OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Urban Forest Management Plan Study Session – August 25, 2026

Planning Commission — Tuesday, August 25, 2026
BodyKirkland, Washington
SessionPlanning Commission
DateTuesday, August 25, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 47:58

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

I am calling this meeting of the planning commission to order.

0:12

We'll start with a roll call.

0:15

Here.

0:16

Tanya Shariq Chaudre.

0:18

Erin Jacobson.

0:19

Here.

0:20

Gina Medea.

0:21

Here.

0:24

Julia Nolan.

0:25

Here.

0:26

Scott Ricer.

0:28

Rodney Rethford.

0:29

Here.

0:31

Thank you.

0:32

And a quick note, Gina, I think there's like a five-second delay.

0:35

So if the conversation isn't flowing right, that would be why.

0:41

So we will go on to items from the audience.

0:44

If is there anyone from the audience who would like to speak?

0:50

I'm seeing no one in the room and no one in the Zoom room.

0:54

So we will move on.

0:57

Today we have a study session for the Urban Forest Management Plan update.

1:03

All right.

1:04

Thank you, Chair Jacobson.

1:05

So tonight we're coming to you for your second briefing on the urban forest management plan update.

1:11

Not asking for any big decisions tonight, but do you want to get your feedback on some of the draft vision and goals?

1:18

We visited council with this information a couple weeks ago, and Anna can share about that.

1:24

So with that, I'll hand it over to Anna to walk you through it.

1:32

Thanks for coming.

1:34

We can go ahead and start the slideshow.

1:37

So yeah, so I prepared a slideshow a little bit different than what we set up for council.

1:42

So if you watched the council meeting, uh I just didn't want it to be repetitive.

1:49

Uh the memo was very similar though.

1:51

So with the memo, um, it was very thick.

1:53

I'm aware that I gave you another five credit class on trees.

1:57

Um, you're welcome.

1:59

Uh but we won't we won't be going over all of that today.

2:02

But if you do have questions, don't hesitate to ask.

2:05

And I'm gonna stop a lot of it throughout this presentation.

2:09

So how can I give it a second here?

2:25

That's okay.

2:26

It's not yeah, yeah.

2:28

Gina, do you have any issues with being on the presentation?

2:32

Okay.

2:35

So goal number one is Gina.

2:39

Okay, so this is not the how do I I need to be able to scroll forward.

2:50

Okay, perfect.

2:52

Um, so today what we'll focus on first is the community tree survey that went out in May.

2:58

Um, and then we'll get into the vision statement and guiding principles that we've developed with uh community input and council, and then uh I'll be talking about the research in context with the goals that we developed as kind of our background basis for what we'll use moving forward.

3:14

Um, and if we have time, uh we do have some example layouts that sneak preview um just came out this week.

3:24

So with the community tree survey, um, we sent it out uh in May and June.

3:30

We had touch points with uh our email listservs.

3:34

Uh we reached out to the community networks, the neighborhoods, um, you know, uh master builders, uh bunch of different groups.

3:43

Um we reached out to some of the youth organizations as well.

3:47

Just we wanted to get a wide uh breadth of um input, and we had about 600 respondents.

3:54

Uh that doesn't sound a lot when you compare it to 90,000, but when it comes to a survey that is quite a few respondents back, uh, most of those respondents um they had knowledge of trees or they had been impacted by trees in the community or permitting processes.

4:13

So that does have a little bit of influence on what we were hearing.

4:18

Um there was definitely a split opinion between people who were very adamant about private property rights and their ability to develop and people who want to protect trees as a community resource.

4:33

There was also um a lot of opinions about what I can do on my land versus what other people should do on their land.

4:42

So uh there was there's quite some dichotomies to work through there.

4:47

Um, but we did have uh canopy cover came out as a very high goal, uh high priority.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Environmental Protection█████████████████████████████████████████████72%
Procedural████████13%
Community Engagement████6%
Affordable Housing███5%
Budget Equity Analysis███4%
Summary of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Meeting Summary – August 25, 2026

The Kirkland Planning Commission met on August 25, 2026, for a study session focused on a second briefing on the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) update. Staff requested feedback on draft vision, guiding principles, and goals rather than decisions. The commission also approved three sets of minutes, received an upcoming meeting calendar update, and heard no public comment.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke during either audience comment period.

