Bruce Feuling opened the meeting at 7:00 pm
Attendance: 50
Announcements:
Park Bond- Jeff Trager, Park Bond
Colleen Cullen introduced the topic. She is a member of the park board since 2002. She introduced Jeff Trager. As a lead in, she indicated that the council appointed a committee to examine the possibility of a bond measure. The group looked at the whole plate of park issues in Kirkland. Several opportunities were discussed.
Jeff Trager asked for people who want to be put onto a list for receiving more information. He passed out some flyers. He informed people of the vote on Nov 5 for a bond issue at a cost of $62 per year. He identified the need for funding to replace lost sales tax revenue. He identified the projects:
Questions: Ben Franklin park- nervous about orange markers on trees. Where will the park be? Colleen indicated that the advice is to preserve trees, but no master planning has yet been done.
What about land at 124th (Forbes Lake)? It is a private lake, with the city buying some parcels from time to time.
124th Near Safeway- city buying up parcels piecemeal as a pocket park for the future.
Ellen discussed the traffic calming plan that failed by a small margin. The vote failed with 67 % positive, needed 70%. Some of the negative comments related to:
n Cost- It only would cost $43,000- spend otherwise for police and sidewalks etc.
Last night there was a meeting of the committee. The problem is still there.
It was decided to:
- Put out city radar trailer on key streets
- Traffic committee will talk to the NHA regarding fine-tuning the plan to address the concerns raised. A decision will be made whether to go out for another vote. Needs NHA input on the next steps.
She introduced Janelle McMillian, police department and Deputy Chief Henderson, fire department. The fact is that there are not enough resources to have regular police enforcement of neighborhood streets. A speed hump and traffic circles will cause some delays (e.g. 10sec) to fire trucks. Aid cars and ambulances have similar impacts. Speed cushions are better in terms of reducing delay.
Comments/Questions:
- Perhaps the ballot wasn’t localized enough to hit the most affected residents. The city has done this approach in the past, but has moved more to a neighborhood approach.
- Have other options been considered? Yes, but we are limited here with narrow streets and minimal curbs.
- Permanent speed signs in Bellevue? Yes, they are trying them out?
- Cameras posted on speed trailer? Privacy issues were raised.
- If postponed, how about additional funding to address Bridle Trails area and other improvements? Several other actions are in the works- e.g. traffic signal at 128th and 85th. \
The city is sponsoring a series of community conversations regarding the future of Kirkland.
A video was shown to give some ideas about the future in the region and Kirkland.
Next, there were 3 questions raised:
Like best:
- Trend towards mixed use- retail, housing encourages pedestrian
- Waterfront access by ped/bike parking
- General open space
- Concentration of businesses in downtown from the residential and industrial area
- Small town atmosphere- feels like home
- Hub for artistic community
Like least:
- Lack of a hardware store
- Noise of the traffic
- Height of buildings too high (e.g. Lee Johnson)
- Less inclusive as a community
- Transfer station in the middle of a neighborhood in SRH
- Forced to drive- we need more transportation alternatives
- Only 1 boat launch ramp
- Need linear park to join downtown with Moss Bay and Rose Hill to the east across 405
- More work from home
- More internet shopping
- Traffic will get worse
- People getting older- want more pedestrian access and connectivity to parks
- More wireless internet
- How to accommodate growing population, employment?
- More flexible local office space (temp work)
- Underground parking
- More mass transit
- More convenient land uses
- Preservation- mature trees, residential character, existing buildings
- Equestrian- keep Bridle trails SP and surrounding neighborhood
- Change in mentality that says that transit needs to pay for itself. Roads don’t.
- Preserve affordable housing in downtown area- within single family environment
- Creative affordable housing- density itself is not the answer. Need accessory housing, cottages etc.
- Limit short-platting to create more expensive houses
- Serious commitment to creative density— we don’t want high density but need additional housing within city to accommodate growth.
- State GMA influences zoning etc. We need more density, but done right. Need to decide how to accommodate density
- Innovative housing ordinance (passed by council) specifies pilot projects co housing, duplexes, and cottages.
- Seattle provides affordable housing via a levy
- Buy development rights for farmland (King Co)—buy as a trust land development rights in neighborhoods. Think outside the box.
- Clean air requirements for recycled material
- How to get around? -
transportation improvements needed
- Improved connectivity
- Incentives to give up car
- Shuttle services around the city
- Trolleys
- Through traffic problems- how to avoid cut-thru traffic – make communities more self-sufficient
- What changes in city services are needed?
- Department store
- Neighborhood services- with housing above
- Fix taxes at retirement age to keep seniors in homes
- Community centers,
- Bigger cemetery- or in a park setting
-
Degree of protection for trees, streams etc.
- More participation and ways to notify people about issues- virtual meetings
- Designate a portion of discretionary tax receipts to projects voted on by the residents
- Make these items a priority, even if it may limit development in some cases
- Drinking water supplies are critical
- T-shirts to support these items
- More widespread knowledge and information on city environmental laws. Knowledge is power.
- Air pollution- fireplace smoke- pass law to severely limit use of fireplaces.
- Incentives for developers for tree preservation
- Credits to homeowners for maintaining older trees- place value on taxes
Reports
Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.