UPDATED Goodbye Houghton Community Council? HB 1812 Returns

By on January 6, 2012 in Government, Neighborhood News

UPDATE 1/6/2012 12:30PM HB 1812 has been removed from the House Committee on Local Government’s agenda.

Last year’s controversial House Bill 1812, which was crafted to eliminate the Houghton Community Council, is scheduled for a vote out of the House Committee on Local Government this Tuesday without a public hearing. In 2011, the Bill titled, “Changing provisions relating to community municipal corporations” caused a public outcry from supporters of the only two remaining community municipal corporations in the state (Houghton and East Bellevue) when it was learned that the legislature tried to quietly eliminate the two elected bodies. Local citizens from Kirkland started a petition drive and testified before the legislature in Olympia in support of the Houghton Community Council and were successful in stopping the action in 2011. Now House Bill 1812 is scheduled for “possible executive session” on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.

The agenda for the House Committee on Local Government for next Tuesday schedules HB 1812 for an executive session without a public hearing:

Washington State House Committee on Local Government – 01/10/12 12:00 pm

REVISED on 1/5/2012 at 3:51 PM

Public Hearing:

  1. HB 2152 – Clarifying timelines associated with plats.
  2. HB 2162 – Addressing appeal and permit procedures under the shoreline management act.
  3. HB 2201 – Addressing the use and governance of hearing examiners. (If measure is referred to committee.)

Possible Executive Session: HB 1812 – Changing provisions relating to community municipal corporations. (If measure is referred to committee.)

This old Entering Houghton sign now hangs on the wall at City Hall.

The Houghton Community Council (HCC) is an elected body which was created by the state over 40 years ago as part of the merger between the two cities of Kirkland and Houghton. Houghton was granted a say over land use issues within its boundaries. By design, the HCC exists as long as the people of Houghton continue to vote to keep it.

Today, the HCC is viewed by detractors as an impediment to the Kirkland City Council on land use issues and a roadblock for implementing the Growth Management Act since the HCC, in essence, has veto power on issues under their jurisdiction.

Some supporters of the HCC view it as a form of checks and balances to the progressive land use actions of Kirkland City Council. Like the Kirkland City Council, the HCC has regular meetings and works in conjunction with the Planning Department.

House Bill 1812 is sponsored by Representatives Kirby, Kagi and Moeller.

About Rob Butcher

Editor and Scribbler of Kirkland Views.
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  • Anonymous

    Jim Moeller never saw a citizen’s right he didn’t want quashed. Anyone on the fence on the issue of community councils should take his sponsorship of a bill to eliminate them as reason enough to support keeping them.

  • Tia

    With 29 houses going in behind Metropolitan Market and the 200-unit TOD building slated for the South Kirkland Park and Ride, I wonder when the HCC has used this envied “veto power.” The newly established Yarrow Bay Business District allows for new building heights. Lots have been subdivided. Yes, the HCC has a unique place at the table, but I’ve not seen anything specific that merits the term “roadblock.” What I’ve seen are volunteers working with the city to achieve smart, fair growth.

    Also, the bill has its named sponsors shown above (none of whom have community councils in their districts), but it is Larry Springer who was cited frequently last year as the one who started this ball rolling. Clearly this affects so few people that it will likely sail through. How many legislators could even answer the question “What is a community municipal corporation?’

  • http://www.scocon.net Marvin Scott

    Here we go again.  Do the sponsers of this bill even have any skin in the game or are they just helping out their pals on the City Council.  Every City Council member needs to make a stand on this issue.  Who is really behind this?  Was this hatched in a back room filled with cigar smoke or was it in a back room with wine and cheese?  Once again an example of backroom politics.  Time to get the petition going again and make sure the representative who represent Kirkland know there are a lot of voters who do not want the agreement made many years ago canceled and even more who don’t appreciate the sneaky way they are doing it.

  • http://kirklandviews.com Rob Butcher

    Remarkably, the Committee on Local Government has removed HB 1812 from the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting.
    Last year HB 1812 surprised everyone in Kirkland when it appeared out of nowhere. The city’s own staff knew nothing of it. This year, staff reports on the 2012 legislative agenda without a word about the Houghton Community Council or HB 1812, as if it was dead. Now, suddenly, up from the grave, HB 1812 appears… and then dies. Again.

    This bill should get an Oscar for its portrayal as the lead character in a zombie movie.

  • Larry

    Larry Springer
    Without rehashing the debate when this biil was introuced last session about the perception of back room deals, it is important to know that the bill was TENTATIVELY scheduled for executive session IF (and that was a big IF) the bill was referred again to the Local Government Committee.  That bill has not been rereferred to the Committee.  It remains in the Rules Committee and I will request it be sent to the 
    X File which is where bills go to die.
    However, a new bill will most likely be introduced dealing with this issue in the next week or so.  Because Kirkland is now represented by 3 Legislative Districts it is important to involve all of the legislators for Kirkland in the discussion of a bill.  Any new bill will be available for public comment and hearing during the normal legislative process.  I encourage anyone interested in this issue to contact me.  My Legislative office number is 360 786-7822.

    • http://kirklandviews.com Rob Butcher

      Hi Larry,

      Thank you for explaining the process and I want to apologize of any of my statements misrepresented how HB 1812 is winding its way toward oblivion. I look forward to seeing what actions you and Kirkland’s new representatives take during what looks to be an eventful session. Thanks for being so accessible and available to answer questions about this issue. Ilook forward to an open public debate.

    • Karen Levenson

      How can we follow that the bill has been requested for the X file and sent there…. where bills go to die?  Thank you for requesting this.

