Liveable Kirkland Newsletter 04/12/26

The City of Kirkland is looking for community members to serve on several boards and commissions! This is an excellent opportunity to use your experience and perspective to help shape city policies and programs. While some professionals do serve on these groups, many are interested community members without a formal background in the subject.

Applications must be submitted by April 29th. If you have any questions about what it’s like to serve on a board or commission, consider asking a current member, ask on our Discord, or at a Meetup!

Click for details about each commission and how to apply

Liveable Kirkland’s 9th birthday was yesterday (April 11th). We celebrated by having a litter clean-up at our adopted roads in Juanita and Kingsgate. Thank you to Jennie and Scott for leading the crews, and the 14 other volunteers who participated!

Parking Requirements Reform

The City Council voted unanimously to adopt an Ordinance reducing parking requirements throughout the city, pursuant with SB 5184. This means that Kirkland is compliant 9 months ahead of the deadline. Minimum parking requirements have also been removed entirely for the 85th St Station Area. This was done with an amendment from Councilmember Pascal - the Planning Commission had recommended keeping a minimum parking requirement for commercial uses in that area.

Federal Immigration Response Resolution

The City Council reviewed the draft Resolution and provided feedback so that Staff can return with a final resolution, ideally at the next City Council meeting.

Councilmember Arnold requested that the City review its security and data sharing policies, which have not been updated recently, in addition to making sure all camera systems are compliant with those policies. He also asked that language be added about ensuring free access to voter drop boxes.

Councilmember Falcone asked for more information about the staff impacts of a development moratorium for detention centers, and seeking code amendments. Staff stated that while it isn’t likely to be a big project, it could impact the timeline of other projects on the work program.

Mayor Curtis asked that the City evaluate whether it can prohibit civil immigration enforcement activities at city parks, in addition to city-controlled buildings.

Neighborhood Plans

Staff presented an overview of the new process that will be available to community members for updating their Neighborhood Plans. The purpose of these plans is to show how policies in the larger Comprehensive Plan can be implemented on the neighborhood level.

Councilmember Pascal had some reservations about the process, and noted that the city has struggled with how to update these plans for a long time. He is concerned that 1) the process may not be used; 2) suggested updates may not be approved, leading to disappointment; or 3) if the process is popular, it may eat up a lot of extra staff time. Deputy Mayor Black concurred.

Deputy Mayor Black, Mayor Curtis, and Councilmember Arnold expressed similar concerns, especially with how it may impact the Planning Work Program. Ultimately, the City Council supports moving forward with the process, but may decide to wait to accept submissions until a future year. The exact timeline will be decided in the next City Council meeting, during discussion of the Planning Work Program.

Letter to the Sound Transit Board

The Kirkland City Council approved sending a letter to Sound Transit laying out Kirkland’s priorities in the current effort to fix Sound Transit’s budget gaps. These priorities are:

While the letter did not include specific ideas for how Kirkland can help Sound Transit save money, like Issaquah has done, Council Member Falcone mentioned she agreed with some of the specific suggestions sent to the Council from Kirkland residents, including at least one Liveable Kirkland member. She stated there was broad agreement on the Council and among staff that Kirkland can and should help Sound Transit save money on projects in Kirkland. 

Because of the tight timelines associated with Sound Transit’s efforts to close its budget gaps, the council also authorized individual city council members to represent Kirkland’s position in any discussions they have.

Economic Competitiveness LRM

The City Council approved a Legislative Request Memo from Councilmember Pascal asking for options for studying how Kirkland compares to peer cities in various economic development factors. These include development costs and timelines, tax burden, utility costs, and vacancy rates.

Urban Forestry Management Plan

Staff gave a presentation on how the city’s forestry practices have improved since the initial Urban Forestry Management Plan had been adopted, what programs the City has now, and what the City wants to learn through future research. For example, the City could analyze what trees are on the “planting list” and see if those trees are likely to survive under climate change predictions.

The City Council previously set the overall scope of the plan update, i.e. how much city resources were committed, and what format it will take. Staff plans to present research results and some goals to the City Council in July, and bring a draft of the overall plan to the Planning Commission in August.

On March 31, the City of Kirkland hosted a “Tool Library Opportunity” discussion. Liveable Kirkland and many other community members have advocated for a membership-based “Tool Library” or “Library of Things” where, for a small membership fee, community members can borrow equipment – potentially anything from carpet cleaners to cake pans to chain saws. Excess construction materials, seeds, or used bikes might also be diverted from the dump and put to use.

During the meeting, Community members learned about model projects in neighboring cities and about the City Council’s pledge of start-up funds through a request for proposal (RFP) process.

Although they are not planning to expand to the Eastside, the non-profit Seattle REconomy provides a model of how to create a Tool Library, with successful branches in both Shoreline and Northeast Seattle. Executive Director Josh Epstein shared insights on their financially sustainable model, which relies on sliding-scale memberships, tool donations, and dedicated volunteers, and proved that it’s a highly viable concept for the Eastside.

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!)