An update on hot topics from Rob Karlinsey, City Manager

A few weeks ago, we sent out a “Hot Topics Coming Your Way” article and asked you to “hop in and buckle up.” What a difference a few weeks can make. Under the direction of the City Council, we are moving forward. Here’s an update to each of those hot topics. I hope you’re still buckled in; if not, it’s not too late to hop on board.  

As a reminder, here’s the summary list of the hot topics. I’ll dive into further detail on each one immediately following:

1. Affordable Housing
2. Imagine Housing/Habitat for Humanity affordable housing proposal on 181st Street 
3. Human Services Needs Assessment
4. “The Docket”: State-mandated middle housing regulations, amendments to several elements of the comprehensive plan, cottage housing regulations, more tree protection regulations, and more.
5. Love Where You Live Community Engagement Project
6. Lakepointe
7. Downtown
8. Financial Sustainability Plan
9. 2025-2026 Two-Year Budget
10. Capital Projects
11. Public Works Operations Center
12. Climate Action Plan
13. DEIA Strategic Plan and Five-Year Roadmap 

Here’s the deeper dive with updates shown in blue.

 

1. Affordable Housing

This issue is not going away, and cities throughout the state are required to plan for and receive housing types at all levels of affordability. As Councilmember Srebnik said, “we’re not off the hook,” and we need to figure this out together as a community. A schedule for having this conversation will be presented at a City Council meeting in March.

UPDATE: This meeting happened on March 25 (view agenda materials and meeting video), and the City Council agreed to have a community conversation in 2025 about supportive housing types, including Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to help people out of homelessness (Kenmore is required under new state law to plan and allow for PSH and other supportive housing types). This 2025 supportive housing discussion will be included as part of the Housing Strategy Plan update.

Meanwhile, public engagement and discussion has been happening around state-mandated middle housing regulations. The City Council and the Planning Commission met on April 8 to discuss middle housing. There will be more community engagement on middle housing over the next several months. Click here to review the April 8 middle housing agenda materials, and click here to view our web page on middle housing. 

 

 2.  Imagine Housing & Habitat for Humanity affordable housing proposal

The Imagine Housing & Habitat for Humanity affordable housing project is proposed for the city-owned property located at 7010 NE 181st Street (vacant lot on 181st across the street from Safeway). Over the next year we will have a community conversation to fully understand this proposed project in detail. Click here to see what’s being proposed.

UPDATE: We hope to have a proposed timeline for funding, design, and an approximate construction start date from Imagine Housing in the coming weeks—hopefully in May or June.  

 

3. Human Services Needs Assessment

The City of Kenmore has partnered with Health Management Associates to conduct a needs assessment to learn about human service needs in Kenmore. The report will be presented to the City Council in March or April. Click here for more information.  

UPDATE: The human services needs assessment report was presented to the City Council on March 25. Among the important takeaways was that while there are human services available in the region, many of those in need have challenges in accessing those services, such as lack of awareness, not knowing how to access services, or transportation challenges in getting to those services. There are also services (such as healthcare, mental health treatment, and affordable housing) that have demand exceeding supply. Click here to see the report. Residents are invited to a Human Services Needs Assessment Workshop on May 6, 6-7pm at City Hall to learn more and provide feedback on guiding principles, key findings and draft funding priorities. The final needs assessment will be produced and presented to the City Council in May or June. 

 

4. “The Docket"

Every year, the Planning Commission and the City Council take on a list of planning policies and regulations, known as “the Docket,” that directly affect you. This year is no exception. Just a few of the topics include several amendments to elements (chapters) of the Comprehensive Plan including policies related to economic development, downtown, community design, natural environment, surface water, capital facilities, land use, and housing. The Planning Commission will also be working on new middle housing regulations (e.g. duplex regulations) to implement state mandates and also regulations for cottage housing, accessory dwelling units, small houses on small lots, and more.

The City Council considers recommendations from the Planning Commission and is expected to adopt new policies and regulations by year-end.  In addition to considering policy recommendations from the Planning Commission, the City Council will also be considering new regulations directly, including but not limited to the next phase of tree protection regulations, and more. Click here to view The Docket.   

UPDATE: So far this year, the Planning Commission has provided recommendations to the City Council on the Economic Development chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. At the April 8 City Council meeting, the Planning Commission and the City Council framed up the main policy issues regarding the state-mandated middle housing regulations that the City must have in place by mid-2025.