    • Karen Levenson

      Also, other reports state that this bill is being ditched for another bill to be introduced by you.  Is this correct?  Please provide clarity

  • Margaret Wiggins

    As a power structure goes, “more complicated” has its advantages and disadvantages. But for sure, it isn’t cheaper than a single structure.

    I also like it when everyone is in the same boat and all oars in the water rowing in the same direction… splitting the strength in numbers is “generally” not such a good policy.

    But that’s in general :-)

    • Anonymous

      There’s the other view too… that the HCC only has some say over the land use in their area… and it only affects the constitutionally challenged growth management act in the city… so … if the HCC is breaking the law by NOT complying with an act of state government…

      Oh, I get it… if Houghton doesn’t allow huge new multi-person buidlings then the rest of Kirkland has to let them into their neighborhoods… Yeah, that’s what we need, more apartments and condos… all those for-sale signs not withstanding.

  • myopinion

    I would like to know why these 3 representatives from other districts are sponsoring a bill at the state level that only effects East Bellevue and Hougthon?!!!  

    Clearly something sneaky is still afoot. 
    This should be veto’d on the basis that the sponsors have no skin in the game that is visible and do not represent constituencies in either area and have not insight into how these bodies effect the areas covered.  

    The fact that “some” want to remove them from the table underscores the effectiveness as a check that these volunteers perform.  

    Kirkland is so big now that the City Council and their spouses should have bigger fish to fry.  Move on.  

    • John Gilday

       ”I would like to know why these 3 representatives from other districts are sponsoring a bill at the state level that only effects East Bellevue and Hougthon?!”

      Do you honestly think the representatives that DO represent these areas will sponsor this bill?  They’d never get reelected.

  • Matt McCauley

    For anyone who wants to understand how Kirkland and Houghton
    consolidated in 1968 and why the then-new ability to create the Houghton
    Community Council allowed that consolidation–by which a (literally)
    brand new City of Kirkland was created–I urge them to read ex-Kirkland
    Mayor Bob Neir’s outstanding book, ‘A City Comes of Age: A Political
    History of Kirkland, Washington 1965-1995.’ Mr Neir explains in detail
    how the three previous efforts at consolidation failed (Had the third
    effort succeeded then the new, consolidated city would have been called
    Houghton today, not Kirkland!) and why the final effort succeeded. He
    also explains in detail why the ability to create the HCC made that
    occur. His book is available at Parkplace Books. 

    Personally, I say a deal is a deal. I still associate with many seniors
    who were here then and remain in Kirkland who really deliberated over
    and, in many cases, campaigned for that effort back in 1968 and to
    unwind their decision from Olympia in an effort made by outside
    legislators to me violates the spirit of the will of the voters. Unlike
    the numerous neighborhoods that were later annexed into Kirkland,
    Houghton and Kirkland joined under an entirely different legal
    arrangement and commitments were made to the residents of the
    then-fourth-class Town of Houghton in order to make that happen. If over
    the past 44 years the HCC has become obsolete, then let’s have that
    debate here within the modern City of Kirkland and let we Kirkland
    residents decide, not the state legislature. I’m a native Juanita
    Neighborhood resident, but I support the HCC out of respect for those
    who created it and had the vision to turn former town of Houghton of my
    late-1960′s childhood from the decrepit, rusting industrial neighborhood
    with its rotting shipyard, tank farms and other eyesores I remember,
    into the beautiful Lakeview and Houghton neighborhoods we know today,
    with their many beautiful parks, well-thought development–like Carillon
    Point–and the overall high quality of life.

  • Rlstyle

    We’re learning the hard way
    not to trust politicians.  It’s certainly
    true of State Representative Larry Springer and Kirkland’s Mayor Joan
    McBride.  They have not only cost us a
    lot of money, they have reduced our quality of life.  When discussing budgets, traffic congestion, annexation,
    or controlling growth, they brokered deals without keeping the public informed
    as to what was going on. 

     

    The Kirkland Council has
    always valued neighborhoods.  Why not
    now?

     

    To suggest elimination of the
    Houghton Community Council personifies why we should not trust them.  When Mr. Springer and Ms. McBride were
    elected, it exemplified the meaning of, “There goes the neighborhood.”

     

     

    • Matt McCauley

      Mr Style–While you are certainly entitled to you point of view, I have to disagree with your characterization of Joan and Larry. Larry has posted here on KV several times now about this matter and does not need me to speak for him, but based on personal acquaintance since his time on the Kirkland City Council and as a long-time customer of his retail store, I consider him an intelligent, sincere and honorable man and hard-working, committed legislator–even if I do not agree with him on every issue.

      In light of your comment I would like to point a few things out about Joan.

      I first me her ~20 years ago when we both volunteered on the old King County Kirkland History Project. At that time she was ON the HCC and I believe she ultimately served two terms as its chair. She is also a Kirkland native who attended Lakeview School as a little girl and owns (or owned) for decades a home in one Houghton’s former WWII housing projects, where she also raised her family. Her roots in Houghton are deeper than nearly anyone I can think of and her knowledge of the HCC is far better than that of most people given her service on it.

      It is difficult for me to imagine a person more sensitive to the needs of the Houghton and Lakeview neighborhoods than Joan McBride. She is a woman with a decades long record of community service and is well-respected by her peers, such that they have repeatedly elected her mayor. Again, I am certain I do not agree with Joan on all issues, but, like Larry Springer, I believe her to be a person of excellent character and both of them have earned my respect over the past few decades.  

      • Steve

        Can anyone tell us what Mr. R Styles has done for the City of Kirkland?  Volunteering, City Council, Civic Club Member?  Anything?