The Kirkland City Council met on July 5, 2022, in a hybrid meeting. Here’s a brief overview of some of the items from the meeting:
Study Session – Transportation Benefit District: The Council received an update on potential Transportation Benefit District (TBD) funding implementation and provide direction on the City Manager’s proposed spending plan, and whether to build the TBD revenue into the 2023-2024 operating budget and 2023-2028 Capital Improvement Plan. At the February 15, 2022 Public Hearing, Council adopted an ordinance assuming the rights and powers of the Kirkland TBD which creates the opportunity for Council to adopt a vehicle license fee to fund transportation improvements.
Study Session – School Resource Officer Program: The Council was updated on the School Resource Officer (SRO) program. The SRO program expanded from two officers to six officers with the passage of Proposition 1 in 2018. The Kirkland Police Department continues to actively collaborate with the City Manager’s Office and the Lake Washington School District on the SRO program. Due in part to these conversations, several changes have either already been completed and/or are in the planning stages for the SRO program.
Public Hearing - Autonomous Personal Delivery Devices: The City Council reviewed work completed to date to develop draft regulations concerning the operation of autonomous personal delivery devices in Kirkland. The Council approved extending the current moratorium on the acceptance, processing, and/or issuance of permits related to autonomous personal delivery devices for up to six months in order to complete an identified workplan.
Police Body Worn Cameras: The Council reviewed and approved a revised Kirkland ordinance which creates a new chapter of the Kirkland Municipal Code regarding public safety technology. This new chapter will authorize police use of body worn cameras but will also be used to prohibit the use of facial recognition technology. Prior to the Council’s decision on how to proceed with a body worn camera program, staff conducted community conversations on the topic in March and April 2022.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging 5-Year Roadmap: The Council adopted the final draft of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Five-Year Roadmap with amendments. On August 4, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution R-5434 to ensure the safety and respect of Black people and dismantle structural racism in Kirkland. Among many other actions within R-5434, the resolution called for contracting for a comprehensive City organizational equity assessment to identify gaps in diversity, equity and inclusion in all areas of City policy, practice and procedures, and to identify proposed actions steps to address these gaps.
How to watch: Kirkland City Council meetings are streamed live and can be watched after the fact on the City of Kirkland Facebook page and the City YouTube channel, in addition to the livestream on the City website. Meetings are also televised on Comcast Cable Channel 21 and Ziply Cable Channel 31.
To watch the Council discussions on the specific agenda items outlined above, visit the City’s website. The full agenda packet with information on each item is located on the City’s website.
The next regular City Council meeting is on July 19, 2022
The City has received many comments noting interest in City Council's discussions about the development agreement being considered for Google's potential development of the Lee Johnson site. Council received a presentation from Google about their proposal for the site at a special study session on July 6. A video recording of the meeting, including Google’s presentation, is available here.
Council will be holding a public hearing on the development agreement at a special meeting on Monday, July 11 at 6 pm. This is the community’s opportunity to provide testimony related to the development agreement to Council for their consideration. The meeting will be hybrid, and members of the public may provide testimony in-person or by logging in to the Zoom meeting. More information about how to attend the meeting, and meeting materials, will be available on the Council webpage prior to the meeting.
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At its next regular meeting on July 19, 2022, the Kirkland City Council will consider adopting Resolution R-5550 in support of codifying comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including abortion, and marriage equality in the Washington State and United States constitutions. The resolution can be previewed here. Council meeting information, including instructions for providing public comment at a council meeting, can be found at www.kirklandwa.gov/council. To provide written comments to the Kirkland City Council, please use Our Kirkland www.kirklandwa.gov/ourkirkland. |
Spare 10 minutes and Tell Us Your Thoughts Kirkland’s biennial Community Survey is open and will help the City gauge community attitudes about the quality of life in Kirkland, satisfaction with City government services, and priorities for the future. All Kirkland community members, whether they live, work, learn, or visit Kirkland, are encouraged to take the online survey before it closes at 12 p.m. on July 20, 2022. Thank you!
How can I contact the City with questions, requests, or suggestions?
You can always contact City staff through the Our Kirkland service portal, available on the web and mobile app. Submitting your comments through Our Kirkland ensures the right staff receives the information and is able to follow up with you.
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Every year, on the first Tuesday in August, millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out across thousands of communities from all fifty states, U.S. territories and military bases around the world. Neighborhoods host block parties, festivals, cookouts and other community events with safety demonstrations, kids’ events, exhibits and much more. In addition to block parties, National Night Out provides an opportunity to interact with Kirkland’s law enforcement, fire service professionals and City Council.
