Court Vacates Potala Judgment

The City of Kirkland won a victory in its ongoing battle over the proposed Potala Village Development Wednesday, when a King County Superior Court granted a motion by the city to vacate a previous ruling in favor of developer Lobsang Dargey in his suit against the city.

In the ruling earlier in May, a judge ruled that the city of Kirkland must allow the developer of the controversial Potala Village apartments project on Lake Street to build the project at the higher density rate that was in effect when he applied for a shorelines permit, the Seattle Times reported.

The city sought to have that judgment vacated, arguing that the developer had a "known opportunity" to file for other permits before the city's zoning moratorium took effect. Dargey had applied for shoreline permits for the project, but the city argued that did not entitle him to move forward with the other parts of the project, since those permit applications were not filed at the time.

The Kirkland City Council issued a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for the “BN” zoning category in 2011 after angry neighbors expressed concerns about the number of units planned and the project’s impact on traffic, property value and the scenic lakefront neighborhood, which is marked by some of Kirkland’s signature shoreline parks, Marsh, Brink and Houghton Beach. It extended the moratorium twice as the city Planning Commission studied what level of density would be appropriate for the category. The original “BN” zoning category, which applied to only three small areas of Kirkland, put no limit on densities.

Editor's note: Patch Editor Greg Johnston contributed to this report.