Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting – April 15, 2025
Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting – April 15, 2025
The Kirkland City Council convened on April 15, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. for a study session and at 7:30 p.m. for the regular meeting. The meeting included a study session on transportation impact fees and an update on the Iceplex and Community Center proposal, followed by a regular meeting with proclamations, public comments, a public hearing, consent calendar, and several business items. All votes were unanimous (7-0) unless noted.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of the April 1, 2025 regular meeting.
- Acknowledged claims for damages from Vahe Ghazarov, Henry Macanas, and Woodroe Parker.
- Adopted Resolution R-5677, relinquishing city interest in unopened right-of-way to Alex and Jacquline Kang.
- Acknowledged resignation of Human Services Commissioner Gildas Cheung, authorized a letter of recognition, and appointed alternate Shannon Quinn.
- Acknowledged resignation of Planning Commissioner Bria Heiser, authorized a letter of recognition, and appointed alternate Julia Nolan.
- Acknowledged the February 2025 Financial Dashboard Report and Procurement Report.
- Proclaimed April 2025 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (Deputy Mayor Arnold provided remarks).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jackie Beck (virtual): Urged the council to consider making the Houghton Park and Ride a permanent lighted multi-purpose park, noting the current high usage for pickleball, biking, and community gardens. She expressed support for a synthetic turf mini-version of the 132nd Square Park.
- Nives Stanfelj: Described two near-miss traffic accidents on 108th Avenue NE and urged the council to advise Metro to implement the RapidRide K-line without adding bus lanes on that residential street, citing safety concerns.
- Ross Klinger: Criticized automated school zone speeding cameras, claiming they issue tickets 30 minutes before school dismissal when no children are present. He proposed a Bitcoin strategic reserve for Kirkland to fund community projects and reduce reliance on fines.
- Bea Nahon: Raised concern about the state Supreme Court's Antio decision, which expands B&O tax to entities with investment income over 5% of total income, potentially affecting retirees, IRAs, 401(k)s, trusts, and nonprofit organizations. She urged the council to support amending HB 2081 and SB 5815 to limit scope creep.
- David Haynes: Called for sustainable, non-toxic alternative energy, 21st-century housing designs, and questioned the impact fee consultant's car-centric approach. He also urged the council to negotiate with the Kraken for a pool in the Iceplex project and to consult with the NHL commissioner.
- Kyle Sullivan: Expressed gratitude for the city's actions on sustainability, housing, and transportation. He announced his new role as a light rail electromechanic for King County Metro and encouraged community engagement.
- Belle Marlar (Sustainability Ambassadors): Reviewed the Bus Bingo challenge rules, emphasizing the importance of public transit for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the city's sustainability goals.
- Alex Tsimerman: Made comments critical of the city's approach to housing affordability and development, referenced the Bellevue City Council selection process, and expressed support for President Trump. Mayor Curtis issued a statement that the council does not condone hurtful or offensive comments.
Discussion Items
- Extension of Planned Action Ordinance and Development Agreement for Parkplace (Kirkland Urban): Senior Planner Tony Leavitt presented a staff recommendation to extend the PAO and development agreement for five years (to June 1, 2030) to allow completion of the East Phase. Public testimony was heard from Mark Rowe (Google – in support of a simple date extension), Alex Tsimerman (critical of large corporations), and Ken MacKenzie (supported a shorter 1-2 year extension). No action was taken; the item will return on May 6, 2025.
- 2025-2027 Planning Work Program Adoption: Deputy Director Allison Zike presented a substitute resolution with three amendments: (1) adding a check-in with council on the permit dashboard; (2) removing “public, nonprofit, and/or” from Task 19; (3) changing “could be expanded to” to “will also” in Task 24. Council discussed permit review streamlining, Totem Lake Subarea, and project timing. The substitute resolution was approved 7-0.
- 2026-2031 King County EMS Levy Resolution: Fire Chief Joe Sanford and King County Deputy Director of EMS Helen Chatalas briefed the council on the proposed countywide levy (25 cents per $1,000 assessed value over six years). The levy would fund Medic One, paramedic services, and basic life support. Council expressed gratitude and approved Resolution R-5679 7-0.
- Draft Fire and Park Impact Fee Review: Financial Planning Manager Kevin Pelstring presented proposed code changes, including adjusting the maximum fire impact fee calculation for attached ADUs and policy options for ADU/DADU exemptions. Council discussed two options: (1) exempting ADUs under 800 square feet; (2) phasing in fees over 2025-2027. Council provided direction to staff to bring back language combining both options for adoption in May. Councilmember Sweet suggested exempting all ADUs up to 1,200 square feet and extending the phase-in timeline. Staff will also consider a broader phase-in for all impact fee increases.
- Homelessness Continuum of Care Action Plan: Deputy City Manager James Lopez reported on community engagement, noting broad agreement that homelessness is a problem and the city has a role. Key themes include building trust through transparency, prevention, outreach, and regional coordination. Council approved Resolution R-5680, removing the April 30, 2025 deadline and directing the city manager to transmit the plan in calendar year 2025 (7-0).
