OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Meeting Summary - August 28, 2026

Planning Commission — Friday, August 28, 2026
BodyKirkland, Washington
SessionPlanning Commission
DateFriday, August 28, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:57:04

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

All right, uh let's call this meeting to order.

0:03

Uh before the roll call, I've been told by city staff that uh we are using multiple microphones in this room.

0:09

So please keep your side conversations to a minimum.

0:11

The microphones will pick them up and then confuse everyone online.

0:15

So now can we have the roll call?

0:17

Margaret Bunyan here.

0:19

And you should recharge.

0:21

Oh, here.

0:21

Erin Jacobson.

0:23

Here.

0:23

Gina Medea.

0:24

Here.

0:24

Julia Nolan.

0:25

Here.

0:26

Scott Ricer.

0:27

Here.

0:27

Ronnie Rutherford.

0:28

Here.

0:29

All right.

0:30

And now we move to items from the audience.

0:32

Uh this is a time in our meeting when anyone can talk can speak on any topic not subject to a public hearing.

0:38

So if you would like to speak on anything that is not the public hearing for code cleanup amendments for state mandated parking reform or affordable housing on faith owned lands, now's the time to speak.

0:48

I see we have one person signed up, B Naon.

0:50

Uh, if you could sit at the end of the table.

0:53

That's going to be my next question.

0:55

Tell me where to go, which I don't often offer to people.

1:00

All right, you have three minutes whenever you're ready.

1:03

Thank you very much.

1:04

Good evening, Planning Commission, and thank you for this opportunity to speak.

1:08

For those of you I have not met, my name is B Naon.

1:11

I'm about a 30-year resident of downtown Kirkland.

1:14

And one of the things I love about living in downtown Kirkland is that I can walk to many goods and services.

1:20

And I'm excited that you're going to start exploring having more neighborhood goods and services available in residential neighborhoods.

1:28

And you're going to hear about various things that are great about that, and you're going to be hearing about concerns that people have.

1:34

I want to bring to you a concern you may not be hearing much about, and that has to do with land use policy 4.6 and complying with it because it says develop standards that allow small scale neighborhood oriented commercial uses within residential areas, including corner stores and commercial uses, et cetera, to meet local needs and reduce reliance on vehicle trips to meet daily needs.

2:00

That's great.

2:02

But here's the thing just because a business is walking distance from my home doesn't mean that I can walk there.

2:10

Doesn't mean that a lot of people can walk there.

2:13

We have people with all sorts of accessibility issues.

2:17

They could be visual, they could be auditory, they could be sensory, they could just be mobility.

2:23

And especially in residential neighborhoods, we have sloping driveways up and sloping driveways down, and we have pathways that are uneven and incomplete sidewalks and unleveled sidewalks and doorways that aren't necessarily wide enough.

2:36

And even when you get to the doorway, they may be stairs without a railing.

2:40

You're going to hear from staff, most likely, that this is all addressed in our building code.

2:46

But our building code is woefully shy of doing what needs to be done.

2:51

If you're going to have that neighborhood business where I can go and get a cup of coffee and an egg salad sandwich, if I can do that, if I can't walk there, I can't go there.

3:01

Our standards are really lacking because unless you need a building permit, nothing needs to be done.

3:09

So if there's no electrical work, if there's no plumbing work, they don't even need a building permit.

3:14

And I assume they don't need to deal with it, they don't need a building permit, and they don't have to deal with accessibility.

3:19

And even if they do have a building permit, our standards say that they can we can require no more than 20% of their expenditures to be used for accessibility.

3:28

Let's look at what other cities are doing.

3:31

Seattle's an example when they just implemented these similar rules.

3:35

They put in more accessibility standards.

3:38

We can do better than what's in our building code.

3:41

And just because it's in the building code and not the zoning code, doesn't mean that you can't bring that to the city council's and the staff's attention.

3:49

Thank you for your attention to this.

3:51

It's really important to so many of our citizens, so that if we're going to do this in our neighborhoods, more and more people could get there and enjoy it.

3:59

Thank you.

4:00

Thank you.

4:02

If you are on Zoom and would like to speak, please raise your hand.

