Moratorium! Kirkland City Council halts development downtown
photo by FarhadFarhad
At 11:20 p.m. during the September 16 Kirkland City Council meeting, the Council voted approve Ordinance No. 4139, “imposing a moratorium within Central Business District (CBD) Zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 on the acceptance of applications for review and/or issuance of development permits for any new development that would add or create in excess of 500 square feet of gross floor area.” The vote passed by a margin of 4-3.
How the City Council voted:
VOTING IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION TO APPROVE ORDINANCE NO. 4139 IMPOSING A MORATORIUM
- Mayor James Lauinger
- Dave Asher
- Jessica Greenway
- Tom Hodgson
VOTING AGAINST THE MOTION TO APPROVE ORDINANCE NO. 4139 IMPOSING A MORATORIUM
- Deputy Mayor Joan McBride
- Mary-Alyce Burleigh
- Bob Sternoff
Map of Central Business Districts
The net effect of this action is to halt all development in downtown Kirkland with the exception of CBD 5 which is Parkplace. The moratorium is in effect immediately and there is a requirement for a public hearing to be held within 60 days, by November 15, at that point the Council can impose another 6 month moratorium. Another public hearing would be needed if they wished to extend the moratorium once again.
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Posted by Admin on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Filed under Headlines · Tagged with City Council, Development, Downtown, Features, Government, Moratorium, Vote
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Okay, so Council voted down the BOA project because of their interpretation of Superior Retail. Now they say that they need a moratorium to further define what superior retail is. Doesn’t acknowledging that the code is questionable strengthen SRM’s case against the City? The gang of four knew enough about the code to override the DRB, yet now they need to stop all development to figure it out???
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I stayed up and watched the vote and the discussion beforehand. It was apparent to me that the four council members who voted for the moratorium had no interest in listening to the sage advice of Sternoff, Burleigh and McBride. I sensed thier frustation with the “four”. The “Four” had no interest in listening to anything the three had to say about how to mitigate the problem. Hodgsons fear about “not going through any of that again” will only cause more litigation, oh wait he already got us sued. Burleigh’s idea to put a moratorium on Park Lane and Lake Street only was the best idea. This all after Marilyn Dillard shared her good news about the antique mall property being leased to Opus and the funding was in place for development, but who cares about that? But oh no, lets shut down the whole city so they can “study it again”. I ask you all, who is going to run for council so this city can get back on track? Downtown will never recover from the damage the “Four ” have inflicted. We might as well put out that sign from the 70’s, to paraphrase, “Will the last business leaving downtown Kirkand turn out the lights?”
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I think the 3 council members who tried valiantly to stop this insanity should be supported and we should all contact them and thank them for their efforts. The focus will have to be on picking off one of the gang of 4 in the next election. I assume Ms. sweet will run again but we will need another good candidate to step up. last time I checked the recall effort was stalled at 63 signatures. the inability to get the 500 signatures needed has probably emboldened the Mayor. The arrogance of the ‘gang’ comes from strong levels of support from the short sighted, self interested no growth folks..we should not kid ourselves. they are out there and they are organized. They will not be easy to beat.
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While you are thanking Bob,Mary Alyce and Joyce, make sure you give a rousing thanks to those serving on the Planning Commission, and have (in the recent past) served on the Design Review Board, DAT and other volunteer efforts over the past 5+ move Kirkland forward. Unfortunately, I have to agree with all comments above–we are in deep trouble and need a change desperately.
By the way, Council will be in the Juanita Neighborhoods next week for a meeting. It will be held at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, 7pm on Thursday, Sept. 25th. The format will be somewhat different than a council meeting and the neighborhood is requesting an open Q & A session. It would be great if we can fill the place and make our displeasure known. If we don’t step up and make a noise, we will be stuck with more of the same for the foreseeable future.
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No kidding, after my stints on the Transportation Commission and the Park Board I have a great amount of respect for those who stuck it out after I left in 2005.
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The question now is how long will the moratorium last? If it is a short one, there won’t be much harm, but if it drags on (like almost everything in the public process in Kirkland does), then we have a really bad situation.
I’ll bet that the four Councilmembers who voted for this will be saying that they don’t want a long one, but they will support dragging the process out “because we want to be sure everyone gets to be heard on every point” or something along those lines. That way, they can say that they didn’t want a long moratorium, but they will get it, just like their supporters want.