- 2025 Legislative Session Update: Government Affairs Manager Diana Hart provided an update on the 105-day session, including progress on bills for REET flexibility, EPR (recycling reform), PRIA alignment, and the controversial parking minimum bill. She noted that the rent stabilization bill was amended to 10% + inflation. Council discussed the potential impact of the parking bill on Totem Lake and downtown projects.
- Appointment of Interview Selection Committee (ISC): Three councilmembers were drawn by lot to serve on the ISC for the Cultural Arts Commission youth recruitment: Mayor Kelli Curtis, Councilmember John Tymczyszyn, and Councilmember Neal Black. Mayor Curtis recommended conducting interviews virtually for youth candidates; no objections were noted.
Key Outcomes
- Transportation Impact Fees: Council asked staff to provide additional data on fee impacts for smaller dwelling units, explore options for reduced fees in urban centers (Totem Lake, 85th Street) and for senior housing, and return with final recommendations.
- Iceplex and Community Center: Staff will continue evaluating the single RFQ proposal from Seattle Kraken/Generator Studio and will return to council with a recommendation on whether to proceed. The city is also negotiating a ground lease, development agreement, and operating agreement. The temporary Houghton Park and Play amenities (pickleball, bike track, skate park) are being surveyed for relocation to Peter Kirk Park, Terrace Park, and other locations.
- 2025-2027 Planning Work Program: Adopted via Substitute Resolution R-5678 (7-0).
- King County EMS Levy: Council approved Resolution R-5679 (7-0), placing the levy on the November 2025 ballot.
- Fire and Park Impact Fees: Staff will bring a final ordinance incorporating council direction on ADU exemptions (under 800 sf and phased fees) for adoption on May 6, 2025.
- Homelessness Continuum of Care Action Plan: Resolution R-5680 approved (7-0), extending the deadline to 2025. A draft plan is expected in June, with final adoption in the fourth quarter.
- Artificial Turf Lot Coverage: Council approved a Legislative Request Memorandum (LRM) for staff to provide options for how permeable artificial turf is calculated under KZC 115.90 (7-0).
- Affordable Housing Opportunity: City Manager Kurt Triplett announced an opportunity to purchase the View Apartments (200 units) via Bridge, with a $20 million grant from the Amazon Equity Fund. The city would contribute $10,000 from the affordable housing fund. Council expressed support and requested a future presentation.
- Meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of April 15, 2025. Welcome to spring, everyone. What a glorious day. Before the roll is called, I'd like to note that Councilmember Black is joining us remotely this evening. City Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Tim Chism. Councilmember Black. Here. Councilmember Sweet. Here. Councilmember Falcone. Here. Councilmember Pascal. Here. Deputy Mayor Arnold. Here. Mayor Curtis. Here. Our study session tonight is on two items. First, we'll have a briefing on the preliminary results of the transportation impact fee study. Second, we'll receive an update on the IcePlex and Community Center proposal. We expect to reconvene our regular meeting at 7 30. City manager. Okay, thank you, Madam Mayor. So as you mentioned, uh the first item is the discussion of our transportation impact fees. This is our first check-in on this. There's a business item later tonight on fire and park impact fees for discussion. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to our financial planning manager, Kevin Pelstring, who's going to walk you through it and introduce our special guests. Good evening, Madam Mayor. Uh Deputy Mayor, City Council. Thank you, City Manager. So tonight we have uh like City Manager mentioned, we have the uh preliminary results of the third of our trilogy of impact fees, the transportation impact fees. Uh we have uh two different impact fee related um items on the agenda tonight. We have first the study session specifically on the transportation results, uh, and then later on the on the regular business agenda we have um a update and draft code language for the fire and park impact fees where we'll bring forward some um some options for how to handle uh ADUs as well as an update on some of the calculations for the fire maximum fees. Um so we tonight or for the study session we have our uh expert crew of um of consultants um from FCS group uh which is a Bowman company. Uh so we have John Gilladucci, uh Doug Gabbard, and we have Luke um Luke Nelson here tonight. Um so we have about 20, 25 slides to go through um on the study session, and I'll pass it off to them to start and we're happy to answer any questions along the way. Great. Thank you, and welcome everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um I will go through the background. You can go to the next slide, please. Uh the background fairly quickly so we can get right into a summary of the analysis, and Doug will be doing that uh heavy lifting, but we'll touch on the key characteristics of impact fees, the statutory basis, then the calculation and resulting fee schedule. We'll talk about scaling as we did with parks and fire, and then we've got some uh comparables for you to look at as well. So as you are well familiar, impact fees are the one-time fees paid at the time of new development by new development, uh in some cases redevelopment when it is intensifying its use and demand or impact on your systems. They are available for streets, parks, uh, fire, and schools. Uh they can be used only for capital projects, and we calculate them based on the cost of capital projects. They are intended to represent a share of system facilities and not specific project related facilities. Next slide, please.
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