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The City Council on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, approved Resolution R-5548, adopting the Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging (DEIB) 5-Year Roadmap – a commitment to a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at all levels of the City in its programs, processes, and practices. The roadmap is a living document that will be regularly reviewed to ensure that it is aligned with the community’s expectations.
Read more.
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WSDOT is building a new on-ramp to northbound I-405 and a new off-ramp from southbound I-405 at Northeast 132nd Street in Kirkland. This project will improve access to the Totem Lake regional growth center and surrounding neighborhoods in Kirkland. It will also provide a new route to access I-405, creating an alternative to using local streets and helping reduce pressure on heavily congested nearby interchanges.
You’re invited to join an online project update to hear about progress made so far, learn more about the upcoming work, ask questions of the project team, and learn how to stay informed. This meeting will be held online via Zoom.
Wednesday, July 20, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Reach out to WSDOT if you’re facing barriers to participation and need accommodations to participate fully in this online meeting. If requesting accommodations, please reach out by July 11 so your request may be accommodated.
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Updated curbside waste collection services and rates started on July 1. Single-family customers can now have one bulky item collected at no additional cost each year. Additional bulky item pickups are also more affordable.
Come fall, single-family customers will be able to put out five extra bags of yard waste each week during November at no additional cost. Residents who want to compost food scraps but don't produce much yard waste can switch to a smaller food scrap cart.
Businesses can now receive unlimited recycling. Apartment property managers can schedule affordable bulky item collection, which was not previously available.
Each year, residents will be able to drop off tricky recyclables at WM Neighborhood Recycle and Reuse events -- the first event is scheduled for July 23.
To make changes to your service or schedule bulky item collection, contact WM at 425-587-0040 or 1-800-592-9995. Saturday customer service hours have been extended from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Note that bulky item collection may need to be scheduled farther out than usual due to high demand.
Learn more about the new waste contract, see current rates, and get information about the July 23 recycling event at kirklandwa.gov/wastecontract.
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 Come watch the live installation of Kirkland’s newest work of public art! A street mural under the CKC underpass at NE 68th St. is underway by artist Devin Finley who was selected through a Call to Artists by the Kirkland Cultural Arts Commission (KCAC). The City Council-funded mural reflects Kirkland’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and is tentatively entitled “Manifested Spectrum”. Councilmembers Curtis, Falcone, and Black met up with Finley as he painted this larger-than-life mural honoring the diversity of our community. Finley says his art is important and he wants people to engage with the mural when they walk by. He expects to be working on the installation through Friday, July 8, 2022, and welcomes input from the community. #KirklandPublicArt
July 2022 was proclaimed Parks and Recreation month by City Council at the July 5 meeting. The services that park and recreation professionals provide are vital for our communities — from protecting open space and natural resources to helping fight obesity and providing activities and resources for all people. Park and Recreation Month encourages everyone to reflect on the exponential value park and recreation professionals bring to communities.
In a typical year, Kirkland Parks and Community Services provides over 2,000 recreation programs for nearly 20,000 people – from preschool classes to summer camps to swim lessons for all ages, adult sports and fitness as well as senior programs and services. Staff manages 52 parks, three swimming beaches, 58 athletic fields, 14 reservable picnic areas, two dog parks (in addition to several pop-up dog parks this summer), the Juanita Friday Market, the North Kirkland Community Center, and the Peter Kirk Community Center and Pool. This summer the department is offering several new free programs including the Outdoor Summer Movie Series and Outdoor “SEEK” adventures for teens.
This year's proclamation theme is ‘We Rise Up for Parks and Recreation’, to highlight all the ways our communities are stronger, more vibrant and more resilient because park and recreation professionals rise up for their communities in service of equity, climate-readiness, and overall health and well-being. Thank you, Kirkland Parks and Community Services, for being a part of what makes our community so great.
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Kirkland Police held their first in-person Gun Safety Presentation class in the wake of the pandemic, and it was well received.
The class was full with 20 people signed up (to allow for social distancing) for the presentation on being a responsible gun owner, as well as safe storage of guns and how to use firearm locks. Participants had the chance to ask questions and practiced putting trigger locks and cable locks on inert handguns. Afterward, attendees each received their own small gun safe.
It was a good mix of participants, with about half of being current gun owners, and the other half not having a gun at home.
