It’s not just the full 2 Line opening to look forward to, here are 3 more exciting events all in the next month!

On Saturday, March 14 we’ll be hosting a scavenger hunt 🔍 in Downtown Kirkland!

This is the first in a series of scavenger hunts we’ll be holding across Kirkland’s neighborhoods. We want to give our community an excuse to get out and explore parts of their city they may not have happened upon in their daily routines. 😃 And we're hoping that having an event earlier in the day, and on a weekend, will make it possible for families with younger children 👪 to be able to join in the fun too.

Between 11a and 4p, come to Peter Kirk Park, between the baseball field and the library, and we’ll give you a link to a list of photo clues and a “scavenger card”. There will be two clue lists: FAMILY for younger participants, and CHALLENGE for more experienced sleuths. Track down each clue’s location and a volunteer there will stamp your card. Then bring your card back to the start to have your time logged. The fastest teams will get a prize! 🏆

We hope you’ll come out and join us!

Sound Transit is navigating a critical phase in determining what the future of light rail will look like. Following announced cost overruns of around $35 billion for the long-range plan, the agency is reassessing how to deliver the transit system voters approved while facing real financial and logistical challenges. Although Seattle and the Eastside will finally be connected by light rail, decisions will need to be made by Sound Transit Board members concerning the 4-line from Kirkland to Issaquah and system expansion as a whole.

Come learn what is on the table and ask questions to King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci and Redmond Mayor Angela Birney. The event will be a hybrid town hall with a brief presentation from Sound Transit on the Enterprise Initiative, a structured Q&A, and then an open Q&A.

(RSVP requested here)

We’re hosting another cleanup 🧹 event for the roads we’ve adopted in Juanita and Kingsgate! Mark your calendars 📆 , details and sign up coming soon!

The City Council received a presentation on the 2026-2028 Planning Work Program during their Study Session, and discussed what edits they would like to see made to Staff’s initial draft.

The City Council was overall supportive of staff’s suggestions for implementing “policy levels” to categorize the impact of projects, and determine which projects will be handled more directly by the council (versus leaning on the Planning Commission). There was also broad support for most of the current draft project schedule, with a few changes.

Regarding topics mentioned in the form letter we published in our last newsletter, most councilmembers flagged that SB 6026 will need a fair chunk of staff time, particularly councilmember Arnold and Deputy Mayor Black. Complying with SB 6026 would subsume the Totem Lake Regional Center Housing Adjustments project currently on the draft plan. Most Councilmembers felt that some items could be delayed from 2026 to make room for this, particularly low density residential zoning consolidation, house moving updates, and sign code updates.

Middle Housing was also a key topic of the form letter. Councilmembers Falcone and Prem expressed support during the study session for doing the project sooner. Other councilmembers did not comment on it, so staff asked for clearer direction in the Reports section of the meeting. Councilmember Arnold expressed being open to options for small changes that improve costs, but not interested in a larger project. Mayor Curtis wants to hear more about what options are under consideration. Deputy Mayor Black is concerned that another round of middle housing updates would be a very big project without many new units. He feels that the industry has taken time to adapt to the 2020 regulations, and changing again could cause developers to slow down. Councilmember Tymczyszyn concurred, stating that he has not heard specific requests from developers. Councilmember Falcone highlighted that fire code requirements have been raised by developers as a source of high costs, and she re-iterated belief that changes could lead to many more units being built which provide more affordable home ownership.

During the study session, councilmember Tymczyszyn suggested that Staff should be quick to respond when a developer comes to the city with a project proposal, because they are probably serious. He views broader zoning projects as more theoretical with less direct impact. Waiting on city action can be very expensive for developers due to financing costs. Any projects seeking a development agreement, CARs, or similar, would consequently require city council action and more staff time than a typical permitting process. This could impact other city priorities if the opportunity arises.

During the study session, some councilmembers did respond directly to the form letter. Councilmember Pascal stated that he “took offense” to the emails, particularly that the subject line called for fixing the plan, and the assertion that the highest impact projects are delayed to later years. He highlighted that many problems affecting housing costs and supply are beyond local government, and that property taxes have increased sharply. Deputy Mayor Black counted 15 of the 30 outstanding work program items as being related to housing capacity/streamlining permitting/improving efficiency, so he is comfortable with the city’s housing approach. Councilmember Falcone affirmed the existence of a housing crisis and the need for increased supply, while acknowledging the economic challenges.

The Planning Commission will discuss the work program in their March 12th meeting, and the final version is scheduled to be adopted by the City Council in April.

The City Council received an update on state legislation that will impact Kirkland.

Council received a response to Mayor Curtis’ LRM regarding potential city responses to federal immigration activity. Among the three options:

After some discussion, Council landed on directing staff to proceed with option 2 to sooner affirm Kirkland’s authority to protect the constitutional rights of Kirkland community members and acknowledge Kirkland’s inability to interfere in federal law enforcement actions.

The Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing to receive feedback on the Early Action Ordinance the city will use to implement the requirements of SB 5184. The Ordinance will add a new section to the code defining parking requirements that supercede the requirements of all other sections, and City Staff will later amend the existing code sections to match.

The City Council has already provided clear direction, and the Planning Commission essentially agreed at their prior meeting. The City Council is scheduled to take final action to adopt the ordinance on April 7th.

However, there are two different options for the ordinance. The only difference between the two is if parking requirements should be fully removed from all 4 zones within the 85th St Station Area (Option 1), or if parking requirements should be removed from 3 of the zones and remain in the “Urban Flex” district of the Station Area (Option 2). Some commissioners and councilmembers have felt that parking requirements still make sense in the Urban Flex district due to the nature of the intended uses there, and concerns about spill-over parking. Removing parking requirements would offer the most flexibility for redevelopment projects, although projects are still likely to include parking due to market demands.

Following the City Council meeting last week, the Planning Commission will now discuss the 2026-28 Planning Work Program update. The draft plan has not changed at this point, but City Staff has included a summary of the direction and opinions provided by the City Council. The Planning Commission will discuss any edits they would like to see and then provide a recommendation to the City Council. That will effectively be the second draft of the plan for the City Council, who can ultimately modify the plan as they see fit.

Staff has also provided discussion questions for the Planning Commission in the memo for the meeting. Staff wants to hear commissioner suggestions for the following topics:

During Items from the Audience after the City Council’s study session, Commissioner Reusser highlighted how Sign Code and Curb Management updates have been delayed year after year, and that he has supported a home occupation project for at least 4 years. He’d like to see all 3 tackled sooner rather than later. He asked for a new item to proactively address residents of new buildings parking on nearby streets (due to cost or availability), and also to find ways to support staff’s new administrative design review process with outside expertise.

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!)