Kirkland will have Significant Expenses
According to the draft Environmental Impact Study, if Parkplace is allowed to be rezoned to accommodate a 1.8 million square foot building, there will be significant expense the City of Kirkland.
- At least $13 million will be needed in traffic improvement
- 1.5 additional police officers will need to be hired
- 12 firefighters will need to be added
- Administrative support for the 13.5 new city employees may need to be added
- City will have to enforce traffic management plan at Parkplace and likely institute a permit parking system in nearby neighborhoods to stop office workers from parking there.
- The sales tax projections are $1.5 million. However, the vast majority of this will be eaten up in salary and benefits for more than 13.5 employees, cost of infrastructure improvements and parking management.
Who is going to pay for this? Will city residents and local businesses have to foot the bill to rezone Parkplace?