Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting – September 16, 2025
Kirkland City Council Regular Meeting – September 16, 2025
The Kirkland City Council met on September 16, 2025, for a study session and regular meeting. Key actions included ratifying an emergency proclamation for King County's Eastside Interceptor repair, adopting code amendments for co-living housing, and approving miscellaneous zoning amendments including an artificial turf exemption.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of September 2 and September 8, 2025.
- Acknowledged audit: payroll $4,740,694.98 and bills $4,204,481.83.
- Acknowledged claims for damages from Devin Ott (Zorko Electric Inc employee), Marites Rafanan, Leslie Seeche, and Vela Apartments.
- Proclaimed September 29 – October 5 as Week Without Driving in Kirkland.
- Approved a fiscal note of $440,145 using one-time money to fund 2.0 Full-Time Employees through 2026 to support early actions in the Homelessness Continuum of Care Action Plan.
- Approved Resolution R-5694 allocating the city's portion of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for 2026.
- Acknowledged the 2024-2025 Teen Traffic Court Annual Report, 2025 Second Quarter Automated Safety Camera Program Update, Police Animal Services Report, Police Dashboard Report, July 2025 Financial Dashboard Report, and Procurement Report.
- Motion to approve the consent calendar carried 7-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jessica Roe (attorney with McCullough Hill) spoke on behalf of clients (the Reaves) in support of fully exempting artificial turf from lot coverage, citing improved turf technology and consistency with Bellevue and Redmond codes.
- David Griffin (Kingsgate resident) urged upholding ethical standards for city employees and encouraged community dialogue; also raised issues with waste management dumpster damage.
- Anton Tseytlin (Juanita resident) requested speed cameras, increased police presence, and sidewalk improvements on 124th Street NE and 100th Avenue NE, citing excessive speeding and unsafe pedestrian conditions.
- Murray McKinney (Highlands resident, third appearance) presented petition G-25-246 signed by over 128 Highlands residents demanding restoration of previous water pressure levels. He criticized the city for ignoring a 2019 consultant warning that combining pressure systems would reduce pressure to ~30 PSI, and noted a resident's fire protection system no longer functions. He requested accountability and an engineering solution.
- Loita Hawkinson provided historical context for Kirkland neighborhoods, opposing any possible discontinuation of neighborhood associations.
- Liz Hunt (public comment) raised two concerns in the miscellaneous code amendments: (1) a change that would allow neon signs in windows to be exempt from regulation, potentially affecting residential areas; (2) lack of public notice for permanent supportive or transitional housing developments, asking how neighbors can obtain that information.
- David Haines (virtual, Juanita resident) complained about road rage and loud exhaust pipes late at night, advocated for a rapid bus line between Totel Lake and Kirkland, and called for federal funding to address homelessness.
- Joshua Walter (Highlands resident) noted his home has only 5.4 PSI dynamic water pressure, which risks premature water heater failure and inadequate fire hydrant flow for fire trucks.
- Rosie and Brandon Bennett (Everest area) complained about excessive motorcycle racing noise on I-405 between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., requesting enforcement.
Discussion Items
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King County Wastewater Treatment Division Emergency Exemption Request: Deputy Director Sarah Olson presented an urgent repair of the Eastside Interceptor (84-inch concrete pipe, 1960s) under the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC). Leaking joints and soil instability risk structural failure; a pipe burst could release up to 20 million gallons/day of untreated wastewater into Lake Washington via Houghton B1 stream. King County will install a 3,000-foot above-ground bypass (18-inch HDPE pipe), requiring a full CKC closure from September 29 for two weeks, then a reduced-width reopening (5 feet) for 6-8 weeks of joint repairs. Eight pumps will run 24/7 with sound attenuation. Detour routes via Lake Washington Boulevard will be signed. The city issued a notice to proceed with conditions. Councilmembers emphasized robust communication and traffic safety. Resolution R-5695 ratifying the emergency proclamation was adopted 7-0.
