Some things are just too important to be left to chance.

That was the majority position City Council took as they revamped downtown zoning codes at its March 3 meeting.

The Kirkland City Council voted 4-3 in favor of an ordinance that specified requirements for height, size, sidewalk widths and use for the downtown business district. Council members Jim Lauinger, Dave Asher, Jessica Greenway and Tom Hodgson voted to support the proposed changes.

The zoning changes were deemed necessary after several lengthy land-use appeals and lawsuits dogged the Council and occupied much of their time. With several redevelopment projects proposed – large and small – in Kirkland’s prized lakefront downtown, city leaders made the decision to take a more active role in guiding those efforts.

Working with the Council to implement those changes, City Planning Supervisor Jeremy McMahan said the new rules are designed to give “black and white” answers to the size and shape of what can be built on some of Kirkland’s most valuable real estate.

“The downtown is one of the pre-eminient areas of the town you can identify with,” he said. “It’s the heart and soul of the city.”

The new building code no longer makes reference to the loose guidelines in the Kirkland Comprehensive Plan. Instead, Planning Director Eric Shields and city planners Jon Regala and McMahan quantified the new zoning requirements with actual measurements, such as 10-foot required set backs, 12-foot minimum sidewalks and an average 30-foot setback for buildings rising above two stories.

They also banned banks or financial services as a “retail use” along Park Lane and Lake Street South.

Many of the issues addressed in the new ordinances were previously interpreted by the city’s volunteer panel of design experts, the Design Review Board.

Along with a vote that broke along the same lines as a lengthy land-use appeal last year, several familiar names and faces weighed in.

In a Jan. 16 letter, SRM Development Manager Andy Loos said that while he appreciated the better-defined regulations, he thought the changes would significantly affect property values in the area.

“Some parcels will be so limited,” Loos said, “that the highest value will remain as one-story retail use and therefore not be redeveloped for a very long time.”

Bea Nahon, a member of the Downtown Advisory Committee and Citizens for a Vibrant Kirkland board member, thanked the city during the meeting and urged the Council to approve the changes.

“Downtown Kirkland belongs to all the stakeholders,” she said. “Discretionary zoning is within your purview. This is not just any downtown, this is downtown Kirkland.”

The minority on the Council disagreed with that approach and seemed to support the aims of property owner Joe Castleberry, a landlord of a building along Lake Street South. He said the changes will reduce the size of the potential buildable envelope, a key component for estimated property values.

“By practically anyone’s definition, this constitutes a down zone,” he said.

Two other related ordinances passed unanimously.