4:05

Anyone here in person like to speak.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning Regulations█████████████████████████████████████████████45%
Affordable Housing████████████12%
Active Transportation███████████11%
Public Engagement█████████9%
Parking Management████████8%
Community Engagement██████6%
Procedural█████5%
Home Occupation██2%
Accessibility█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Kirkland Planning Commission Meeting Summary - August 28, 2026

The Kirkland Planning Commission met on August 28, 2026, for a study session and two public hearings. The study session focused on the Neighborhood Stores and Services Code Amendment project, exploring updates to regulations for home occupations and introducing small-scale neighborhood commercial uses. The public hearings addressed code cleanup for state-mandated parking reforms and zoning amendments to facilitate affordable housing on faith-owned land. The Commission voted unanimously on the parking reform recommendations after amending bike parking standards, and unanimously recommended the faith-owned land amendments with additions to support homeownership and property transfer provisions.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • B Naon, a 30-year downtown Kirkland resident, spoke during the public comment period (non-hearing items) about the importance of physical accessibility in any new neighborhood commercial regulations. They argued that current building codes are insufficient and urged the Commission to consider stronger accessibility standards beyond zoning code, citing Seattle as an example.
  • Mike O'Ryan, representing St. John's Episcopal Church, expressed support for the faith-owned land affordable housing amendments, stating the goal of his parish is to be an irresistible institution for the neighborhood and that the proposal creates possibilities for human flourishing.
  • Alicia Ruiz, Advocacy and Policy Manager for Habitat for Humanity Seattle King and Kittitas Counties, expressed support for the faith-owned land amendments. She urged the Commission to ensure the code explicitly allows homeownership opportunities and allows faith communities to sell land to mission-aligned developers (like Habitat) while retaining incentive benefits, citing a real-world example from Bellevue where lack of clarity caused two-year delays.

Study Session: Neighborhood Stores and Services Code Amendment

  • Staff (LeAndra Baker-Lewis, Senior Planner) presented a two-phase project to update home occupation regulations and introduce neighborhood-serving commercial uses. Staff outlined policy assumptions, reviewed existing regulations, and shared comparative analysis with neighboring cities. Key discussion points included:
    • Commissioner Nolan questioned whether loosening home occupation rules would significantly reduce car trips, noting that truly trip-reducing uses (e.g., cafes, corner stores) require much larger changes.
    • Commissioner Bunyan emphasized the need to bring unregistered home-based businesses into the system and to understand the impact of current codes on the 4,000 existing license holders.
    • Commissioner Chowdhury noted that square footage limits in other cities vary widely; some are too restrictive (e.g., 50-foot buffers) and may make businesses infeasible.
    • Commissioner Bunyan raised concerns about enforcement challenges given the difficulty of distinguishing business visitors from personal guests.
    • Commissioners discussed the line between home occupations and neighborhood commercial, with ideas including limiting hours of operation, square footage, and requiring on-site residency for commercial uses.
    • Commissioner Rutherford suggested a conservative initial implementation with a feedback mechanism, while Commissioner Nolan argued against arbitrary customer-per-day limits for businesses like coffee shops.
    • Commissioner Medea highlighted the importance of regulating light and glare.
    • Commissioner Ricer expressed concerns about noise and traffic from food service businesses, using Daru as an example of unintended consequences.
    • Commissioner Jacobson proposed allowing neighborhood commercial citywide with tiers: low-impact uses (e.g., record stores) at 500 sq ft, and alcohol-serving uses only on arterial streets up to 1,200 sq ft, noting the trade-off between discouraging drunk driving and neighborhood compatibility.
  • No formal decisions were made; staff will use the feedback to refine regulatory options and return for a second discussion.

Public Hearing: Parking Reform Code Clean-up Amendments

  • Staff (Martha Rubardt) presented phase two of implementing state parking reform (SB 5184). The proposal included code cleanup, ADA parking recommendations (maintaining building code standards), and bicycle parking adjustments. The Commission discussed:
    • The option to either retain existing bike parking standards for the Station Area and Goodwill site or apply citywide standards (lower rates).
    • An amendment to add a reference to ADA building code requirements in the zoning code (passed 7-0).
    • A later amendment to lower bike parking ratios in the Station Area and Goodwill site to match citywide standards while retaining design standards for the Goodwill site (passed 6-1, Commissioner Ricer opposed).
  • The main motion, as amended, was approved unanimously.

