At the January 6, 2009 Kirkland City Council meeting, the Council voted to re-examine the feasibility of annexation in light of Kirkland’s recent budget cuts and tax increases. The City will examine three scenarios, each with different service level assumptions. The complex financial models used to study annexation will be updated to reflect all known changes since the Council last decided to table annexation last Spring, including the most recent changes to Kirkland’s 2009-2010 budget. Options to be examined will include:

• delayed construction of an expanded public safety building;
• grandfathering the casino in Kingsgate in an effort to keep the approximately $1.5 million in tax revenue;
• extension of the State’s 2010 deadline for annexation commencement;
• offering the PAA a lesser level of services than existing City of Kirkland enjoys.

A request was made by Councilmember Jessica Greenway to more formally gather input from Kirkland citizens as to how they view annexation, but the rest of the Council had no interest in any formal citizen input such as an advisory vote of the citizens. Councilmembers universally said they were interested in citizen input, but input will need to remain in the form of emails and letters to the Council. 

The City Staff is scheduled to present the updated annexation financial study on March 3, 2009.

Also at the meeting, a decision was made to hire a federal lobbyist to lobby elected officials to steer money toward Kirkland. There is a line forming at the federal trough to receive a portion of the federal government’s anticipated economic stimulus packages and Kirkland has submitted several requests for the 2010 federal budget. In an effort to secure these federal dollars, the Council voted to fund a federal lobbyist to the tune of $35,000 as recommended in this staff memo to the Council.

Issued by The National Weather Service
Seattle/Tacoma, WA
4:29 am PST, Tue., Jan. 6, 2009

… FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF WESTERN WASHINGTON FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON…

THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* PORTIONS OF WESTERN WASHINGTON… INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES… GRAYS HARBOR… CLALLAM… JEFFERSON… SKAGIT… WHATCOM… KING… KITSAP… LEWIS… MASON… PIERCE… SNOHOMISH… THURSTON.

* FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON

* A WARM AND VERY WET STREAM OF MOISTURE WILL BE AIMED AT WESTERN WASHINGTON THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA AS WELL AS RISING SNOW LEVELS. STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT ARE EXPECTED TO BE ON THE ORDER OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ON THE COAST AND IN THE CASCADES… WITH UP TO 20 INCHES POSSIBLE ON THE WEST FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS.

* THE EXCESSIVE RAINFALL COULD DRIVE MANY AREA RIVERS ABOVE FLOOD STAGE… WITH SOME RIVERS POSSIBLY EXPERIENCING MAJOR FLOODING. THE HEAVY RAINS COULD ALSO LEAD TO SOME URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR FLOODING BUT FLOODING IS NOT IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE… AND BE READY TO ACT QUICKLY IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED OR A WARNING IS ISSUED.

Dept. of Ecology Seeks Comment Regarding Cleanup of the old Pace National Site

The Washington State Department of Ecology (WSDOE) seeks public comment on an agreed order with ULTRA Corporation, outlining a process to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at the former Pace
National Corporation property, 500 7th Ave. South in Kirkland (next to the Google campus across the BNSF train tracks).  Under the agreed order, the company will prepare a detailed site assessment and a feasibility study of cleanup options, and propose a cleanup plan, all of which will be subject to public review and comment.  The WSDOE also seeks comment on a public participation plan for the site.

View Larger Map
 

Site Background

The Ultra Corporation site, referred to as Pace National, represents a five acre property in a mixed commercial/industrial and residential neighborhood in central Kirkland approximately 0.5 miles south of downtown. The property has had commercial and industrial occupants since the early 1960s. Pace National conducted chemical mixing and packaging on part of the site for approximately 20 years, starting in the early 1970s, and installed 14 underground storage tanks that held various products. From the early 90s to 2006 the site was used for retail storage.

The site has undergone partial evaluation and cleanup.  Contaminants in soil and ground water include petroleum hydrocarbons, semi-volatile organic compounds, and chlorinated solvents. Contaminated soil has been removed (entailing the demolition of the Pace National building) and groundwater monitoring wells installed.  ULTRA expects to propose a pilot test for groundwater treatment.

What Happens Next?

After the 30-day public comment period, WSDOE will review all comments received and make recommendations for any suggested changes. If no significant changes are necessary, the Agreed Order and Public Participation Plan will be final.

According to this document, a public meeting has not been scheduled at this time. However, one will be held if ten or more people request a meeting during the comment period (comments accepted through January 20, 2009).

