Business & Tech

Rezone Review: City Council to Discuss Troubled Former Jack in Box Site

The owner of the site of a former Jack in the Box in Juanita wants the Kirkland City Council to rezone the property and change the city's Comprehensive Plan to allow him to build a drive-through restaurant or coffee shop.

The owner of a vacant building in downtown Juanita, originally a Jack In The Box and then a number of other restaurants over the years, is asking the city of Kirkland to rezone the property to allow a drive-through service.

The Kirkland Planning Commission has recommended against the request, which would also require a change of the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The City Council will consider the request on Tuesday, April 16, along with two other private requests to amend the Comprehensive Plan.

The property near the north end of Juanita Bay Park, at 11451 98th Avenue NE, is owned by Yang Xiaowei, who bought it in 2011 for $850,000, according to King County records.

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Xiaowei wants to put in a drive-through restaurant or coffee shop there. But both the Comprehensive Plan and site zoning prohibit that, the latter due the site’s proximity to the very busy intersection of 98th Avenue and Juanita Drive/NE 116th Street. Basically, it is often difficult due to traffic and the five lanes of 98th there (one a turn lane) to exit the site going north.

The Planning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend that the amendment request not move forward, because it fails to meet criteria in the Comprehensive Plan.

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“It’s a tough issue,” says city planner Joan Lieberman-Brill. “It’s (a drive-through) both not allowed by the Comprehensive Plan or zoning for that location.”

The city issued a stop-work order to a contractor last September when activity at the site indicated it was being prepared for drive-through operations.

The site has a long history of being an unsuccessful restaurant site. The Jack in the Box was built there in 1969 and remained for several years. But after its demise the site hosted Japanese, Greek and casual American food restaurants.

The other two rezoning requests the city council will take up April 16 include one for a parcel at Evergreen Health Medical Center so that its zoning would be consistent with other properties in the hospital campus Master Plan. The Planning Commission recommends that request be deferred until an update of the city Comprehensive Plan scheduled to begin next year.

The other request is by the Chaffey Building Group for a property on Simonds Road NE in the Finn Hill Neighborhood, from a low density to a medium density residential zone to allow multifamily development.  The Planning Commission recommends deferring that until a comprehensive neighborhood study is undertaken for Finn Hill.

The City Council agenda will be posted at www.kirklandwa.gov by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 12, 2013.  For more information on “Private Amendment Requests” in general, see www.kirklandwa.gov and search for “PAR.” For a few more details on the Xiaowei request, click here.

For previous Kirkland Patch stories:

  • Long Troubled Juanita Restaurant Location to Become Coffee Shop
  • 'Hold Off on Finn Hill Rezoning': Kirkland City Staff

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