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Well the rumor is end of February 2009 at the earliest. However, since I haven’t seen much get done in that period of time in the council (i.e. annexation, DT action plan, etc…) I’m afraid we’re in for a long ugly fight.
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Well the inital moratorium is to last 60 days. My question is now what are they going to do? This is supposed to be an emergency. So what is the plan of action? Who is going to work on the new plan? Are there going to be committees of local groups or is the Council going to act on their own?
Kudos to Bob, Mary-Alyce, and Joan for trying to keep things moving in Kirkland. Since they were unsuccessful in fending off the moratorium let us hope they can work to use the time wisely to develop a plan for downtown that everyone can live with.
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Lets hope they don’t give up and leave the city council! That’s what I’m truly worried about right now- and really who could blame them. They have been real troopers through this whole ordeal.
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Michelle,
Do you know of any prospective candidates to run for council? We sure could use a person of your experience. Vote for Michelle!
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The husband says no way until the retirement fund is full up, which with the way the market has been going recently will be when I’m about 80 : )
But thanks!
Penny Sweet will be running again next year- she’s much more qualified than I am and I hear that there are a few more interested people being courted out there who are much more balanced between the groups than what we’ve got in certain members there now.
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Sounds like we have a council of 4 that meets on their own, then springs their decisions on the minority of 3 last minute. Seems to me rather than taking 60 days to define the term “superior retail”, call a block party, order pizza and beer and you should be able to figured out in 24 hours. Then take another 24 hours, call another block party, this time order chicken wings and beer, and figure out how many stories high we want to agree on. Like Mary Alice said, it’s not brain surgury. To do this one would need a good leader, a mayor, or something like that, oh well, so much for that idea…
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What a pathetic excuse for leadership. Wasn’t it these clowns that complained about an unfair process during the B of A debacle? I watched the whole meeting and still can’t figure out where the emergency is. They wouldn’t even agree to a public hearing before the imposition of a moratorium. I guess the public can’t be trusted until the rules are already a done deal. After years of waiting for the Antique Mall to get someone interested and ready to go with a project the owner gets rewarded with a moratorium! In the midst of the worst budget crisis this City has ever seen in my over 50 years here, these four braintrusts have time to develop their new vision for the Downtown. A little tweaking here and there and I am sure they will get it right. But oh, B of A’s revised plan would have required a new process through the DRB etc. It is nice to know that these 4 graduate land planners and economists can devise what is right for this City for the years to come in a short period of time!
By the way did you see the proposal from Staff on the tax increases? A property tax raise of over 2% including what’s left of banked capacity. Utility rate tax increases. A business head tax that will be sure to lure new companies to Kirkland. Of course keeping buildings as they are and limiting height while requiring new parking will surely encourage landlords to improve their property and keep retail rental rates from rising! The sad thing is that by the time these 4 either get voted our or quit the damage has been done. Congratulations to those who were wearing the I love Kirkland stickers at the Council meetings. You guys won. The rest of us pay!
Al
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Well, I’m gone again for a short vacation, come back, and see that the GOF (Gang of Four) has struck again. Based on the above comments (I have not listened to the council meeting yet), it appears to me as though the GOF are not truly engaging in lively debate, but instead are forming their decision in private discussions with each other apriori. We have anything, but “open process” happening here folks! I may be wrong, but I see this moratorium as another means to basically stop development due to what I feel will be a costly loss in a lawsuit. I think the Council is gambling here…basically, they may be forced by King County Superior Court to either approve or take a re-vote (minus Hodgson), but with the moratorium in place, I’m sure the KCC will want to study ever nuisance to ensure a tweaked code will not lead to further appeals! Gosh, this could take a year or more including several extensions… My apologies for the sarcasm, but, IMHO, the GOF always voting together and agreeing ahead of time, they are basically sticking together and not really open to opinions outside of their own private discussion group, apparently.
If the need to have a moratorium is such an emergency, they why didn’t this take precedence over CiViK’s BoA appeal? Why was this not dealt with immediately…because KCC didn’t think they would have to…that’s why. Like I said above, this is an end-run around the requested relief on the part of the SRM suit…
EOM {Very Disappointed!}
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Kuddos to the four who voted yes. This is a brief period of 60 days. (Prior posts seem to think that development is haulted for 60 years!!) This is a brief period for the Council to take a breath and clarify the plan. In the long run, this action will prevent future lawsuits, and will protect all residents and developers of Kirkland alike.