That same night, the City Council discussed the next set of proposed tree regulations, including the additional feedback from stakeholders that the City Council had requested. The City Council gave direction to city staff to come back at a future meeting with more analysis on potential impacts of more tree regulations, including impacts on housing needs. Click here to see the City’s tree regulations web page. Note that upcoming docket items this year, among many others, include cottage housing, small houses on small lots, and state-mandated accessory dwelling unit regulations. 

 

5. The Love Where You Live Project

Starting last summer, the City embarked on an ambitious community engagement effort known as “The Love Where You Live Project” to ask our residents what they want for Kenmore. We have received over a thousand responses from our residents resulting in a wealth of information and ideas. The next phase of Love Where You Live has begun, including a series of “on the road” workshops. Click here to learn more.

UPDATE: All four workshops happened, and they were a great success. We received hundreds of great ideas on what people would like to see at Lakepointe and in our downtown. We are compiling this information and will be presenting it to the City Council at their annual retreat at the end of this month and again at the May 6 City Council meeting. Also at these meetings, we will be reporting on the results of the second statistically valid survey of randomly sampled Kenmore residents. More to come, so stay tuned.

 

6. Lakepointe

The last property of its kind and size on Lake Washington, Lakepointe has great potential for both economic development and shoreline habitat restoration. Lakepointe has come up a lot during the Love Where You Live project, and it has emerged as one of the main topics that we will explore during the next phase of Love Where You Live. Click here to learn more.

UPDATE: Given the high level of public interest in Lakepointe throughout the Love Where You Live project, we have proactively applied for grants to acquire the shoreline around most of Lakepointe. We envision a nature park along the shoreline with habitat restoration, nature trails, and several points to access or view the water. We’re also seeing strong interest in active recreation uses at Lakepointe, so we’re looking at a several acre “central park” on the west end of Lakepointe next to the conceptual shoreline buffer nature area.

Of course, it would take additional financial resources to pull this off, and we will be having public discussions about funding options, including a potential ballot measure to the voters in the future—possibly later this year or next year. We will be presenting Lakepointe park funding options at the April 26-27 City Council retreat and again at the May 6 City Council meeting. I hope to receive formal Council direction on Lakepointe funding by the end of May or the first part of June.   

 

7. Downtown

We heard loud and clear during Love Where You Live last summer and fall that our residents would like to see a more vibrant downtown with more restaurants, businesses, and opportunities to shop. Thanks to grant funding from the Department of Commerce, in early March the Northwest Urban Land Institute (ULI), in early March will be bringing in an expert panel to meet with downtown property owners and other stakeholders to create a plan for how to jumpstart the next phase of our downtown creation. Downtown will also be one of the main topics we explore more deeply in the next phase of Love Where you Live.

UPDATE: The expert panel came to Kenmore for 1 ½ days on March 6 and 7. They interviewed downtown stakeholders and rolled up their sleeves in discussions on how to spark and sustain another phase of downtown creation. It was truly a privilege to have these experts give their time and talents to Kenmore. They had some insightful ideas. Preliminary findings will be discussed briefly at the City Council retreat later this month, and the final ULI report will be presented to the City Council most likely in June.

A big thank you goes to the ULI for giving us this opportunity! In addition to the ULI panel, we heard a lot of great ideas for the downtown during the four LWYL workshops in March. These ideas will be brought forward to the City Council retreat and subsequent discussions in May. From all of these ideas, we will produce a game plan for our downtown that advances the hopes and dreams we heard from the community.  

 

8. Financial Sustainability Plan

A task force of Kenmore residents has been meeting for two months, and by the end of April, they will be bringing forward a set of recommendations aimed at keeping the City’s financial lines from crossing. With the cost of doing city business rising faster than revenues (including property tax, our largest source of revenue, being limited to 1% growth per year by state law), the task force has their work cut out for them. Click here to go to the Financial Sustainability Plan webpage.

UPDATE: The FSP task force is on the home stretch. Their town hall event on April 3 was well attended with great back and forth discussions among attendees. The task force has been collecting public input, including input from the Balancing Act budget simulation tool, and will produce and finalize their recommendations by the end of this month (April). These recommendations will be discussed at the City Council retreat and again at a City Council meeting in May. The City Council will consider adopting the FSP task force recommendations, with or without modifications, in late May or sometime in June. 

