Welcome to Kirkland Citizens for Responsible Development

8-Story Rezone for 1.8 Million Square Foot

Redevelopment of Parkplace Now Before City Council

Touchstone's request to allow multiple 8-story office buildings with retail and a 30% reduction in parking code requirements to accommodate a 1.8 million square foot redevelopment of Parkplace is scheduled for consideration by City Council at its study session on December 2nd and regular meeting on December 16th.
City Council may accept, reject or modify the Planning Commission recommendations which agreed to the 1.8 million sq. ft. private amendment request. The final decision rest with City Council and now is the last chance citizens have to influence the outcome of this very large change in the downtown zoning code.

Citizen Response
Kirkland Citizens for Responsible Development (CRD) reflects the voice of the majority of the Kirkland community who support a redevelopment of Parkplace, but find the Touchstone rezone proposed for too large with too many negative impacts. At 1.8 million square feet it would be 20% larger than the Columbia Tower--the largest building in Downtown Seattle. City staff estimates a redevelopment under current zoning could include a mixed use project with 838,00 square feet which would more than triple the size of Parkplace and be larger than Lincoln Square at Bellevue Way and 8th Street (500,000 sq. ft. of office and over 300,000 sq. ft. of retail).
Over 520 citizens have signed CRD's petition calling to keep the current zoning and vision for Kirkland in the Comprehensive Plan. Over 275 letters (3:1 in opposing letters) have been written by residents and businesses in opposition to the rezone and parking variance requests. On the streets, at neighborhood meetings and at our Citizen's Open House, our steering committee has heard the vast majority would like City Council to deny or substantially reduce Touchstone's request due to the impacts this "too big" project described below.

New Reports from Experts Who Support Citizen Concern
Kirkland CRD has released two new reports from experts which challenge Touchstone's justification for the rezone and parking variance and support the concerns citizens have raised about the huge impacts of this massive project.
Robert Thorpe, a noted planner, and economic analyst, has challenged Touchstone's bare assertion that an 8-story rezone is needed to accomplish a mixed use project. Touchstone has not provided one pro forma or economic report to document the need for the rezone. After surveying over 50 developers, planning director and appraisers, Mr. Thorpe found no industry support for this assertion and to the contrary, found that the norm for successful mixed-use retail development in suburban cities is 5-story or less. Mr. Thorpe also warns that projections for retail are overly optimistic and that this project will undo 40 years of good planning in Kirkland.
Read the report here:
Click here to read Mr. Thorpe's Report
Robert Bernstein, a traffic engineer, completed a study which demonstrates the large parking problem Touchstone will create with its request for a 30% reduction in the parking code requirements. Mr. Bernstein's study involves recently conducted parking counts in and around Parkplace to gauge actual office parking demand. It demonstrates that actual office parking demand ranges between 4 parking stalls per 1,000 sq. ft. of office for Bungie Studios (a computer software business) to around 3 stalls per 1,000 sq. ft in the Parkplace offices. City code requires 2.86 stalls per 1,000 sq. ft. of office. Therefore, there is no evidence that actual parking demand is below the code requirements and that a variance is justified. The math is simple. Touchstone proposes 1.2 million square feet of office in its 1.8 million sq. ft. of development. To meet current demand of at lest 3 stalls per 1,000 sq. ft. it will need 3,600 stalls. It proposes 3650 stalls for the entire project! Thus, during the business day all the parking stalls will be used up by the office workers. There will be no parking for the employees and customers of the 600,000 square feet of retail, hotel and sports club. Touchstone's parking study is criticized by Mr. Bernstein for its lack of local parking data and misuse of national data from unknown sources. Thus, Touchstone's request for a 1,500 stall variance from code requirements lacks proper justification and is likely to lead to a 1,500 stall shortfall and overflow parking consuming public street and garage parking.
Read the report here:
Click here to view Final Bernstein Letter

Impacts of this Enormous 1.8 Million Square Foot Development:

Traffic Will be Gridlocked
Frustrated with the increasing traffic and difficulty getting around our city? This project would bring more than 5,500 additional workers into the downtown core. According to the draft environmental impact study more than $13 million in traffic improvements will be needed to accommodate this increase. This with a city already projecting a $4-6 million deficit. (read more on Traffic page)

Parking will be Impossible
With parking already short in the downtown area, the Parkplace developer proposes nearly 1,600 fewer parking stalls than required by city code. Cars will overflow to neighboring streets and exacerbate downtown parking problems, ultimately driving shoppers and diners away from downtown Kirkland. (read more on Parking page)

There will be Significant Costs to the City
There are many costs with adding a 1.8 million square foot development to the downtown core. And to date, there have been no solutions offered on how these costs will be paid for. (read more on Costs page)

The Character of Kirkland will be Forever Changed
The proposed Parkplace rezone will block public views, change the gateway to Kirkland and forever alter the character of the city. And, it’s only the beginning, as neighboring properties are asking for increases in height limits as well. (read more on Appearance page)

There is a Better Solution
There are better solutions. Ones that add significant retail and office space, improve Parkplace and do so within existing building codes. (read more on Solutions page)

Citizens for Responsible Development challenged the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement)
Independent Traffic Engineer and Land Use Attorney criticize the traffic, parking and land use of the Parkplace project. (read more on Traffic page)

What Can You Do
Talk or write to your City Council Members today!
US Mail: Kirkland City Hall, Attn: City Council Members, 123 5th Avenue, Kirkland WA 98033
E-mail Links:
[link to City Council at ]
Mayor James L. Lauinger
[link to James L. Lauinger at ]
Deputy Mayor, Joan McBride
[link to Joan McBride at ]
Dave Asher
[link to Dave Asher at ]
Mary-Alyce Burleigh
[link to Mary-Alyce Burleigh at ]
Jessica Greenway
[link to Jessica Greenway at ]
Todd Hodgson
[link to Todd Hodgson at ]
Bob Sternoff
[link to Bob Sternoff at ]