Kirkland Planning Commission Study Session on NE 85th Street Station Area Plan, Phase 2 – November 10, 2022
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Kirkland Planning Commission Study Session on NE 85th Street Station Area Plan, Phase 2 – November 10, 2022
The Kirkland Planning Commission held a study session on November 10, 2022, from 7:00 PM to 9:17 PM, to continue discussion on Phase 2 of the NE 85th Street Station Area Plan (SAP), focusing on form-based code elements including parking ratios, street standards, transitions, and incentive zoning. All seven commissioners were present. The session was primarily a working meeting to refine draft code language ahead of a public hearing scheduled for December 8, 2022.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Liz Hunt (Kirkland, Market neighborhood) requested that information provided to the public for the December 8 public hearing be presented in a way that is understandable to the community, rather than technical code language.
Discussion Items
- NE 85th Street Station Area Plan, File No. CAM20-00153 (Citywide):
- Deputy Planning Director Allison Zike reviewed the agenda and workflow, noting the focus on Phase 2 form-based code.
- Brad Barnett (Mithun) reviewed previous Planning Commission feedback, district standards (Neighborhood Mixed-Use, Urban Flex, Civic Mixed-Use), and street types.
- Staff reported that the Lake Washington School District did not request additional height or development capacity for the school site; they indicated the current code draft provides ample flexibility.
- Parking: Staff presented parking ratios recommended by the city’s transportation planners, which are generally lower than citywide requirements. The draft code also includes provisions for parking modifications, shared parking, and decoupled bike parking. Commissioners discussed the possibility of eliminating parking minimums, with Commissioner Rodney Rutherford advocating strongly for eliminating them to support sustainability and affordability. Commissioner Katya Allen suggested exploring lower parking minima for affordable housing units, citing Bellevue as an example. Commissioner Sandeep Singhal cautioned against creating a two-class system in mixed-income developments. Staff will explore lower parking minimums for affordable housing and bring back options.
- 120th Avenue NE Corridor Study: Staff presented a baseline street standard (adopted in Phase 1) and an alternative design that adds dedicated bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and additional right-of-way dedication. The Transportation Commission preferred the alternative. Commissioners raised concerns about piecemeal bike lanes, crosswalk safety, and the impact on development capacity. Staff will provide more information on potential gaps in bike lane continuity.
- Incentive Zoning: Staff reviewed the five community benefit categories (affordable housing, mobility, parks, sustainability, schools) and noted that performance-based measures for affordable housing in Phase 2 are still being developed. Commissioner John Tymczyszyn expressed concern about the potential loss of the existing Safeway grocery store and urged exploration of incentives to preserve grocery stores. Other commissioners noted that the market may naturally provide a grocery store given the planned density, and that the form-based code could enable such uses. Staff recommended not adding a separate grocery incentive category at this time but will discuss further.
- Transitions: Staff presented three transition types: Type A (25-degree angle for height differences of 30–50 feet), Type B (30-degree angle for differences over 50 feet), and Type C (45-degree angle as an alternative). Commissioners expressed a preference for exploring angles between 30 and 45 degrees for areas with the largest height differences, to balance transition relief with development capacity needed to achieve community benefits. Staff will bring back additional visualizations and options.
Key Outcomes
- Parking: Staff will include the proposed parking minimums in the draft form-based code for the public hearing, but will explore and bring back a lower parking minimum for affordable housing units, informed by models like Bellevue’s.
- Transitions: Staff will develop additional intermediate transition angle options (between 30 and 45 degrees) for parcels where the height difference exceeds 50 feet, and provide more visual comparisons.
- Grocery Store Incentive: No new incentive category will be added at this time, but the discussion will continue; staff will provide more information on the Safeway parcel and potential mechanisms to preserve grocery uses.
- 120th Avenue Corridor: Staff will provide additional analysis on the feasibility of the alternative bike-lane design, including potential gaps and impacts on development.
- Next Steps: The draft planned action ordinance will go to City Council on November 15, 2022. The Planning Commission public hearing on the Phase 2 form-based code is scheduled for December 8, 2022, with potential council adoption in January 2023. The November 24 meeting is canceled due to Thanksgiving.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, great. Thanks. Okay, we're live. So catch you, Alan. Here. Scott Reiser. Angela Rosman here. Ronnie Retroford. Here. Sandeep single? Here. John Tim Chizen. Here. Thanks. All right. So tonight we've got the next part of the study session for stationary phase two. I don't see anyone in the audience. I can't actually see participants as far as if somebody in the audience virtually wants to speak. This would be the time for comments from the audience. Allie, I can't actually see that. There's no one raising their hand. Okay, great. With that, then let's uh kick it off with the study session. All right. Thank you, Chair Rosman, and good evening, uh, commissioners. Tonight we're gonna be talking about the station area plan. This is our third study session on phase two of the station area plan. And uh with us again, we have Sandra and Brad from Mathune. Uh Scott's here with us tonight, and Adam will be joining us shortly. He's uh talking to the parks funding exploratory committee right now about growth. So he'll be coming in shortly. Uh we can go ahead and go to the next slide. So tonight we wanted to sort of forego the review that we've done the last couple of times we've been together and jump right into the substance of it. We're gonna be focusing on the same uh topics that we laid out in your staff memo. So focusing on those, I think eight or ten, eight to ten topics, um, so we can dig into those and hopefully uh reach uh some resolution so that we can compile a final draft for you to take to public hearing. So we've organized those around kind of general topic areas, and then we're going to go through a little bit, uh, probably pause for some planning commission discussion and then move on to the next um grouping. So that's how we'll be walking through the evening tonight. We can go ahead and go to that next slide. And then if we can also note that Vice Chair Ricer is now present. Yeah, thank you. So this is the only piece of review that we're we're walking through. Um so just again to remind the commission and members of the public that might be joining that several pieces of the station area have already been adopted with phase one that included the final station area plan document with vision and goals, a comprehensive plan chapter that included policies for the whole area, the form-based code and parcel rezones for phase one, that was the commercial mixed use district, design guidelines for the entire station area, um, and then also some items that were uh completed previously were the issuance of a final supplemental environmental impact statement at the end of 2021, and then also um a development agreement and planned action ordinance for the future Google campus at the Lee Johnson site. So tonight we're focused on the form-based code for phase two. And with that, I'm gonna hand it over to Brad to talk through the first group of topics tonight. Great. Thanks, Alison. Um, good evening. It's good to be with you all again. So as Alison said, tonight we're gonna focus on really um responding to some of the feedback we've gathered over the last two study sessions um on some of the key topics that were in your staff memo. Um so the first one um focuses on uh encouraging active street level uses, particularly in the neighborhood mixed use district.
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