The City Planning Department states that growth planning is mandated by the Washington State Growth Management Act which is true. However, what is not being adequately communicated is that Kirkland is projected to meet and exceed its state-mandated growth requirements without the need for the significant increase in dwelling units outlined within residential neighborhoods. This extreme and broad-strokes growth plan is known as the "Growth Action Alternative" within the 2044 plan, but many members of the community are also calling it the "Frequent Transit Corridor" plan.

Per the City’s own study findings:
“This analysis shows that the City has more than enough capacity to accommodate its assigned growth targets, if we account for the growth the City has seen between 2019 (when targets were set) and 2022 (the analysis year).

In 2044, the City is expected to have a surplus capacity of 6,234 housing units and 858 jobs above the King County growth targets. That said, it could be in the City’s interest to continue expanding capacity beyond what is needed to meet the growth targets and achieve important community-wide objectives such as housing affordability, better transit service, and reductions in per capita energy use.”

In summary: there is a surplus of housing for the 2044 targets without changing residential zoning code (which will surely follow the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan) along designated “major transit corridors.”

Read the Development Capacity Analysis here.

Residents of Kirkland do not have the opportunity to vote on this proposal, so it is crucial to make your opinions known to the City Council. The decision to implement this high-density proposal will be at the sole discretion of City staff and the Council.

The City is proposing this high-density housing update in the 2044 Comprehensive Plan, which is set for a City Council vote on adoption at their December 10, 2024 meeting. The plan currently has strong support from the Planning Commission and appears to have considerable backing from the City Council as well.

Upon adoption by the Council, the Comprehensive Plan will necessitate updates to city zoning codes to align with these high-density growth objectives. Proposed changes include allowing building heights of 4-6 stories, potentially up to 200 units an acre of housing density, reducing parking requirements, and easing setback minimums.

If the Comprehensive Plan is adopted as currently written, developers will soon be able to build large apartment and condo complexes in many residential neighborhoods including large parts of Bridle Trails, South Rose Hill, North Rose Hill, the Highlands, Norkirk, Juanita, and virtually all of Totem Lake, Moss Bay, Everest, Lakeview, Central Houghton, and Market.

For more details, you can review the Development Capacity Analysis completed by the city or explore all the land use sections and presentations of the Comprehensive Plan at the link here.

• This high-density development is excessive based on the state's growth requirements for Kirkland. The city is already projected to have a surplus capacity of 6,234 housing units above the state-mandated targets by 2044. This is density for density's sake, and it appears a majority of resident oppose these changes.

• The minimal parking requirements within the proposal are unrealistic. Without adequate parking, overflow parking will spill onto residential streets, hindering emergency vehicle access, reducing pedestrian safety, and impairing visibility. Expecting new residents to rely on public transit is unrealistic given that many of these neighborhoods lack convenient access to daily services and current low public transit adoption rates.

• Our border with Lake Washington creates unique access issues within our local residential roads compared to other local towns, limiting our ingress and egress points.

• Increased high-density housing will significantly increase traffic congestion, not only on Market Street, State Street and along Lake Washington, but throughout Kirkland. This will lengthen commute times, worsen traffic citywide, and push more drivers onto residential streets, making them less safe.

• There has been little discussion on how existing infrastructure will scale to meet the demands of increased housing. Drastically increasing housing units will strain resources like water, electricity, and sewage, which also needs to be addressed with increased density.

• Other areas of Kirkland outside of existing residential neighborhoods are better suitable for high-density housing due to their close proximity to freeways, public transit hubs, and ability to adequately plan for infrastructure and traffic needs.

• Adding 6-story buildings in areas predominantly featuring 1-2 story structures disrupts the visual harmony and scale of the neighborhoods. This impacts the unique character and ambiance of the neighborhoods and city, compromising its overall aesthetic cohesion.

The Growth Action Alternative plan suggests substantial density increases along what the city is referring to as "transit corridors," which will significantly impact many existing residential neighborhoods. A "transit corridor" is an area identified by City staff and leadership as having public transit access sufficient to support this large increase in density.

The details of how this plan will achieve the difficult challenge of affordable housing prices is not clearly defined, but the City is actively working on addressing better affordability in a variety of ways. With that being said, much of this plan relies on creating more housing inventory, to "hopefully ease supply-side constraints" (Source: April 22, 2024 Planning Commission memo see page 7 text under the map)

Truly affordable housing requires intervention from both private and public organizations to cover many of the costs. The City has also acknowledged this difficult challenge.

We believe that simply increasing supply will not create affordable housing. It would be more responsible to plan, test, and then implement successful tactics for affordable housing, rather than relying on upzoning wide swaths of neighborhoods in the hope that housing prices will decrease through increased supply. This approach should not be the primary tactic and argument for this plan.

This is a complex issue, and the City is addressing affordable housing through multiple strategies. There is no easy answer or simple path to creating affordable housing in an expensive area like Kirkland. However, the City has outlined some target affordable housing goals:

In 2023, Mayor Kelli Curtis, on behalf of the City Council, signed an Affordable Housing Week Proclamation that "adopted an interim affordable housing target of 12,474 units by 2044." The City has a webpage dedicated to housing in Kirkland, with details and resources.

Currently, there are about 1,500 affordable units in Kirkland, according to the housing dashboard and this planning department document. This means that nearly 11,000 more affordable units need to become available by 2044.

Under the current zoning code and the surplus of housing over the Growth Management Act targets, the growth expectation is 16,305 housing units by 2044. To meet the affordable housing goal, 67% of these units would need to be affordable. With the more aggressive growth plan known as the "Growth Action Alternative," nearly 34,933 housing units are expected to become available by 2044, of which 31.5% would need to be affordable to meet the target.

The City of Kirkland has extensive information on "House Bill 1110 (HB 1110), which is intended to increase middle housing (i.e., more compact and affordable housing, including duplexes, triplexes, cottages, and accessory dwelling units [ADUs]) in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing."

Find more information on the City's website here (source for the text above).