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Thank you to all who attended, volunteered, and paraded in the Celebrate Kirkland! Parade on Independence Day! It was wonderful to see this beloved tradition return and see the community celebrating together again.
Kirkland Councilmembers enjoyed celebrating the day with the community and took lots of pictures!
Totem Lake Boulevard/Cross Kirkland Corridor – Totem Lake
NIGHTLY CLOSURE MONDAY THRU THURSDAY- Kirkland’s Totem Lake Connector contractor will close Totem Lake Boulevard nightly at 10 p.m., reopening each morning at 5 a.m. to install Span 4 over Totem Lake Boulevard beginning Monday July 11.
The Cross Kirkland Corridor detour between 120th Place Northeast and 128th Lane Northeast remains in place while the pedestrian and bicycle bridge is constructed.
Kirkland’s Neighborhood Safety Program contractor continues traffic control at Central Way’s intersection with Main Street this week, where its workers are installing a set of rapid flashing beacons.
Northeast 124th Street – Juanita
Night construction continues on 116th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 124th Street, where a Kirkland project to improve traffic flow at the intersection is in process.
Interwest Construction is working from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday to create a new southbound right-turn lane from 116th Avenue Northeast onto Northeast 124th Street. They have encountered a number of underground conflicts that have showed some aspects of the project.
The contractor is also building a wide sidewalk with street trees and street lighting along the northwest side of 116th Avenue Northeast.
Northeast 132nd Street at I-405 – Juanita/Kingsgate
Drivers will encounter traffic control that will be in place into fall as the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) contractor begins the first phase of major construction, including the removal of trees in the project area.
Travel lanes on NE 132nd Street have shifted south, and left turns are prohibited except onto Totem Lake Boulevard for drivers traveling westbound and into Woodlake Apartments for drivers traveling eastbound.
WSDOT is building a new on-ramp for northbound Interstate 405 traffic and a new off-ramp for the interstate’s southbound traffic. The project will enhance sidewalks and bicycle lanes and will create roundabouts at the ramps’ Northeast 132nd Street intersection.
For questions about this traffic control or this project, call WSDOT’s project hotline at 425-224-2433.
Cross Kirkland Corridor – Everest/Moss Bay
Cross Kirkland Corridor travelers will continue to encounter a short detour around the trail between Seventh Avenue South and Sixth Street South as construction of the Feriton Spur Park expansion continues.
The short detour is directing travelers to a protected pathway along Fifth Place South. The park’s developer, SRM Development, expects the detour to continue until the park is completed. The concrete drivers’ strike is delaying completion of the park. During that time, SRM Development will continue to restrict parallel, on-street parking along the north portion of Fifth Place South.
SRM Development expects to open Feriton Spur Park to open to the public in 2022. The new park will extend the developed section of the Cross Kirkland Corridor to Sixth Street South with 14 improvements, including a pickleball court, urban farm and the corridor’s first bathroom.
Feriton Spur Park – Expansion Celebration
Location: 509 6th St. S, Kirkland, WA 98033
Free and open to the public celebration. Feriton Spur Park was expanded by more than double its previous size with a new 16-foot wide paved trail, a 44-foot pickleball court, an urban farm growing vegetables for Hopelink, bathrooms, a splash area and amphitheater. The event will include live music, food trucks, pickleball, lawn games and refreshments. The evening will mark the official grand opening of Chainline Brewing’s café and tap room, Chainline Station, inside a historic Pacific Northwest Railway Caboose. For more details, visit the event page.
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2nd Guns for Gift Cards Event
Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Location: Kirkland Justice Center, 11740 NE 118th Street, Kirkland.
How the Guns for Gift Cards exchange works:
No registration is required. Proof of Kirkland residency, such as a utility bill, is required to participate. Firearms exchanged through this program that are not stolen or linked to other crimes will be melted down as part of the Police Department’s annual firearm destruction process.
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Saturday, July 16, 23, and 30 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. (double features) at Juanita Beach Park North, 9703 Juanita Dr NE
Friday, August 5 and 12 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. (double features) at Heritage Park, 111 Waverly Way
Bring a blanket or low-back chair and enjoy a FREE double feature on the City’s new GIANT 12-foot LED movie screen. No need to wait until its dark outside. Watch a movie at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturdays starting July 16 at Junita Beach Park North and at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday, August 5 and 12 at Heritage Park. Food and snack trucks will be on site. All movies are PG-13 or under.
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