Upon arriving in the Totem Lake neighborhood, Kirkland’s urban business district, very few know of the 17 acres of wetland nestled between buildings and the busy Totem Lake Boulevard.

The tall grassy marsh is intercepted by a wooden boardwalk that extends on the northwest side of the property. The boardwalk begins at a parking lot and ends at a lake. Even fewer realize Totem Lake’s presence.

But the city plans to change that this year.

“This piece of property is a hidden jewel,” said Michael Cogle, deputy director of Kirkland’s Parks and Community Services. “A lot of people don’t even know it exists. When you say ‘Totem Lake,’ people think of the mall.”

The city has already begun the master planning process of studying the site, collecting data and learning about its potential so that, come June, the city will begin public outreach to understand what the community wants.

Totem Lake has been in Kirkland throughout the generations, but was called various names such as Lake Wittenmeyer, Lake Watstine and even Mudd Lake.

“Back in those days, we basically called it a swamp,” Cogle said.

After a failed attempt to sell the lake property to the city of Kirkland, the original owner of the Totem Lake Malls sold it to the King Conservation District, a state agency, about 50 years ago.

However in the late 1980s, Cogle said the city approached the Conservation District with the idea of creating more access through a public boardwalk or trail. With a little grant and city funding, the boardwalk – which can sometimes be found hovering just under the surface of a winter flood – was built.

Since then, the city and the Conservation District have co-managed the area and worked toward restoration activities.

While ideas for the site are preliminary, Cogle acknowledges the park could be a hub or “trail head” for the planned Cross Kirkland Corridor trail by creating amenities, such as parking and restrooms.

View Totem Lake Park in a larger map

“We know that the King Conservation District is very interested in maintaining and improving the ecological integrity of the site and really focusing in on ways we can deal with flood control, remove invasive plants, and make this system really function as well as it can,” Cogle said. “That’s always going to be a prime focus for us.”

But Cogle and others, such as Kirkland resident Lincoln Brigham, think having a trail loop around the entire lake is a good start.

“A loop would be really nice because there’s some interesting wetlands back there and [the trail] just kind of peters out,” Brigham said, pointing to the northeast portion of the property. “The loop would make it a lot bigger an area for a trail system to just come down and hang out.”

Cogle’s other ideas include picnic tables, places to kayak or canoe, and an entrance for the park so that a “sense of place” can be created for the Totem Lake community.

And through the trafficked roads and industrial plants nearby, Cogle emphasizes this area will not be subject to water ski boats, lifeguard stands and invasive actions to the habitat.

To further connect people to the park, there is the potential to create off road pedestrian connector trails through the “green fingers” that surround the site, Cogle said. North of the site, a grassy hill extends upward toward the EvergreenHealth Medical Center.

“That would be a great overlook for the employees at the hospital and there’s the Madison House Retirement up there,” Cogle said. “Wouldn’t it be cool to have a table and a bench, and maybe a telescope up there? Maybe down the road, there would be a stairway or a trail system so they could easily access the property.”

With the endless number of possibilities for Totem Lake Park, the city is hopeful one benefit will be a revitalized Totem Lake business district through this civic investment.

“This gives us the opportunity, really for the first time, to work with the entire community on what the vision is for this site, and how it can not only serve the park and open space needs of the community in better ways, but how it can be somewhat of a catalyst for the local business community,” Cogle said. “The Totem Lake neighborhood as a whole is a very important part of the Kirkland community.”

Cogle said he’d like to understand how the lake’s surrounding businesses could benefit from a better park, and if they value the lake as an asset to business. Cogle noted many of the surrounding businesses face the street instead of the lake, such as Cafe Veloce.

Property manager Bryce Morgan of The Pines Apartments at Totem Lake said an enhanced lake would “definitely help business.”

“If the trail system was better, it’s easily accessed from our apartment complex, but it doesn’t really go anywhere,” Morgan said of the idea to loop the trail. “That would be a big added bonus and we’d probably try to cater to that as well.”

But Yuppie Tavern and pawnshop owner Brian Lurie doesn’t feel the same about the lake’s business opportunity for his tavern.

“The only thing that’s going to bring business to Totem Lake is Totem Lake Mall,” Lurie said. “If they have the park here, people might go to Veloce, but they might do that anyway. I honestly don’t know how doing the lake will create business.”

Lurie believes it could be a good idea to turn his property into a park or recreation center instead.

“They could grass over my parking lot, rent boats or bicycles. There’s certainly a little bit of income there,” he said.

The city has come forward to seek his property appraisal, according to Lurie. He thinks his building has the capacity to become a restroom facility, cafe or even a senior center, but whether or not it will happen, is still unknown.

“It makes no sense to build other structures when this one has the land and the building,” Lurie said.

Cogle and his team have implemented the first of many phases to come during the master planning process. When the studies are complete, Cogle expects a vision workshop for the community, which may include walking tours of the wetlands and lake, this June.

The community outreach would be extensive, with the intent to introduce people to the site and understand the community’s aspirations and concerns so that more options may be delivered to the design team.

“Eventually, toward the end of the year, we’d work on a final plan to give people a chance to give some input on the draft final plan before we take it to the Park Board and the City Council to ultimately get approved,” Cogle said. “Right now our schedule is to get that done by the end of the year.”

After the council allotted $120,000 from REET (Real Estate Excise Tax) reserves and leftover Shoreline Restoration funds, the Parks and Community Services Department selected The Berger Partnership architecture firm to take the reins.

Berger Partnership is currently the consultant for the Redmond Connector Trail rail corridor master plan. Its architects developed Seattle’s Magnuson Park and the city also recently hired the firm to create the Cross Kirkland Corridor master plan.

Evergreen Hill Neighborhood Association chair Johanna Palmer and co-chair Lynda Haneman say they will be involved in the planning process.

“I hope the lake gets some attention,” Palmer said. “There are invasive plants that need to be removed and trash picked up. The paths need to be repaired and extended. With some work, it could be a wonderful urban park that could be shared by humans and wildlife.”

Haneman, who used to be the Totem Lake Neighborhood Association’s chair, said there is a great deal of interest in the lake, not only citywide, but by the Evergreen Hill community, which is where much of the residential area is in relation to Totem Lake.

“When people think of Totem Lake, they think of traffic,” Haneman said. “I’m really excited about the next five to 10 years because [the area] will become the core of the city.”

Palmer said once the master plan is implemented, this would be the first general-use park in the Totem Lake neighborhood.

Looking forward, Cogle said if the master plan can be finished and adopted by the end of this year, the next steps are to request state funding through the 50 percent matching program. Cogle said the park levy funding will be used for other park projects for the next six to seven years, but “over a period of time, we’ll be able to have the levy as an opportunity for this site.”

But for now, Cogle anticipates the master planning process.

“I’m very interested to see what the community thinks, particularly what the potential is to make the lake an asset for the Totem Lake business community,” he said. “It’s a nice respite from this very busy commercial area.”

For more information, contact Cogle at mcogle@kirklandwa.gov or 425-587-3310.