Kirkland redevelopment spurs plenty of comment at hearing
Deciding how to redevelop Kirkland’s Parkplace shopping center won’t be easy.
More than 60 people signed up Thursday evening to voice their views on plans in opposition to the incorporated town’s main downtown shopping area. Spilling into hallways at City Hall, they waited to address the city Planning Commission.
People offered in a primary manner adverse views: that the development proposals, including structures of eight to 11 stories, would irrevocably raze the city’s character; and that the city’s what is yet to be hinges on whether it embraces such change.
Seattle’s Touchstone Corp. is offering two proposals for the exhibition at Sixth Street and Central Way.
One would deduct buildings of up to eight stories, with a 1.8 million-square-foot mix of office, retail and restaurant space. Approval would necessitate changes to the incorporated town’s comprehensive map, and the city would be under the necessity to grant a variance to build higher than its five-story height limit.
The other proposal stays within Kirkland’s existing guidelines; it would embody buildings up to five stories and 1.5 million square feet, most of it for office space.
The Planning Commission has suggested a third alternative: some lower buildings of two or three stories and some up to 11 stories, said Angela Ruggeri, city senior planner.
“There will be more study,” she said, largely for environmental reasons, granting that the taller concept progresses.
Douglas Howe, Touchstone president, said the proposals were “the result of 1
More than 20 speakers agreed with Howe’s ideas, citing reasons such in the same proportion that a stronger requisition base for the incorporated town and expanded shopping destinations.
“I love the common,” said Sam Adams, who lives in the Juanita area and supports plans for mixed-use development. He spoke about seizing his kids to T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant and Parkplace movies, businesses that occupy the tide Parkplace center.
“For this to be each function complex, I think it would be a big mistake,” he said.
