, 2024 (special) and November 6, 2024; audit of accounts (payroll $4,955,617.15, bills $7,254,057.52); acknowledgment of a claim from Ana-Irina Springer; award of a construction contract for NE 73rd Street Watermain Replacement to SCI Infrastructure, LLC for $861,835.66; acceptance of a donation of real property adjacent to OO Denny Park from Daniel and Amy Wong via Resolution R-5657; acceptance of a 10-year covenant on the Kirkland Performance Center property via Resolution R-5658; acknowledgment of the Native American Heritage Day Proclamation (November 29, 2024), Tourism Development Committee 2025-2026 Funding Recommendations, 2024 Third Quarter Fire Department Dashboard, 2024 Second Quarter Financial Management Report, September 2024 Financial Dashboard Report, and Procurement Report; and declaration of surplus vehicles.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Study Session (5:30 p.m.): No public testimony during the study session.
- Regular Meeting (7:30 p.m.):
- Items from the Audience: Twenty individuals addressed the council on a range of topics. Speakers included Jennifer Loy (concerns about Caroline Woods Park management), Jack Stroud (senior housing and universal design), Paul DeVries (independent review of staff decisions and drainage issues), Bev Marcus (concerns about last-minute amendments to the Comprehensive Plan), Jennie Jaeger (urging more housing near transit), Kira Krimkevich (presented a petition with 4,136 signatures against neighborhood densification), Ken McKenzie (advocating focus on current residents and local interests), Alex Zimmerman (made offensive and hurtful remarks; the mayor reiterated the council's commitment to inclusivity and free speech while condemning the statements), Lisa Bereson (issues with school zone speed timing and traffic), Alex Fratila (advocated for walkable neighborhoods and opposed turning Houghton Park and Ride into an iceplex), Jill Stoddart (questioned the need for new land use designations and methodology for public input), and others.
- Public Hearing on 2025-2026 Budget: Speakers included Brady Nordstrom (Eastside Affordable Housing Coalition – expressed support for affordable housing investments but urged expansion), Debbie Lacy (Eastside for All – supported human services funding but noted only 50% of requests funded), Ron Snell (People for Climate Action Kirkland – advocated for heat pumps, weatherization, and EV charging in multifamily housing), Dave Cunningham (climate action – emphasized decarbonization and electrification), and Alex Zimmerman (again made offensive comments; hearing closed with written comments considered).
Discussion Items
- 2044 Comprehensive Plan Amendments: A lengthy discussion occurred during the study session and continued as a business item. Deputy Director Alison Zike presented staff-initiated amendments and councilmember-initiated amendments. Key topics included: defining growth areas (urban growth centers and neighborhood centers vs. 10-minute neighborhoods), the role of transit, language about “livable communities,” policies on parking minimums, faith-based housing, permanent supportive housing, and land use designations. Council members expressed varying positions, with some favoring more precision (e.g., Councilmember Black, Deputy Mayor Arnold) and others advocating for retaining broader language (e.g., Councilmember Falcone). No final votes were taken; direction was given to staff to refine language for the December 10 meeting.
- Preliminary 2025-2026 Operating Budget: Interim Financial Planning Manager Kevin Pelstring presented staff recommendations and amendments. The city manager proposed freeing up an additional $500,000 by delaying a matching fund reserve to 2027-2028, resulting in $1.2 million in unprogrammed general fund cash. Staff recommended allocating these funds to human services (Option C, partially) and increasing the public defender contract due to potential Supreme Court changes. Council expressed general support; final adoption set for December 10.
- 2025 Preliminary Property Tax Levy Adoption (Ordinance O-4890): Finance Director Michael Olson presented. Motion by Councilmember Sweet, seconded by Councilmember Falcone. Approved 7-0.
- Transportation Strategic Plan (TSP) Adoption (Resolution R-5660): Transportation Manager Doug McIntyre and Planner Kim Scrivner presented. Motion by Councilmember Pascal, seconded by Councilmember Falcone. Approved 7-0.
- 2025 State Legislative Agenda Adoption (Resolution R-5659): Government Relations Manager Diana Hart presented. Additions included support for a graduated REAT rate model and required equity analysis for traffic camera enforcement. Council agreed to direct staff to coordinate with the Department of Revenue regarding an equity analysis of business license late fees (option 2). Motion by Councilmember Black, seconded by Councilmember Sweet. Approved 7-0.
- Houghton Village Development Plan Briefing and City Council Annual Proclamation Calendar: Postponed to December 10.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: Approved 7-0.
- 2025 Preliminary Property Tax Levy (Ordinance O-4890): Approved 7-0.
- Transportation Strategic Plan (Resolution R-5660): Approved 7-0.
- 2025 State Legislative Agenda (Resolution R-5659): Approved 7-0.
- 2044 Comprehensive Plan Amendments: Discussion continued; no votes taken. Council directed staff to revise several policies and bring back for action on December 10.
- Executive Session: Removed from agenda by unanimous consent.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call the order to city council meeting of November 19th 2004. Council Member Timchison. Councilmember Black. Here. Councilmember Sweet. Here. Council Member Falcon. Here. Councilmember Poskell. Here. Council Deputy Mayor Arnold. Here. Mayor Curtis. Here. All right. Our study session tonight is on the 2044 comprehensive plan. We expect to reconvene our regular meeting at 7:30. City Manager. All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Deputy Mayor, members of Council, and the community. So we have the whole 90 minutes focused on the comprehensive plan discussion. Uh in the likely event. It might take us even longer than that. Want to let everyone know we have a business item set for later this evening. We also have the study session of the December 10th council meeting. We could also make available if we need to have further discussion, and then obviously final action on December 10th. So there's more time. And so here to lead you through that as Alison Zyke, our deputy director of planning and building. And she's joined by many other people from planning who'll be helping her throughout this process. So Alison. Thank you, City Manager, and good evening, Madam Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council members. We're very excited to talk with you tonight. We have many slides, but a lot of these are your slides. So we're gonna involve you in the presentation here a little bit and ask you to cover some of them with us. So we're gonna just recap a little bit what we heard the last time we talked to you on October 15th with that in that joint session with Planning Commission. We're gonna talk through several potential amendments, and these would be amendments to the planning commission recommended versions of each comp plan element. Some of these are staff initiated. This is based on what we we thought we heard from council, so we might be right on. We might need to talk further about what you did or didn't intend for us to do with your feedback from October 15th. So these staff initiated amendments are our attempt to try to get closer to council's intent on the comp plan policies. There's also several council member initiated amendments, and we have those noted on slides for you so that you can introduce uh your own amendments. Um you've received several comments in the last few days. Just wanted to acknowledge that. Um we've gotten um comments, some of them might be um holdovers that were previously or previously sent to planning commission, some of them are newer comments and have some um either support for comp plan elements, some of them express concern about certain uh proposed policies still or nomenclature of how we're talking about land use districts. Um, but want to acknowledge that some of these comments might tight might take some additional time for council to think through. Um so really quick back to October 15th. Um Planning Commission recommended elements gave you and what we thought we heard council want to emphasize was that we're focusing growth over the next 20 years and existing urban growth centers, existing neighborhood centers, and then continuing to focus on optimizing middle housing options outside of those centers and throughout uh residential neighborhoods in Kirkland. Um, as I already mentioned, um, we identified when we were hearing your feedback on October 15th, we identified several areas that seem to be areas of shared confusion or in need of clarification from council, and so a lot of the staff initiated amendments you'll be hearing tonight are our attempt to clarify what we heard was maybe universally or um uh there was consensus kind of confusion around those. And then we have your amendments as well.
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