Public Hearing: Affordable Housing on Faith-Owned Land Zoning Amendments

  • Staff (Scott Guter) presented the proposal to allow affordable housing on faith-owned properties with density bonus incentives, including height increases, lot coverage flexibility, reduced design review, and an exchange ratio for affordability levels. The Commission discussed:
    • Commissioner Bunyan asked about the long-term funding of the A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) support position; staff noted it is currently permanently funded but acknowledged future risks.
    • Commissioner Rutherford clarified that setback adjustments apply to the entire building above a threshold and only at the perimeter of the faith-owned land.
    • Commissioner Bunyan raised a question from a letter by the Housing Development Consortium about ensuring homeownership eligibility and property transfer provisions.
  • Public testimony supported the proposal, with additional requests to explicitly include homeownership and allow transfer of incentives when faith organizations sell to affordable housing developers.
  • A motion to adopt staff recommendation was made, followed by an amendment to direct staff to draft language ensuring homeownership opportunities and transfer of rights to mission-aligned developers (passed unanimously).
  • The main motion, as amended, passed unanimously.

Administrative Reports

  • Staff announced calendar updates: the September 10th miscellaneous code amendments public hearing is moved to September 24th; the next Planning Commission meeting will be in Council Chambers. The next City Council meeting will include briefings on short-term rental regulations, a square footage exemption threshold vote, and adoption of detention facility code amendments.

Key Outcomes

  • Neighborhood Stores and Services Code Amendment: No vote; direction provided for staff to continue community engagement and refine options for a second study session.
  • Parking Reform Code Clean-up: Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the code amendments with an ADA reference. A subsequent amendment to standardize bike parking requirements across the city passed 6-1. The final recommendation passed unanimously.
  • Affordable Housing on Faith-Owned Land: Commission voted unanimously to recommend the code amendments as presented, with an added direction to include language ensuring homeownership eligibility and transferability of incentives when property is sold to affordable housing developers.

Meeting Transcript

All right, uh let's call this meeting to order. Uh before the roll call, I've been told by city staff that uh we are using multiple microphones in this room. So please keep your side conversations to a minimum. The microphones will pick them up and then confuse everyone online. So now can we have the roll call? Margaret Bunyan here. And you should recharge. Oh, here. Erin Jacobson. Here. Gina Medea. Here. Julia Nolan. Here. Scott Ricer. Here. Ronnie Rutherford. Here. All right. And now we move to items from the audience. Uh this is a time in our meeting when anyone can talk can speak on any topic not subject to a public hearing. So if you would like to speak on anything that is not the public hearing for code cleanup amendments for state mandated parking reform or affordable housing on faith owned lands, now's the time to speak. I see we have one person signed up, B Naon. Uh, if you could sit at the end of the table. That's going to be my next question. Tell me where to go, which I don't often offer to people. All right, you have three minutes whenever you're ready. Thank you very much. Good evening, Planning Commission, and thank you for this opportunity to speak. For those of you I have not met, my name is B Naon. I'm about a 30-year resident of downtown Kirkland. And one of the things I love about living in downtown Kirkland is that I can walk to many goods and services. And I'm excited that you're going to start exploring having more neighborhood goods and services available in residential neighborhoods. And you're going to hear about various things that are great about that, and you're going to be hearing about concerns that people have. I want to bring to you a concern you may not be hearing much about, and that has to do with land use policy 4.6 and complying with it because it says develop standards that allow small scale neighborhood oriented commercial uses within residential areas, including corner stores and commercial uses, et cetera, to meet local needs and reduce reliance on vehicle trips to meet daily needs. That's great. But here's the thing just because a business is walking distance from my home doesn't mean that I can walk there. Doesn't mean that a lot of people can walk there. We have people with all sorts of accessibility issues. They could be visual, they could be auditory, they could be sensory, they could just be mobility. And especially in residential neighborhoods, we have sloping driveways up and sloping driveways down, and we have pathways that are uneven and incomplete sidewalks and unleveled sidewalks and doorways that aren't necessarily wide enough. And even when you get to the doorway, they may be stairs without a railing. You're going to hear from staff, most likely, that this is all addressed in our building code. But our building code is woefully shy of doing what needs to be done. If you're going to have that neighborhood business where I can go and get a cup of coffee and an egg salad sandwich, if I can do that, if I can't walk there, I can't go there. Our standards are really lacking because unless you need a building permit, nothing needs to be done. So if there's no electrical work, if there's no plumbing work, they don't even need a building permit. And I assume they don't need to deal with it, they don't need a building permit, and they don't have to deal with accessibility. And even if they do have a building permit, our standards say that they can we can require no more than 20% of their expenditures to be used for accessibility. Let's look at what other cities are doing.

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