South Kirkland Park and Ride
At the December 2nd City Council meeting over twenty people signed up to speak to the Council on issues such as the Costco gas station PAR, Touchstone’s Parkplace PAR and the South Kirkland Park and Ride.
Both the Costco PAR and the South Kirkland Park and Ride issue produced passionate voices of opposition.
The South Kirkland Park and Ride, which straddles the Kirkland/Bellevue boarder, is a Transit-Oriented-Development which will transform the 600 stall parking lot into a mixed-use development with retail space , office space and 450 residential units.
A primary goal of this development is to provide affordable housing with a minimum of 20% of total units affordable to low and /or moderate income households and an additional 25% to be affordable to median income households.
Adoption of the Comprehensive Plan amendments is anticipated to occur by the end of 2008. Following this process, the City will initiate a second project in 2009, to amend the Zoning Code to provide more specific standards for development at the property. This process will include significant opportunities for public comment and involvement.
The Houghton Community Council will address the issue on December 18th.
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5 Responses to “South Kirkland Park and Ride”
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The type of project they are proposing here is so out of character with the neighborhood I can’t believe they really want to build it here. 500 low income housing units on a bus line next to the bridge is nothing more than a place to dump Seattle’s service workers because Seattle wont house them. Worker housing for Seattle’s jobs is what this is all about and it will dwarf our community.
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I couldn’t disagree more–a similar development in the Crossroads area of Redmond provides much needed housing for Eastside lower income folks and allows easy access to transit and other services.
When will affluent Kirkland folks realize that they need to address the needs of all of Kirkland, not just what directly benefits them. It is self -serving and continues to perpetuate the NIMBYism that threatens to de-rail moving our fair city into the future. Please think of someone other than yourselves!
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Kirkland Family Man Reply:
December 6th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
The primary goal of the re-zoning of the South Kirkland Park and Ride is to turn it into a Transit Oriented Development Center. It is being driven by King County and funded by a federal grant.
Theoretically, it could have the added benefit of having some percentage of affordable housing. However, I couldn’t disagree more with Ms. Hanefeld. She writes of a similar development in the Crossroads area of Redmond – but I’m not sure which development she means because Crossroads is in Bellevue. There is a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) going into Redmond currently. It’s located near the QFC on 85th. I believe there is affordable housing near the Crossroads shopping center. However, the key to both of these sites is that they have close-by commercially zoned areas for the residents to walk to. Shoe-horning 500 units onto the South Kirkland Park and Ride’s 7 acre site is just not good city planning because there is no nearby retail amenities for the residents. The area is surrounded by land zoned for Offices (the Pacar Buildings) and low-density residential. The nearest retail grocery store and pharmacy would be at Houghton Shopping Center, almost 2 miles away. That would mean that residents would have to get in their cars – which defeats the whole purpose of TOD. Successful TOD’s require supporting infrastructure which is not present in the case of the South Kirkland Park and Ride. To top it off, the County is only adding 260 additional parking spots to the site. Do the math – 500 more residents, 260 additional parking spots, we’ve actually reduced the capacity of the Park and Ride when it’s currently full on most weekdays. It doesn’t make sense from a city or transit perspective.
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Dear Marianna,
I had to reread your statement three times because I found what write as not only disturbing but misinformed. I don’t know about Crossroads so I won’t talk about that. I don’t think you know me so please don’t call me names like NIMBY or say I’m self serving or affluent. You DONT know me. FYI I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with my husband and two little girls. We walk to the park and ride so I know the area well. It’s not ideal but we do fine. I know this area well cause I live here. Do you?
Where does your anger come from that you can jump to such conclusions and yet you seem so sure of your beliefs that you can attack someone you don’t even know just because that person disagrees with you. Someone saying that would be called intollerant in my home town. What is it you call yourself? Enlightened? Smarter than most around you? Have all the answers? I don’t think ever will until you stop judging people because they disagree with your opinion. Happy Holidays.
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Rob Butcher Reply:
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Nancy,
Just for clarification, NIMBY in an acronym for Not In My Back Yard. Although it can be seen as an insult, it is not necessarily so. I believe that at some point everyone is a NIMBY on some issue. The problem is, everyone dislikes it when people are NIMBYs except when they themselves don’t want a Cell Tower, a Transfer Station, a Sewer Treatment Plant… in their back yard.
Some will argue that welcoming undesirable things into your back yard is your duty and you would be selfish to not do so. Others argue that since everyone is fighting for their own personal self interests, only the fool would avoid pursuit of self interest.
Thank you for your comments.
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