Years ago I worked with numerous residents on the Rosehill/Bridal Trails 85th Street Corridor Comprehensive Plan. After years of meetings in the neighborhood and with city hall on the comprehensive plan, the city blatantly disregarded the codes and the wishes of the citizens and allowed an out of scale building to be built north of our residence and rental homes without any buffers. It was supposed to look similar to the residential style and structure of the Farmers Insurance building across the street. I contacted the city during construction and after, only to find them unwilling to listen to any concerns. First of all, there were over a dozen trees over 80 years old tagged to be cut down, some even being on my wife’s property. The city provided their own arborist report which stated the trees should be saved. One day we came home to find that they had all been cut down! In addition, the building had numerous other code violations that the city ignored and would not address. The response I got from the city was from the code enforcement department concentrating on things they believed I was doing wrong. I perceived that as an effort to keep me quiet.
So, for the next 10 years, I have had to defend myself from numerous and constant attacks from the city’s code enforcement department. I have successfully defended all of these issues throughout the years except for one that I never even knew existed until it was too late. At this time there was a fine of $300.00 per day being applied. Once discovered, we appealed the alleged code infraction, but the code enforcement department would not return any phone calls nor come to the property to discuss the issues. This went on for several months, into years, until I discovered why. The fines did not stop with the appeal and there was a collection on our credit report. No wonder they just ignored us. Finally, my wife and I, the code enforcement department, and the city’s collector went to arbitration, thus resulting in a settlement of $20,000, interest free, and due in 10 years. The collection was to be removed from our credit report, and other agreements were included as well. We had ten years to get this fixed, but the city didn’t see it this way and tried to say the agreement was only with the collection company. Off to court again where a judge said “no” to the city and that it was binding on all parties. The collector would not remove anything on our credit report, and we believe this was an attempt to force use to pay sooner than later. After almost three years, we finally signed the deed for 20K after being threatened. During all this, code enforcement caused an irreparable riff between the neighbor and us by recruiting the neighbor to assist code enforcement to help stifle us resulting in restraining orders to protect myself and family from the neighbor’s antics. The dealings with our neighbor is a story all in itself.
Now, to address the alleged code violations … and this could happen to you!
The six trees we cut down
In Kirkland you are allowed to remove two trees per lot in a twelve month period. We have three lots. We love our trees and this really bothered us but, the trees were cut down to sell to help pay for expenses caused by the Kirkland’s city government. Well, my neighbor complained I cut down the trees her grandfather planted. Then, code enforcement showed up with a violation of $200.00 per day per tree until corrected, because they assumed we cut down six trees off of one lot. We appeal, more time, more money and off to another hearing. Ruling: no violation, no fines, just more wasted time and money. We guess that was just their plan. Wouldn’t it be nice if they just came out and opened there eyes, walked around and counted stumps on each lot? But then there would not be the same harassment factor.
Trash and junk
The city said they had complaints regarding items on our properties. We didn’t agree so code enforcement turned us into the public health department. Public Health wrote us a letter, we responded, and we had a meeting with the inspector. Result: no violations whatsoever. The inspector was very helpful which later helped in other ways. This is how it should work. Did we like all of this stuff around our home? No. Did it serve a purpose? Yes. Unfortunately, it did give a bad impression of us.
Our motor home…Motor homes are not allowed in residential areas in Kirkland. We say this because the code says that you can not have a vehicle of any type that is more than 20 feet long (maybe 22ft) and 9 feet tall. Since it’s difficult to find a motor home manufacturer that makes one that small, no one should be allowed to have one. But again this seems to only apply to us. We feel this way because as we drive around Kirkland we see lots of them on residential lots. Now, be aware that this code applies to all motor vehicles. The odd thing is it does not apply to boats or 5th wheels because they either do not drive on the road or have no engine. We currently store ours in downtown Kirkland although we have an acre of land with the three properties. We do this at a great expense to us, but a code is a code.
Junk cars
The city also claimed we had junk cars, however, they did not meet the criteria of junk vehicles. After years of back and forth about this, the state patrol came out to all of the properties, inspected all of the cars with the city attorney and found some of them to be of no issue or old collector cars. They did say that three vehicles were junk because they did not see them operable. At this point we go to another arbitration where two city employees watch a video of all three vehicles running and being driven around the yard that is next door to the infamous office building. After viewing the video they said nothing, got up and went outside the room. Soon after, the arbiter came back in, looked at our attorney and said the city would like to purchase the three vehicles from you! We also discussed some other issues not related to this arbitration and came away with a new plan concerning structures on the property and the offer of $3,000.00 for the assumed junk vehicles.