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Love Kirkland, I’ll bet you big bucks that the moratorium is gonna last longer than 60 days…haven’t you seen how things tend to go around here? I’ll check back in November to collect.
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Every morning the sun wakes me up – some mornings I would like to sleap in – perhaps I could just stop the sun from coming up!
That’s what this city council, under the very poor leadership of Jim have just done. I’m sure that he, along with the other gang of four – just got tired of all we citizens complaining of their missmanagement of our city – just wanted to stop it all.
The gang of four have put this city in debt somewhere in the area of 13-17 million dollars, one member of the council has caused thousands of dollars in extra legal expense with his illegal acts, yet he remains on the Council because of this gang of four, and now a major lawsuit has been filed against the city – costing the city 10’s of thousands of dollars in extra legal costs, yet we will lose the suit. If you doubt this just look at the last two minutes of the July 1, council meeting tape – a judge will – and case closed.
The City Attorney, and the City Manager both report to the City Council,they cannot correct the problems with the Council unless the Council tells to do so – and the chances of that are?
The city is in a pickle, a Gang of Four, is running the city into major debt, causing lawsuits with more on the way, and causing our city to the laughing stock of other cities in the area.
Oh but for Old West justice – Rail, Tar and Feathers is what’s needed, because these people are not leaving on their own. They for some reason, just don’t understand what damage they are doing to the city.
Your taxes have gone up each year this gang has been in power – and another major increase will come next year – with this lawsuit, and others to follow – the debt rating of this city will decline, our city insurance cost will soar – if we can still get insurance with a coucil so out of control.
A group without any honor or pride needs to go – the how is the question!
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Tom Hodgson is an idiot. There, I said it. The change I’ve witnessed in him over the past year and a half is profound – I’m disappointed beyond belief. Tuesday above all days was the kicker – PLEASE can he be so stupid that he could possibly suggest that all of the “issues that need to be clarified” can be resolved in 60 days? Aren’t they supposed to be focusing their energies on getting the city out of the financial crisis they have created for us?
The excuse that he wants to avoid the headaches of B of A and McLeod sound slightly reasonable EXCEPT when he refuses Joan and Mary-Alyce’s pleadings that the moratorium exclude the Antique Mall property. OMG! He knew from the letter she sent the day before that the developers WILL NOT BE ASKING FOR ANYTHING THAT ISN’T ALREADY CLEARLY ZONED for her area! (four stories, ground floor retail.) B of A and McLeod were asking for elements that were in the Grey Area being along Lake Street – this is what caused the headaches. Marilyn IS NOT! His decision risks both her financing and development deals. If it falls through, tell me WHAT DEVELOPER IN THEIR RIGHT MIND will make an offer like this again anytime in the near future? What kind of fantasy world is he living in? Downtown desperately needs the Antique Mall to be redeveloped, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect to coincide with the Transit Station redevelopment – get it done all at once with the least amount of impact!
I’m focusing on Tom, because at one time I thought he had some sense about him. I actually liked the guy. Jim and Jessica – they are idiots and always have been. Dave – can he be our last chance? Is there any way to get through to him? Somehow I have to believe that he’s smarter than the others. Yes, I know he agreed to the moratorium, but I really believe he might be the one to swing the other way to the “Enlightened Three” at the next vote. I say, lets collectively work on him. Focus letters and communication that would appeal to him. He’s our only hope!
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Saying that 60 days will do it makes it sound like no big thing, but we all know that the process in Kirkland is inevitably slow. I’m sure Tom expects that this will be dragged on forever, but a long moratorium is what the supporters of those four Councilmembers want to see.
Jessica Greenway said that she didn’t want to leave any of the Central Business District zones out of the moratorium, but there has been no talk of any development proposal in some of them. CBD4 on the map above, which is the area immediately east of the Portsmouth condominium building is one of these, but there are supporters in the Portsmouth. CBD8, north of Central Way, is another, but more supporters live in large buildings there. The more areas to be debated, the longer the freeze.
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