Detailed notes from the general meeting on May 21, 2025
Mari
A big thank you to our speakers today, City of Kirkland Council member, John Tymcyszyn, Murray McKinney (Highland Resident) and Sam from Kirkland Connections. Also, thank you to Daniel Lazo for letting us in the building and setting up the Zoom. I will try to do more audio checks so our neighbors on Zoom can hear better. Also, thank you to all who came, in person, to the meeting: So many great questions for our speakers!
John Tymcyszyn, email Jo...@kirklandwa.gov addressed the noise concerns caused by the freeway. He has requested WSDOT erect walls and I hope they will plant many tall evergreen trees to also help with noise reduction. He will follow up with us.
John discussed the new Kraken Ice Skate arena at the Houghton Park and Ride property. They will build two ice rinks, like the existing Kraken facility at the Northgate Mall. The ice rinks would be used for youth hockey, possibly for practices for visiting teams, and for general ice skating by the public. The Kraken will pay for the design, construction, and maintenance of the new facility. The Kraken will have a 30-year lease, then it will revert to the City of Kirkland. There will also be a new Community Center on the property. The cost for the Community Center is preliminarily estimated to be between $10 to $12M. The cost for the construction of the Community Center would be the responsibility of the City of Kirkland. The City of Kirkland would also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Community Center. Under the agreement with the Kraken, the Community Center would be constructed at the same time as the ice rinks. The final agreement is still being finalized between representatives of the Kraken and the City of Kirkland. If the Kraken proposal does not move forward, the 11-acre site might be used for a residential project or some other use. The City had bought the property from WSDOT for $12M. The temporary bike pump track will be moved to another park.
He said the council is still deciding on what to do with the old PCC property in Houghton. The City of Kirkland purchased the property before Covid to be converted for low-income housing or “…potential for a community cultural hub / cultural center or open community space to host events for the broader neighborhood and for service providers or program offerings.”
After John left, there was a question about the La Quinta Inn. It is one of about a dozen properties which was purchased by King County for King County's Health Through Housing Initiative . It establishes partnerships with local jurisdictions County-wide to create 1,600 permanent supporting housing units for people experiencing chronic homelessness. The website with information is:
and the pdf with more specific information about La Quinta is:
Here is a quote from the website: https://cdn.kingcounty.gov/-/media/king-county/depts/dchs/housing/health-through-housing/hthfaqsrevised.pdf
Q: How does the cost of purchasing hotels compare to new construction? A: The average cost to build a new permanent supportive housing facility is approximately $400K to $400K per unit or more, depending on location. In comparison, purchasing hotels during a depressed market is averaging around $270K per unit, a significant savings! Once a provider is selected and staffing is in place, hotels can provide housing quickly and efficiently.
No mention of how much it costs to manage these units once they are occupied.
On March 21, Murray met with Tom Chriest at the City of Kirkland Public Works Department. Tom oversees organizing the process for fixing the low water pressure issue affecting numerous Highland residents. Hopefully, in a month or two, the City will be sending out to the affected residents an application form which will then begin a process to evaluate and then come up with a solution for how to address the water pressure issue at each individual residence. The solution (and cost) will be different for each residence depending on what the water pressure is at each house. Also, some homes are only having issues with their irrigation system, which could require changing sprinkler heads, or perhaps adding additional zones to their system. Once a solution is identified for each residence and a cost estimate is prepared, a Rebate Payment Agreement would be prepared by the City of Kirkland to reimburse the resident for the work. The details of this program are still being finalized. Tom did confirm that the City of Kirkland and their Civil Engineering Consultant are studying what modifications could be made to the Municipal Water System to allow the water pressure to be restored to the level it was before the changes were made to the system last summer. However, this final solution could take three to five years. This is due to the time required to complete a design and preliminary budget, Capital Funding Process, public bidding process, and then finally construction. Tom agreed that once the rebate process and documents have been finalized, the City will host a meeting with the affected Highlands residents to discuss the process and timeline for both the short term and final solution for this issue.
Our final speaker was Sam from Connections Kirkland.
https://connectionshs.com/kirkland
Connections Kirkland crisis response center is open 24/7/365. The center offers a range of services for adults in crisis, including walk-in mental health urgent care, stabilization units, extended stabilization units, and outpatient recovery services. Their commercial building is near Evergreen hospital. They house between 23-30 people. Most stay under observation for 23 hours, but some stay up to two weeks. They are funded by King County. They are a for-profit organization and hoping to expand. People from all over King County are admitted to Connections Kirkland. Care is provided to anyone experiencing a behavioral health emergency, regardless of insurance coverage.
Also, the City of Kirkland has a team of individuals who are on the Homelessness Assistance & Response Team.
If you see someone in distress or in immediate danger, call 911.
Other helpful phone numbers are:
Call 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Call 211 A free confidential community service number and a one-stop connection to the local services you need, from utility assistance, food, housing, health, childcare, after school programs, elder care, crisis intervention and much more.
Call 811 before digging is required by law in Washington.