During this approximate 10 year period of time, Kirkland’s code enforcement staff has refused to come to the property, return any phone calls, or address concerns of the violation in any regard, except to try and portray us as the bad guys. Thankfully with the support of family and friends who have listened or lived through this tale over the years, we have managed to survive this nightmare.
During this time of never speaking to us, the city held secretive meetings in the office building next door (if I had been invited maybe all this would have ended!). At one point, due to the fact that the neighbor called because a load of dirt was placed on one of our properties, the assistant city attorney, planning department head, and code enforcement officer arrived to talk to my neighbor about the dirt. Once I noticed them, I said “wow, great, why don’t we all go around the properties, have a look, and talk about everything”. I was told that they were only here to look at the dirt the neighbor was complaining about. Incidentally, there were no code violations regarding the dirt. This is just a small example of the torment our neighbors have put us through since the beginning. I am always more than happy to talk about each and every thing that any citizen of Kirkland or anyone else would like to know. I wonder if Kirkland city government could ever be that transparent … currently, I doubt it.
To really go through the past 10 years, you would have to be patient, because it would take the pages of a novel to cover it all. So, to sum it up, the city has called us names, refused to produce documentation that both of us have requested, trashed our credit, used up all of our family financial resources to stand up to the city, caused anxiety and depression, and put our family through a living nightmare. I would be the first to say that I’m unhappy with the appearance of our properties, but with stop work orders, unjustified lawsuits, and all, time and money have been eaten away. Now, hopefully, with much of the drama behind us, we are working towards the improvements we have always dreamed of for these pieces of property. All of this wasted time, effort, and money because Kirkland city government has refused and avoided to answer original questions regarding the building to the north of our property. Again, that building should have had a 15 ft wide planting buffer with two rows of trees, a pitched roof, and be residential in style and character. This being the building located at 8259 122nd Ave. NE across from Starbucks off of 85th St.
Finally, the Kirkland Reporter article was grossly inaccurate and was based on information that was given to them by the city of Kirkland. It is inaccurate regarding the incident with my neighbor; for example, I pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, not 4th degree assault. In fact, it is inaccurate right down to questioning the top photo in the print version of the article that is not even my residence. Where did that come from? This is typical Kirkland city hall when dealing with a citizen of Kirkland. I encourage any citizen to request public information to verify anything themselves. Remember, the Kirkland Public Disclosure Request is flawed, read carefully where they have you sign. Kirkland charges 15 cents per copy, however, just reviewing any document at city hall is always free.
I am running for Kirkland City Council, position No. 1 because the city is broken. I believe in fiscal responsibility and transparency in city government. There is no accountability, there is no one in charge, and the problems are much deeper than I ever imagined. I believe that 98% of city employees are hard working individuals who really do want the best for Kirkland. But, as the old adage goes, “a few bad apples can spoil the bunch”. We have worked with many departments at city hall and have found them to generally be very helpful. We all know those that are not. I have been through three different ombudsmen. Webster’s dictionary defines ombudsman as “a government official appointed to investigate complaints made by individuals against abuses, or capricious acts of public officials”. This was never the case for us. This, too, can be fixed. Our city has an 8-10 million dollar deficit. All that the current government officials want to do is tax the citizens or punish us if we don’t approve a new utility tax. There was a time when city government helped the citizens and businesses of Kirkland to succeed, but now all we are is a funding source and a tax base.
My opponent has been on the council for 12 years, what has she done to keep our city out of a deficit? What has she done for Totem Lake, downtown businesses and parking, or the citizens of Kirkland? Admittedly, I have little political experience, but after 10 years and multiple hours of reading city codes, writing briefs, talking to lawyers, hearing examiners, mediators, arbiters, and of course judges, dealing with government bureaucracy, speaking at council meetings, and now enduring attempted public humiliation, I believe I have the needed experience. I believe I have the qualifications, the endurance, and the desire to diligently represent the people of Kirkland as we continue to make our city the very best place to live for all our families, friends, and future families.
I look forward to serving you. Thank you.
Martin Morgan, Kirkland City Council candidate
