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DOWNTOWN TREE LIGHTING | Kirkland’s annual downtown tree lighting event set for Saturday [8]
Film shoot | Swedish singer on set for love FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012 song video at Heathman Hotel [3]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
House fire | Home damaged in Bridle Trails home blaze [5]
Residents disagree on what city should do with proposed park land Some concerned a public park would invite criminals near their homes BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
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any residents of the Garden Gate neighborhood want a nearby one-acre piece of land turned into a small children’s public park, but others in the surrounding neighborhood say that opening up the enclosed space may subject the site to criminal activity. Funds for the potential
park face an August 2013 looming deadline and it is this cutoff-point that has prompted the Garden Gate Homeowners Association (HOA) to take action. “We were told the developer had set aside a space for a park,” said HOA president Isaac Roybal. “The homes were sold with the promise of a park as a value proposition.” Seventeen fenced homes keep unruly Himalayan
blackberry bushes at bay as they make up the perimeter of the open space in a north Juanita neighborhood. Four Garden Gate homes abut the “Pharaoh’s Head” property to the north, while 13 other homes encompass it. The city-owned land is just east of Juanita High School and south of Fire Station 27. It is home to squirrels and other wildlife. But a resident of one of the 13 homes, Jim Jeffrey, said less than one year ago his cul-de-sac was “invaded” by cars that met drug dealers who would walk through
a gate that led to Hamilton Square, a nearby townhouse complex, which connected to the Juanita Park and Ride. “They conducted their business and then made a quick getaway back out to Northeast 128th and the I-405 freeway,” said Jeffrey, who is worried a park could turn the enclosed space into a site for drug trafficking. “It was a drug spot where Cadillac Escalades and young girls and boys would go. (It was) an open air drug market.” The Kirkland Police Department and the Hamilton [ more LAND page 6 ]
The entrance that leads to a proposed public park in the Juanita neighborhood is overgrown with blackberry bushes. Nearby neighbors worry a park would create a space for criminal activity near their homes. CONTRIBUTED
Council backs neighbors, dismisses Potala Village settlement agreement BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
The Kirkland City Council did not approve a proposed Potala Village settlement agreement Nov. 20 put forth by developer Lobsang Dargey and his wife Tamara Agassi Dargey. When it was time to address the resolution during the Nov. 20 council meeting, no council members made a motion. The same inaction occurred when the mayor asked for a motion to halt the current moratorium on the Neighborhood Business (BN) zones. This is the fourth moratorium against development on the Lake Street BN zone. When Dargey initially submitted the project proposal last year, it sparked a controversy between more than 1,000 nearby residents, the developer and the city over the project’s scale and neighborhood impacts. Potala Village is a proposed 143 apartment unit project on a 1.2 acre lot with a view of Lake Washington in the Moss Bay neighborhood. The
building would have 6,000 square feet of retail space, plus retail parking. The Dargeys agreed to a settlement on Nov. 2 that would have called for the council to lift the moratorium, currently set to end on Dec. 31. The settlement would have also allowed the developers to submit a building permit application for the property of no more than 100 residential units with commercial space on the bottom, which is allowed under the current BN-zone laws. Additionally, the plaintiffs agreed in the settlement to specific design elements, but asked the city to forgo the design review process. The settlement asked the city to process their substantial development permit and environmental impact statements in a quick manner and refrain from any changes on the BN zones before the plaintiffs could submit their building permit application. Under current law, the property would be eligible for 1.7 parking spaces per multi-family residential unit. [ more POTALA page 6 ]
Above, the group Uncle Bonsai will perform an anti-holiday holiday concert at the Kirkland Performance Center on Dec. 1. The group includes (right) Arni Adler, Patrice O’Neil, and Andrew Ratshin (center). Below, singer, songwriter and guitarist Christine Lavin will also perform with the group on Saturday. CONTRIBUTED
Anti-holiday holiday concert coming to KPC BY VAL GILMORE UW News Lab
Christine Lavin and Uncle Bonsai have teamed up to bring some laughter and cheer to this holiday season, targeting a wide range of
audiences. The group will be stopping in Kirkland during a 15-city tour of “Just One Angel,” the anti-holiday holiday concert. The folkpop trio and Lavin, along with special featured guests [ more KPC page 3 ]