OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Meeting - January 13, 2022

Planning Commission — Thursday, January 13, 2022
BodyKirkland, Washington
SessionPlanning Commission
DateThursday, January 13, 2022
StatusFILED
Video Record
Meeting Thumbnail
⇩ GET FROM SOURCE

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

Okay, thanks.

0:11

Okay, we're live.

0:14

Thank you.

0:16

All right.

0:17

Can you take roll, please?

0:20

Gotcha, Alan.

0:22

Carter Bay.

0:23

Here.

0:24

Scott Rice here.

0:25

Here.

0:26

Angela Rosman.

0:27

Here.

0:28

Rodney Registered.

0:29

Here.

0:31

And John Tim Chusin.

0:33

Here.

0:34

Thanks.

0:35

Does anybody have the photo on their virtual background that they can email me?

0:40

Yeah.

0:43

To your personal email or my personal one's fine.

0:47

Looks like I lost the looks like I lost an image or something.

0:55

I don't know what's going on.

0:57

You know what?

0:58

If some I I think this is the right one.

1:00

I have a couple of waterfront ones.

1:02

Nope, that's not right.

1:03

If somebody else, nope, there it is.

1:06

I think I have to look at what.

1:09

Yep, that's the same background.

1:11

Okay, I can send it to you.

1:14

And then our agenda today is the bridal trail study session and miscellaneous code amendments.

1:28

So if anyone wishes to speak for items from the audience, if you could raise your hand.

1:38

Otherwise, Jesse Clausen.

1:43

I was gonna go after Jeremy and Richard from ROIC, if that's okay.

1:52

Oh, okay.

1:53

Yeah, you just beat Richard.

1:56

I was like, I could win at Jeopardy.

1:57

All right.

1:59

So uh Richard, go ahead then.

2:03

Uh there you go.

2:04

Can you hear me?

2:05

Yep, yep.

2:06

Great.

2:06

Hi, yeah.

2:07

Thank you.

2:08

My name's uh Richard Shovel.

2:10

I am the chief operating officer of retail opportunity investments corporations.

2:15

We are the owner of the bridal trail shopping center.

2:19

Um just a little bit of background on ROIC.

2:22

We are a publicly traded um uh real estate investment trust.

2:27

We own and operate about 90 grocery and drug anchored shopping centers up and down the west coast from Marysville down to San Diego.

2:36

The team here at ROIC has been um operating grocery and drug oper uh uh anchored shopping centers for about uh three decades, um including up in the Seattle um um in Bellevue Marketplace for again decades.

2:52

Um we pride ourselves on having grocery stores in all of our shopping centers.

2:57

Um what attracted us to the bridal trail shopping center was the fact that it had uh both a grocery store and a drugstore.

3:04

Um I wanted to just touch on you know what acquire what happened after we acquired the shopping center.

3:11

We had a I think as you all know, a local grocery store operator there, and um their lease came up and they chose not to renew the lease, which um was a bit of a surprise to us, but you know, led us to go out um and uh survey the market and and try to replace them with a traditional grocery store.

3:31

Um unfortunately given the proximity of um you know the the major traditional grocery stores to bridal trails, we could not find a traditional grocer who would uh backfill the space and uh ultimately um you know did a a lease between the grocery outlet and uh Dollar Tree to take a portion of the space.

3:52

Um one of the things you know I think we want to make sure is you know we we have a relationship with tenants like PCT and that market and um we we approached all those tenants um and uh thoroughly tried to uh uh lease the property to a more traditional grocery, but we're unable to do that.

4:11

Um so as we've been going through this BT seven process and you know, working with our neighbor at Totem Bowl, um, and you know, trying to fulfill the desire of the community to you know continue to have a grocery presence here.