 

9. 2025-2026 Biennium Budget

Right on the heels of the Financial Sustainability Plan, we will set forth on building the two-year budget for 2025 and 2026. The budget is a crucial policy document that puts the City’s money where its mouth is. We will have plenty of opportunities for you to tell us what you want to see in the budget, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: The updated financial forecast through 2030, the preliminary FSP task force recommendations, and the 2025-2026 biennium budget preparation calendar will be presented and discussed at the City Council retreat on April 26 and 27. On the second day of the retreat, the City Council will establish their top priorities for the upcoming 2025-2026 biennium. Those priorities will be brought forward for formal City Council approval in May or June. City staff will use the newly adopted City Council priorities as guidance in preparing the 2025-2026 budget this summer and fall. 

 

10. Capital Projects

The City is the fortunate recipient of a number of sidewalk grants that also including funding for traffic calming devices for safety. Chances are, these sidewalks and traffic calming devices are coming to your neighborhood. Before we go ahead and just build those projects, we want to include the neighbors in the design. Over the next year, affected neighborhoods will be receiving notifications to participate in the design. If sidewalk grants weren’t enough, the City Council approved an aggressive plan to restore natural habitat along fish-bearing streams and replace fish-blocking culverts. This habitat restoration effort is known as “Rapid Progress Plus,” and we will need to hear from you as we get going on this work.

UPDATE: We just received word that the City will receive a $3.1 million grant to build new sidewalks on 84th Avenue near Moorlands Elementary School. This grant is in addition to the sidewalk grants we recently received for Arrowhead Drive, 80th Avenue, and more! If you live near or access any of these locations, stay tuned—opportunities for providing input are coming your way. View the City’s Current Projects page to learn more. 

To add to the good news, US Representative Susan DelBene secured a $1.3 million federal grant to replace an old culvert and replace it with a fish-friendly culvert for a stream going under 192nd Street near Kenmore Elementary. This culvert project will be incorporated into the new sidewalk project at the same location. 

 

11. Public Works Operations Center

Last year the City Council approved the plan, budget, and financing to build the new Public Works Operations Center, to be located next to Kenmore Middle School on 202nd Street. This overdue and much-needed facility is crucial to maintaining the City’s infrastructure, including our parks, roads, bridges, and surface water pipes and structures. Click here to see what we’re building.

UPDATE: We just received a grant from the State Legislature to help pay for a geothermal heating system which will help bring the future operations center closer to net zero carbon emissions. Thanks to our state representatives and state senator for making this grant possible. We are also applying for federal funding to assist with the cost of the geothermal system as well as other environmentally friendly components of the project. We will soon be applying for a conditional use permit to develop the site into the future new operations center. The project is fully budgeted and funded, and we plan on issuing bonds to finance the project by the end of this year.  

 

12. Climate Action Plan

The City has been implementing its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions citywide, and you have a key role to play. Most of the needed greenhouse gas reductions will need to come from our residents in order to meet the target reduction goal. We have appointed a committee of residents to advise us on how best to get the word out and involve everyone in this important effort. Click here to visit the City’s Climate Action Plan webpage.

UPDATE: Our climate action program manager, Nina Rasmussen, has hit the jack pot in climate grants, including new EV charging stations for our downtown, multi-family properties, and City Hall fleet. Additional grant awards include funding for an urban forestry management plan and for an EV infrastructure plan. These plans will provide a strategic approach to short- and long-term climate action implementation. Solarize Kenmore launched in March, and interest in this program is exceeding our expectations! We plan on providing the City Council with a Climate Action Plan progress report later this summer.  

 

13. DEIA Strategic Plan and Five-Year Road Map

Last year the City Council adopted a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Plan that will take our community to the next level in assuring that Kenmore is a place where all people love where they live. We need your help and engagement as we continue on this journey. Click here to see our DEIA webpage and what you can do to help.

UPDATE: In March and April, staff received trainings on implicit bias and our City DEIA documents: the DEIA Policy, Strategic Plan, and Equity Toolkit. Staff continues to work diligently to implement the DEIA Strategic Plan, including quarterly recap and planning meetings to stay on schedule. Staff will prepare and present the first of what will be annual reports on the DEIA Strategic Plan and how we are meeting our goals this July. Two major City events are coming up that are being planned with a DEIA lens: the Pride flag raising on June 1 and our second annual Juneteenth celebration on June 19. 

 

Let's keep moving!

I hope this update was informative and helpful. How goes the ride so far? It’s not too late to hop on board! We want to hear from you on any of these hot topics and more. To get involved, feel free to email us at cityhall@kenmorewa.gov or call our main number at 425-398-8900.