The Kirkland City Council approved a resolution at their July 7 meeting opening up Lake Avenue West, one of a handful of streets that has permit-only parking, to downtown employees in an effort to improve parking availability.

The council’s vote, which will allow employees to permit park 24 hours a day, is part of an overall strategy the city is implementing that involves both long-term and short-term solutions for downtown parking after a study found nearly all the stalls are filled for most of the day and recommended adding over 100 new stalls. The idea was first recommended in May by the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee.

Two councilmembers, Tony Nixon and Dave Asher, voted against allowing downtown employees to park on Lake Avenue West, with Nixon saying the city needs a consistent policy to apply to other neighborhoods that might also be affected by spillover parking before moving forward.

“I really don’t like the council placing ourselves in situations where we’re having to decide these on a case by case basis and getting accused of giving special consideration,” he said. “I’d rather have it be objective.”

The Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods (KAN) has established a task force to examine the issue of parking that spills over into residential neighborhoods.

Right now, the city is carrying out short-term solutions approved by the council including improvements to the library garage on Kirkland Avenue and increased signage at locations such as City Hall, where people can park for free in the evenings and on weekends. The city is also looking into converting its property south of City Hall into a parking lot and possibly developing the Lake and Central parking lot into a multilevel city-owned parking structure with retail on the first floor and a restaurant rooftop plaza. For the short-term, the city extended the paid parking times at the lot to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Previously, the paid parking time started at 5 p.m. They are also looking into a validation program of some type.

At recent council meetings Lake Avenue West residents voiced their opposition to the proposal, including at the June 16 meeting, saying that the street, which has no sidewalks, is not capable of handling additional vehicles and would create unnecessary safety issues for pedestrians who walk on it. One resident also asked the council limit downtown employee parking on the street to working hours. According to city documents, residents also feared that downtown employees will use private driveways as turn-arounds when there is no room to maneuver.

Other streets in Kirkland near Juanita High School also require permits during the day.