That’s how many 🧦 & 🎺 Liveable Kirkland members were able to assemble at our last meetup.

The next day, Jennie drove to Woodinville to deliver 30 of the bed warmers to the tent city residents of Camp United We Stand ⛺ . She also dropped off 2 big jugs of hand sanitizer (their sink has been malfunctioning), a couple pairs of water-proof hiking socks (which got some especially big smiles), 15 tall, think cotton tube socks, a big box of hand-knitted hats, scarves, and a blanket, and a new button-down wool shirt. (A tiny woman snagged this new wool shirt with excitement and her tall male neighbor chided her good-naturedly for not even looking at the size first. But he'd gotten the hiking socks, so he was happy too.)

Jennie then headed to the Safe Parking Program 🅿 in Kirkland to offer them the rest of the supplies. Their office staff accepted the remaining 27 bed warmers on behalf of the families living in the lot.

A big thank you to everyone who helped last week! We had 20 people who showed up and (over) filled three whole tables at Chainline! 🎉 It was great to see everybody enjoying themselves and socializing while helping to make a difference in our community. We may not have housed anyone last night, but we did help some folks stay a little warmer and healthier while they're in limbo. 🫂

🚧 Transportation Work Program

The City Council held a joint meeting with the Transportation Commission meeting during their Study Session in order to discuss the work program.

Councilmembers expressed support for the various items on the work program from 2026 and 2027, and gratitude for the commission’s desire to be engaged and proactive. The upcoming “charter of responsibilities” project aims to write down how and when the commission will give input, addressing the commission's desire to make sure feedback comes in soon enough to actually allow for changing course in a project if needed. This is a unique approach - other commissions and boards don’t have this sort of charter.

While the work program is normally updated every 2 years, it will also be updated in 2027 in order to make the work program schedule match the city’s biannual budget. The City Council did not request any changes to the work program, and it will formally be adopted at the next Council meeting on February 17th.

🏘 Houghton Village

The City Council voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 4924, adding a reference to the Houghton Village Development Plan in the zoning code.

The City Council then voted unanimously to approve Resolution 5719, directing the City Manager to facilitate the sale of the Houghton Village property to a public, private or non-profit entity. The City Council will have the final decision on any sale.

The City Council funded this purchase via a temporary interfund loan, meaning the money was taken from existing funds in other parts of the budget. Because no development partner was identified, the city needs to sell the property in order to bring the budget back into balance.

🎯 Transportation Strategic Plan Programs

Transportation Division Manager Stephen Padua gave a presentation describing how transportation improvements are organized into Projects and Programs, where the work comes from, and how it can be changed. The Transportation Strategic Plan established several new programs that are separate entries in the budget.

Councilmember Pascal expressed desire to hear more reports in the future about these programs, to make sure that they result in improvements being built and used, rather than just more studies occurring. The Neighborhood Safety Program and Streets Levy have annual reports already and could be a model to follow. There was broad agreement on this subject.

Councilmember Pascal also discussed wanting to see other types of bicycle infrastructure included in programs, not just Greenways. Councilmember Falcone agreed, highlighting that there are gaps in the bicycle network which need to be addressed with more significant improvements and separation from cars than Greenways allow.

✍ State Legislation Update

The City has taken some new positions on State Legislation since their last update, including:

The city’s legislative group also suggested an amendment directing the state workgroup to establish civil infractions for juveniles 12-16, or adults who provide e-motos to juveniles, which would be enforced by courts such as the Kirkland Municipal Court.

Various deadlines for the state legislative process are approaching fast, so it will be clearer what bills have a chance of passing this year by the next City Council meeting.

🚦 Traffic Control Policies

Staff responded to Councilmember Pascal’s legislative request memo regarding updating the city’s policies around street closures. Pascal’s concern was that closures of sidewalks and bike lanes are not treated as equal to car lanes (which are often re-opened for commute hour), and that there’s no policy specific to CKC closures.

Staff indicated that the city’s policies for long term (greater than 2 week) closures also require re-opening sidewalks and bike lanes if possible, or providing detours. Councilmember Pascal suggested that the implementation of this policy may need adjusting.

The City Council voted unanimously to pursue reviewing the city’s policies for short term and long term closures, and to create a new policy document specific to the Cross Kirkland Corridor. Staff will return with an implementation plan that outlines what resources will be needed, how long it will take, and if other work needs to be delayed.

🧊 Responding to Federal Immigration Activity

Mayor Curtis submitted a legislative request memo regarding the city’s response to federal immigration activity. The outcome would be getting legal guidance on the extent of the city’s local authority, a resolution affirming that authority, and working with other stakeholders to make a collaborative response.

According to Mayor Curtis, this was one of the top discussion items at the recent Council Conversations event. Earlier in the meeting, she shared a message affirming that Kirkland Police will not assist with any civil federal immigration enforcement. While KPD cannot obstruct any lawful federal enforcement, KPD can verify if a particular person is a federal officer. Anyone who witnesses interactions with federal agencies can call 911, and KPD will respond. It’s unclear at this time what would happen if an immigration action was deemed illegal, or how that would be determined.

The Legislative Request Memo was adopted unanimously. The City maintains a webpage on civil rights and resources for immigrants which you can view here.

The February 12th meeting of the Planning Commission has been canceled due to a lack of topics. This is the second canceled meeting so far this year.

While there are some projects remaining from last year, the Planning Commission is largely waiting for an updated Planning Work Program. The Commission does develop a recommended plan, but for this year the City Council has decided that it needs to provide direction on the plan first before the Commission can proceed.

The City Council will first discuss the Planning Work Program on March 3rd. The Planning Commission will then develop a recommendation during their March meetings, with adoption hopefully following in April.

Join Liveable Kirkland in a conversation about our city’s present and future! We have an active community on Discord and Facebook and we’d love it if you joined in too : )

(And if you add a picture you took to #photos on Discord it might get featured in next week’s issue!)