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Adoption of Code Amendments for Co-Living Housing to Comply with State Law (Ordinance O-4912): Senior Planner Martha Rubardt explained state House Bill 1998 requires co-living housing (lockable sleeping units with shared kitchens) to be permitted on lots where 6+ units could be developed, within 1/4 mile of major transit stops. Two Sound Transit Stride bus stops on I-405 qualify. Staff recommended minimum compliance: new Chapter 111 in the zoning code, counting co-living units as 1/4 dwelling unit for density, hybrid parking rate compliant with state parking bill, exemption from affordable housing requirements. Public comments supported the approach. Council adopted O-4912 7-0.
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Adoption of 2025 Miscellaneous Code Amendments Relating to Zoning and Land Use (Ordinance O-4913): Deputy Director Allison Zike presented the annual package of ~25-30 minor amendments. A council-directed change from May 20, 2025 to increase artificial turf exemption from 50% to 75% of lot coverage was included, based on Planning Commission recommendation after a public hearing on August 28. Councilmembers Neal Black and John Tymczyszyn proposed an amendment to fully exempt artificial turf (100% exemption). Debate centered on whether the regulation was aesthetic or environmental; supporters argued lack of demonstrable environmental harm and alignment with neighboring cities, while opponents cited unknown microplastic and ecological impacts. The amendment passed 5-2 (Mayor Curtis and Councilmember Falcone opposed). The amended ordinance then passed 7-0.
Key Outcomes
- Petition G-25-246 (Upper Highlands Water Pressure): Accepted and referred to staff for follow-up (7-0). Staff will meet with residents on September 29 and present an update at a study session tentatively scheduled for October 21. A motion to bring a fiscal note to the October 7 meeting to fund expedited solutions passed 7-0.
- Resolution R-5695 (Emergency Proclamation for King County's Eastside Interceptor Repair): Approved 7-0. City will coordinate communications and detour safety.
- Ordinance O-4912 (Co-Living Housing Code Amendments): Adopted 7-0, effective immediately.
- Ordinance O-4913 (Miscellaneous Code Amendments): Adopted 7-0 as amended. The amendment to fully exempt artificial turf from lot coverage passed 5-2.
- Executive Session: Council entered executive session at 10:01 p.m. to review the performance of a public employee and discuss potential litigation (RCW 42.30.110(1)(g) and (i)(iii)), exiting at 10:20 p.m. to adjourn.
Meeting Transcript
Hello, everybody. I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of September 16th, 2025. We have a little bit of an echo in here. Councilmember Black here, not IT. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Tim Chisholm. Here. Councilmember Black. Here. Councilmember Sweet. Councilmember Falcone. Here. Councilmember Pascal. Here. Deputy Mayor Arnold. Here. Mayor Curtis. Here. All present. Thank you. Gives us a certain amount of gravitas. All right. Our study session tonight is on two items. First, we will receive an overview of the Kirkland Municipal Court. Second, we will receive an update on the Kirkland Fire Mobile Integrated Health Program. We expect to reconvene our regular meeting at 7 30. City manager. Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Deputy Mayor, members of the council. So yes, this is our first of our overviews of the Kirkland municipal court. This was a uh city council city work program item. We have two special guests here tonight, our municipal court presiding judge, uh Judge John Olson, and also our court administrator Aaron Wheeler, who has recently appointed, has been with the court for 25 years, so she has got all the knowledge in the back. So uh tonight, as for the our two guests to provide an overview of the court or interested in questions and any follow-ups that you want to have at the future sessions. You saw in the council packet, the sort of order of sessions that are coming up in the future, which will be more specific about other topics. But at the very end of this, we're also if you have any thoughts on those topics that you want to give to us as well. Staff and the court can be better prepared to discuss those in the future. So we have about an hour reserved for this topic and then half an hour for the second topic, so I'll keep an eye on the clock. Um with that, I would like to turn over to the honorable John Olson. Thank you. Thank you for having us here. Um Aaron and I have been uh talking about this and and trying to come up with something. It took me I don't know, three months to figure out that uh slides aren't the right way to do this. These these aren't uh these aren't memos that uh we need to work with. So we're gonna do a little bit better job next time, and that that's on me. Um as Kurt said, Aaron was hired to uh replace Tracy a couple months ago. Yes, yeah, so it was a it was a great process. We had uh a number of city uh police, uh, other people from HR uh participating in the interview process. Aaron did great and uh was a unanimous choice to select her, and we made a choice we made the decision uh within minutes of of the interviews being over. She just really did a good job.
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