Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Kirkland Planning Commission held a study session on October 22, 2026, to continue developing the framework for a potential new neighborhood commercial allowance. The meeting was largely a working session to build a baseline 'Tier 1' model, asking the question: 'What regulation would work for most neighborhood commercial uses in most locations with decent actors?' Topics covering use types, scale, operational limits, and location criteria were systematically addressed to provide clear direction for staff to draft code amendments. A companion list of 'bike rack' outlier issues was established for future consideration.
No members of the public appeared in person or virtually to provide testimony during the designated public comment period at the start of the meeting. Staff reviewed written public comment themes received prior to the meeting. These comments indicated strong support for the existing home occupation system, concern about the potential impact of new neighborhood commercial allowances on neighborhood character, and a preference for targeted location-based allowances over a citywide approach. Enforcement capability and the management of external traffic were recurring themes.
Home Occupation Refinements: Staff reviewed proposed changes to home occupation regulations, primarily focused on removing 'hard to observe' standards (such as the 500 square foot limit) to improve enforceability for code enforcement. The commission reached a consensus to remove the specific 500-square-foot limit for home occupations, with Commissioner Bunyall and Chair Jacobson noting it was impractical and easily weaponized against neighbors. The commission supported retaining the requirement that the business owner resides on the property. It was agreed the primary distinction between a home occupation and a new neighborhood commercial use should be the level of customer openness and nuisance potential rather than a rigid square footage cap.
Neighborhood Commercial Purpose & Allowed Uses: The commission affirmed the project's core purposes: facilitating convenience, ensuring compatible integration, promoting walkability, and creating community gathering spaces. Commissioner Reiser successfully added the goal of educating the public on the positive role of small businesses. The commission decided to combine the previously separated Tier 1 and Tier 2 allowed use lists into a single unified list encompassing retail, personal services, and crafts. A modification process will be included for uses that meet the overarching intent but are not explicitly listed. Auto-related uses, age-restricted products, and wholesale trade remain prohibited.
Residential Connection & Scale: A significant debate centered on whether neighborhood commercial must be tied to a residential use on site. Commissioner Rutherford strongly advocated for requiring a resident with a direct connection to the business (someone with 'skin in the game'), a position supported by Commissioners Bunyall and Reiser. Chair Jacobson and Vice Chair Day favored ensuring a residential component exists on the property (a dwelling unit) without regulating the relationship between the resident and the business owner, arguing operational standards were better suited to addressing concerns. Staff was directed to explore both framing options and research how peer cities approach the issue. On scale, the commission settled on 500 square feet of customer-facing space as the baseline for Tier 1, applicable citywide.
Operational Standards & Design: The commission generally supported an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours of operation limit for the baseline and requiring customer queuing to occur on private property. A proposed 50-foot setback for outdoor food and beverage service was criticized by Commissioner Reiser as eliminating most standard Kirkland lots. The commission asked staff to return with a less restrictive alternative, such as a 15-foot setback paired with enhanced screening. Regarding parking, the commission supported staff's recommendation not to allow customer parking on the business's private property, relying instead on available on-street parking within 600 feet.
Tier 2 Framework & Alcohol: The commission supported a Tier 2 allowance of up to 1,200 square feet within a quarter-mile radius of parks, schools, and medium-to-high density zones, generally aligning with the staff memo. Commissioner Rutherford suggested an alternative limiting tier 2 allowances to streets immediately fronting these public amenities. After extensive debate on alcohol, the commission supported allowing alcohol sales for on-site consumption (in restaurants/cafes) and for products manufactured on-site. The commission stood firmly against allowing a standalone off-sale liquor store as a neighborhood commercial use, with Commissioner Reiser asking, 'Do we really need to have it in the neighborhoods?'
Pilot Program: The commission declined to pursue a formal pilot program for the new code. Commissioner Reiser stated he did not foresee a 'mad dash' of applications, and Chair Jacobson expressed a reluctance to add automatic legislative check-in milestones to the work program.
I have now called this meeting of the planning commission to order. We'll start with a roll call. Margaret Bunyall. Here. And now Sheree Chaudray. Aaron Jacobson. Here. Gina Medea. Here. Julia Nolan. Scott Ricer. Here. Rodney Rutherford. Here. All right. We'll proceed on to the next item on the agenda, which is a study session on the neighborhood stores and services code amendment project briefing. Sorry. Yes. So going back to that, we'll go we'll start with uh items from the audience. This is a time in our meeting where anyone from the public can give public comment for up to three minutes. Uh if you're on Zoom and would like to give public comment, please raise your hand in the Zoom. I'm seeing no one in person and so far no one raising their hand on Zoom. Last call. If you'd like to give public comment on Zoom, please raise your hand. All right. All right. Thank you, Chair Jacobson. So we have a lot to get through with you tonight. Um what we're really trying to do, um, you got a packet. What we're trying to do is take what's um a bit of a an abstract concept for us right now and start trying to solidify some of the parameters that we want to base a potential neighborhood commercial allowance around. And so um we have Leander's worked really hard on a series of questions to guide you through tonight um to try to help us start landing some of those items. Um we're gonna do a bit of a review to kick off, but what we're really hoping to spend the majority of our time with you doing tonight is building a baseline neighborhood commercial allowance that would work for most neighborhood commercial uses in most locations with decent actors. So trying to build a baseline um for that that use case and reminding you that once we build that baseline, all of you will still have the choice whether or not to vote to recommend we even allow neighborhood commercial to to city council. But we want to do is build that baseline so we get a better s solid idea of what is it? Um what uses is it and what are some of the parameters. Um and then what we're what we're kind of proposing is that we keep a bit of a parking lot or as we call it in planning a bike rack of ideas that might be more outliers to the concept of neighborhood commercial. So if there's a use that you're particularly worried about, maybe it's not a good use to think of when we're building this baseline. Maybe it's something better to kind of put on the bike rack and then come back to it after we've built the framework of a neighborhood commercial allowance to see how it fits in or if it might fit in under with different standards than this baseline we build. So Leandra's going to go into a lot more detail around that, but I just wanted to kind of get you in that framework of building this baseline case. We've got a lot of questions to ask you and walk through tonight with your permission and maybe with each other. Maybe think about those topics that might be outliers that we can put on the bike rack. We did bring, you know, the good old handy planner tool of a big post-it note to put those items. You can kind of see that running list. And with that, I will get it handed over to Leandra.