Kirkland to study downtown parking, facilitate discussions

The issue of parking and its availability is a long standing issue in Downtown Kirkland. As part of a draft “Assessment of Downtown Parking,” (PDF) city officials are hosting four facilitated discussions to hear what suggestions the public has to improve access to on-street and off-street parking.

February 12, 2015 12:46 pm
City of Kirkland
City of Kirkland

The following is a release from the city of Kirkland:

The issue of parking and its availability is a long standing issue in Downtown Kirkland. As part of a draft “Assessment of Downtown Parking,” (PDF) city officials are hosting four facilitated discussions to hear what suggestions the public has to improve access to on-street and off-street parking. These sessions will be held 7:30 to 9:00 a.m on Feb. 25; 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 26; and 6-7:30 p.m. on March 2 and 4. All sessions will be held at Kirkland City Hall, 123 Fifth Avenue in the Peter Kirk Room.  As space is limited, you are encouraged to confirm your attendance at one of the four session by contacting Philly Hoshko at 425-587-3013 or phoshko@kirklandwa.gov.

In April 2014, the City’s Public Works Department hired Rick Williams Consulting, to study how the City could increase parking availability in downtown Kirkland and to recommend ways to improve parking operations in the downtown area. The draft report is available at www.kirklandwa.gov/parking. On January 6, 2015, the City Council received an update(PDF) on the draft Study and confirmed the next steps proposed by City staff, including public outreach and feedback on the options identified by the consultant.  Public input will be incorporated into the final parking study.

The draft Study proposes options to increase parking supply such as building a new surface parking lot, partnering with private property owners to share existing parking lots to build new public parking, or providing more on-street parking. It also proposes options to improve operations such as creating a “brand” for easy recognition, improving wayfinding (signage), using pay parking to manage demand, upgrading the (city-owned) Library Garage, and implementing downloadable applications for locating parking and paying by phone.

The City is reaching out to residents, business owners, employees of downtown businesses and customers to hear their thoughts on the proposed solutions. For individuals who would like to provide online input, rather than attending the meetings planned for February and March, there is an online parking survey at www.kirklandwa.gov/parking. Future facilitated discussions may be scheduled based upon demand.

Results of the February/March group discussions will be shared with the City Council along with a recommendation about next steps.