 
For more details and background on this proposal, please see Ecology’s fact sheet on the Internet at:http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0809162.pdf

For information on the Pace National/ULTRA site overall, including the agreed order and public participation plan, visit:  www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/pace/pace_hp.html

At the November 13, 2008 meeting of the Kirkland Planning Commission, the majority voted to recommend to the City Council the approval of:

1. Touchstone Parkplace Private Amendment Request (PAR)
2. Costco Private Amendment Request (PAR)

The first part of the meeting was a study session for the Touchstone Parkplace PAR. Some of the issues addressed by staff to the satisfaction of the majority of the Planning Commission were:

• Did the PAR proposal constitute spot zoning?
• Was the 5th story option vested?
• Does a 15% view blockage constitute a taking?
• The effect of the petition
• Accuracy of traffic and parking mitigation
• Sustainability - Touchstone’s intent to achieve LEAD Gold  Certification for the core and shell of the project.

The latter part of the meeting was a Public Hearing on the Costco PAR. Costco is requesting an amendment to allow a gas station to be built on property the company currently owns and uses as a parking lot to the north of the store. Several citizens of Kirkland spoke before the Commission.

The Planning Commission voted to recommend both PARs to the City Council.

Documents for download:

Park Place (Touchstone) Private Amendment Request (PAR) File No. ZON07-00016

PUBLIC HEARING - Costco Wholesale Private Amendment Request, File No. ZON07-00017

The audio of the Nov 13th meeting is available at:

www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/Planning/Planning_Commission/Planning_Commission_Meetings_Online.htm

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The world rejoices as America changes course. It is indeed, a new day.

• The Times
• BBC News
• International Herald Tribune
• Deutsche Welle-World

Washington State House Districts 45 and 48

Ballot Measures

State Officials

Note: As of 7:26 a.m., there was only one source available with YouTube video of President-Elect Obama’s victory speech in Chicago: Aljazeera. We have posted the video above.

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In today’s Seattle Times, Keith Ervin has written an update on the BNSF rail sale to the Port of Seattle. Due to the lack of liquidity in the municipal-bond market, the Port of Seattle is delaying their purchase of the rail line for three months. The deal was originally scheduled to close by the end of this year.

Economy delays BNSF rail-line sale to Port of Seattle

A troubled municipal-bond market has delayed the Port of Seattle’s $107 million purchase of BNSF Railway’s Snohomish-to-Renton rail line, but the Port has chosen a possible excursion-train operator.

 

BNSF Railway’s sale of its 42-mile Renton-to-Snohomish rail line to the Port of Seattle won’t close before the first quarter of 2009.

Port officials, citing the crippled municipal-bond market, have announced a three-month extension of the $107 million deal, which had been scheduled to close by the end of this year.

The Port also announced it has chosen a rail operator with whom it will negotiate a short-haul freight service and possible excursion train between Snohomish and the wineries in Woodinville.

Based on a recommendation from BNSF, the Port chose GNP/Ballard, a partnership of Ballard Terminal Railroad operator Byron Cole and GNP Railway operator Tom Payne, as possible business partners.

Ballard would run freight cars and GNP would operate passenger cars, said Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs. The operator of the former Renton-to-Woodinville Spirit of Washington Dinner Train had submitted a proposal, Skaggs said, but it was passed over in favor of GNP/Ballard.

The excursion train could possibly run as far south as Bellevue, depending on the outcome of a public planning process, Skaggs said. Payne in the past has promoted the idea of GNP running commuter trains from Snohomish to Bellevue.

A contract won’t be signed with GNP/Ballard until the Port’s purchase of the rail line is complete.

On the delay of that deal, Port CEO Tay Yoshitani said in a written statement that local governments across the country are delaying or scrapping projects because of the difficulty in finding buyers for their bonds.

“The Port remains committed to placing the corridor into public ownership,” Yoshitani said. “BNSF understands the situation and agreed to this short delay. We look forward to finalizing the deal next year.”

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas declined to discuss details of the deal, but said, “We’re working with the Port to move forward on the transaction.”

Natasha Jones, spokeswoman for King County Executive Ron Sims, said, “We still have confidence that they will be moving forward once the whole worldwide economic situation improves.”

BNSF, which recently halted freight operations south of Woodinville, agreed two years ago to sell the corridor to the Port, which in turn promised to trade it to King County for county-owned Boeing Field. That deal fell through when Port Commission and the Metropolitan King County Council balked.

Under the current sale agreement, the Port would continue to provide freight-rail service to businesses between Woodinville and Snohomish. King County would pay the Port $2 million for the right to build biking and hiking trails between Bellevue and Renton and between Woodinville and Redmond.