4:26

Um we've been trying to think about you know what the future of the grocery store could be and wanting to give enough flexibility for um you know the future to provide a grocery component to the shopping center uh and the community and um you know that's why we have proposed uh in working with staff of trying to define a grocery store that takes into account what could happen in the future.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning Regulations█████████████████17%
Design Review█████████████13%
Planning And Zoning███████████11%
Grocery Stores██████████10%
Affordable Housing████████8%
Public Engagement████████8%
Public Amenities██████6%
Parking Management████4%
Storage Facilities████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Meeting - January 13, 2022

The Kirkland Planning Commission held a study session and a public hearing on January 13, 2022, from 7:00 PM to 10:36 PM. Key agenda items included a community-initiated amendment request for the Bridle Trails Neighborhood Center and the 2022 Miscellaneous Zoning and Municipal Code Amendments. The Commission reached consensus to advance the Bridle Trails request to a public hearing and voted on several code amendments, including a controversial restriction on self-storage uses.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Richard Schoebel, COO of ROIC (owner of Bridle Trails Shopping Center), described the difficulty finding a traditional grocer for the center and supported a flexible minimum grocery square footage of 5,000 feet.
  • Jeremy Eckert, legal counsel for ROIC, requested the Commission review a market study and consider a flexible threshold for grocery store size, clarify BT7 regulations' applicability, and include design guidelines.
  • Jessie Clawson, land use attorney for TechCity Bowl, expressed support for ROIC's modest but meaningful modifications related to a grocery store.
  • Lowell Rottrup, co-owner of a property at 672 7th Avenue, stated that the proposed storage use restriction would jeopardize the sale of their property and argued that new apartments/condos will increase storage demand.

Discussion Items

  • Bridle Trails Neighborhood Center CAR (CAM20-00674): Staff presented recommendations on parking reductions, pedestrian/vehicle access, uses (including grocery store definition), public amenities, design guidelines, affordable housing, signs, green building standards, and upper-story stepbacks. Commissioners provided input and reached consensus to proceed to a public hearing, with staff to refine details based on feedback.
  • 2022 Miscellaneous Zoning and Municipal Code Amendments (CAM21-00773): Senior Planner Nick Cilluffo reviewed nine minor amendments and a tenth amendment limiting new retail storage service uses to accessory only. Commissioners discussed the storage amendment thoroughly, considering property owner concerns and policy direction from neighborhood plans.

Key Outcomes

  • Bridle Trails Neighborhood Center CAR: The Commission agreed by consensus to move the request forward to a public hearing, with staff to incorporate the Commission's input on parking, uses, public amenities, and design guidelines.
  • 2022 Miscellaneous Amendments (Items 1-9): Motion to approve as submitted carried 7-0.
  • 2022 Miscellaneous Amendment (Item 10 - Storage Uses):
    • Amendment to reduce the grace period in the Norkirk light industrial area to 180 days passed 5-2 (Yes: Rozmyn, Reusser, Bagg, Singhal, Rutherford; No: Tymczyszyn, Allen).
    • Main motion (as amended, with 180-day grace period for Norkirk only) carried 6-1 (Yes: Rozmyn, Reusser, Tymczyszyn, Bagg, Singhal, Rutherford; No: Allen).
  • The public hearing for the 2022 amendments was closed.
  • City Council Actions: Jeremy McMahan reported the City Council adopted the Planning Commission's recommendations regarding neighborhood plans and Comprehensive Plan amendments.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, thanks. Okay, we're live. Thank you. All right. Can you take roll, please? Gotcha, Alan. Carter Bay. Here. Scott Rice here. Here. Angela Rosman. Here. Rodney Registered. Here. And John Tim Chusin. Here. Thanks. Does anybody have the photo on their virtual background that they can email me? Yeah. To your personal email or my personal one's fine. Looks like I lost the looks like I lost an image or something. I don't know what's going on. You know what? If some I I think this is the right one. I have a couple of waterfront ones. Nope, that's not right. If somebody else, nope, there it is. I think I have to look at what. Yep, that's the same background. Okay, I can send it to you. And then our agenda today is the bridal trail study session and miscellaneous code amendments. So if anyone wishes to speak for items from the audience, if you could raise your hand. Otherwise, Jesse Clausen. I was gonna go after Jeremy and Richard from ROIC, if that's okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, you just beat Richard. I was like, I could win at Jeopardy. All right. So uh Richard, go ahead then. Uh there you go. Can you hear me? Yep, yep. Great. Hi, yeah. Thank you. My name's uh Richard Shovel. I am the chief operating officer of retail opportunity investments corporations. We are the owner of the bridal trail shopping center. Um just a little bit of background on ROIC. We are a publicly traded um uh real estate investment trust.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com