Study Session: Urban Forest Management Plan Update

  • Environmental Program Coordinator Anna Heckman presented the second UFMP briefing, summarizing a May–June community tree survey with about 600 respondents. Survey results showed a split between respondents who emphasized private property rights and development flexibility and those who wanted trees protected as a community resource. Canopy cover was identified as a high priority, and there were many city-directed requests to increase resources for public tree canopy in parks, streets, and rights-of-way. Staff said the raw survey data would be posted on the project web page.
  • Staff acknowledged that the perceived unfairness between private-property tree removals and development-related removals “is not unreal,” while explaining that redevelopment cycles create opportunities to reestablish canopy over time.
  • The draft vision statement replaces the previous “maintain 40% canopy cover” vision with broader language emphasizing vital green infrastructure, shared stewardship, resilience, urban biodiversity, and community health and well-being. Draft guiding principles include ecological resilience, livable communities, balance among housing, community, density, and urban forestry, and science, technology, and innovation.
  • Staff presented five draft goals for the 20-year plan: (1) build and protect a healthy, resilient forest adapting to development and climate stress; (2) maximize urban forest benefits as an essential community asset supporting other city strategic plans; (3) maintain an average citywide canopy cover of 40%, analyzed by land use and neighborhood centers; (4) build public programs to educate, empower, and engage the community; and (5) build programmatic capacity to maintain and grow urban forestry assets safely, efficiently, and sustainably.
  • Data shared during the discussion: the public works tree inventory contains about 18,000 trees; there are about 1,500 dead or dying street trees under 6 inches in diameter. The inventory has roughly 200 tree species, but nine species account for the top 50%, representing about 15,000–17,000 trees. Current canopy cover is about 39% in residential areas and 18% in center mixed-use areas; North Juanita and Kingsgate have relatively low canopy cover among neighborhood centers. Staff noted satellite-based canopy measurement has about a 3% margin of error, so five-year increments are the practical checkpoint for detecting trends.
  • Commissioner questions and staff responses included: development tree replacement is handled through a tree-credit system, with replacement or other options when retention is not possible; monitoring tree retention after property sales is difficult; the UFMP will build in interim checkpoints such as five-year work plans and a 10-year inventory reassessment; the plan will not set specific budgets but will help justify future staffing and grant applications; and ideas such as neighborhood arborist cost-pooling, nonprofit partnerships, and a vetted arborist contractor list could be considered in future five-year work plans.
  • Staff said a draft UFMP and a draft six-year work plan are expected to come back to the Planning Commission in December before adoption.

Administrative Reports and Planning Commission Discussion

  • Staff previewed the August 27, 2026, meeting: public hearings on parking code cleanup amendments and housing density bonuses for faith-owned lands, plus a first briefing on the neighborhood stores and services project. The next meeting will be in the same room because council chambers remain under construction, and a new planning commissioner will attend.
  • Commissioner Weiser asked how to access the home occupation survey; staff said they would send the commission a link to the project webpage with the survey.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal action was taken on the Urban Forest Management Plan update; it was a study session for feedback.
  • The commission unanimously approved the minutes from April 9, April 23, and May 14, 2026, on a motion and second, with no opposing votes or abstentions recorded.
  • The commission will receive the draft UFMP and six-year work plan in December 2026.

Meeting Transcript

I am calling this meeting of the planning commission to order. We'll start with a roll call. Here. Tanya Shariq Chaudre. Erin Jacobson. Here. Gina Medea. Here. Julia Nolan. Here. Scott Ricer. Rodney Rethford. Here. Thank you. And a quick note, Gina, I think there's like a five-second delay. So if the conversation isn't flowing right, that would be why. So we will go on to items from the audience. If is there anyone from the audience who would like to speak? I'm seeing no one in the room and no one in the Zoom room. So we will move on. Today we have a study session for the Urban Forest Management Plan update. All right. Thank you, Chair Jacobson. So tonight we're coming to you for your second briefing on the urban forest management plan update. Not asking for any big decisions tonight, but do you want to get your feedback on some of the draft vision and goals? We visited council with this information a couple weeks ago, and Anna can share about that. So with that, I'll hand it over to Anna to walk you through it. Thanks for coming. We can go ahead and start the slideshow. So yeah, so I prepared a slideshow a little bit different than what we set up for council. So if you watched the council meeting, uh I just didn't want it to be repetitive. Uh the memo was very similar though. So with the memo, um, it was very thick. I'm aware that I gave you another five credit class on trees. Um, you're welcome. Uh but we won't we won't be going over all of that today. But if you do have questions, don't hesitate to ask. And I'm gonna stop a lot of it throughout this presentation. So how can I give it a second here? That's okay. It's not yeah, yeah. Gina, do you have any issues with being on the presentation? Okay. So goal number one is Gina. Okay, so this is not the how do I I need to be able to scroll forward. Okay, perfect. Um, so today what we'll focus on first is the community tree survey that went out in May. Um, and then we'll get into the vision statement and guiding principles that we've developed with uh community input and council, and then uh I'll be talking about the research in context with the goals that we developed as kind of our background basis for what we'll use moving forward. Um, and if we have time, uh we do have some example layouts that sneak preview um just came out this week. So with the community tree survey, um, we sent it out uh in May and June.

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