Skaggs said the virtually shutdown market for corporate “commercial paper” has begun to function again, giving Port officials hope that the bond market will improve soon. “The belief is that certainly by March of 2009 we should see more thawing in the bond markets,” she said. “No one can say that for sure.”

The Port’s outstanding general-obligation bonds carry top-tier AAA ratings, Skaggs said.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com

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Vote Paves the Way for Competitive Choice for TV Service - Comcast No Longer The Only Game In Town

Residents of Kirkland are a major step closer to having an innovative, reliable and competitive alternative for their television services, thanks to a unanimous vote by the City Council Tuesday night (Oct. 21) authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV.

Kirkland is the 14th community in the state to grant a video franchise to Verizon, following recent approvals in Bothell, Brier, Edmonds, Everett, Kenmore, Lynnwood, Marysville, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Redmond, Woodinville, Woodway and Snohomish County. The company launched FiOS TV in Washington last month and plans to offer the service in Kirkland shortly.

FiOS TV offers consumers a broad range of programming choices, including 98 high-definition (HD) channels in the region, giving customers more HD channels than Comcast.  In addition, FiOS TV offers superior picture quality from the only TV service delivered over the nation’s most advanced all-fiber network directly connecting to millions of individual homes and businesses.  

Approval of Verizon’s video franchise is great news for the residents of Kirkland, who will soon have more choice for their video entertainment,” said David S. Valdez, senior vice president for Verizon’s Pacific Northwest region. “We commend the mayor, City Council and city staff for their dedication and hard work throughout this process. They recognize and support the technological advantage and competitive benefits, as well as the distinctive edge in economic development and quality of life, that fiber will bring to their community.

“We look forward to reaching similar agreements with other Washington communities,” said Valdez.

The franchise vote gives Verizon the authority to offer FiOS TV to up to 22,000 households in Kirkland. Many Verizon customers in Washington are already enjoying FiOS Internet service, which delivers ultra-fast download speeds up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second).*

Verizon already provides FiOS TV in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. 

FiOS TV Service Highlights

FiOS TV service highlights include:

• More than 400 all-digital channels grouped by genres such as entertainment, sports, news, shopping, movies and family, making it easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.
• Availability of 98 HD channels in the local market, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound. The company plans to offer all available major HD programming by year-end.
• An industry-leading library of more than 11,000 video-on-demand (VOD) titles each month, 70 percent of which are free.  In addition, Verizon offers an increasing number of on-demand titles in HD, and plans to offer 1,000 HD VOD titles per month by the end of the year.
• An innovative interactive media guide (IMG) that helps customers quickly and easily find and enjoy content from TV listings, VOD catalogs and the digital video recorder (DVR) as well as personal music and photos from a home network.  Among the features of the IMG are:
  • Multi-Room DVR - Verizon’s Home Media DVR allows customers to stream recorded HD and standard-definition (SD) programs to up to six other TV sets throughout the home.  This includes the ability to watch three separately recorded shows on three TV sets at the same time, plus pause recorded programming in one room and continue watching in another.
  • Widgets - Customers have one-touch, on-demand access to local weather and traffic reports shown on TV screens, while they’re watching their favorite shows.  Widgets provide local traffic and weather reports, daily local and national news headlines, daily national sports headlines, community news, and daily horoscopes.
  • Free casual games - With the remote control and an HD set-top box, customers can access chess, solitaire and wordplay.
  • “What’s Hot on FiOS TV” - Features information on the most-popular programs currently being broadcast in the region and the most popular VOD titles.
  • “Wait for Me” - Allows customers to pause live programming, change channels, and then return to the paused program and pick up where they left off.
  • Channel sorting options - Customers can create two separate lists of favorite channels for family members.  Customers also can filter channels in the guide by genre, for instances where a customer may only want to see HD content, international channels or kids programming, among others.

Programming choices for Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Russian and other multicultural audiences are available in every market, making FiOS TV an outlet for emerging and independent networks to showcase their diverse programming.

Consumers can check online at www.verizon.com/fios for more information or to request that Verizon contact them when FiOS TV becomes available.  Customers also can call their local Verizon sales office or 888-GET FiOS (888-438-3467).

FiOS TV is delivered over Verizon’s all-fiber-optic network, which brings the power and capacity of fiber optics directly into people’s homes and has industry-leading quality and reliability.  Fiber delivers amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen.  It also delivers Internet download speeds of up to 50 Mbps* (megabits per second) and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps, as well as high-quality voice services.

* NOTE: actual (throughput) speeds will vary.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 69 million customers nationwide.  Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 228,600 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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