Rezones Rejected: Kirkland Council Votes Against Private Requests For Now

The Kirkland City Council voted Tuesday night to follow the city Planning Commission’s recommendations and not move forward with separate private requests to rezone parcels in downtown Juanita, north Juanita and the Totem Lake area.

One request was by the owner of the site of a former Jack in the Box on 98th Avenue NE in Juanita, who wanted a rezone and change in the city’s Comprehensive Plan to allow drive-through restaurant operations. Zoning currently does not allow drive-through operations due to access issues at the busy site.

The council voted against the request, but Council Member Toby Nixon did urge the Planning Department to take a larger look at the issue of drive-through operations city-wide.

Another request was 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 recommended it be deferred until a comprehensive neighborhood study is undertaken for Finn Hill, ads requested by the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance.

The area was annexed by the city in 2011, and has only an outdated area plan by King County.

Finally, the council voted to defer until completion of an update of Kirkland Comprehensive Plan a rezone request 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 council did vote to fold the Evergreen request into the update, which will begin later this year.

For previous Kirkland Patch stories:

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

• 'Hold Off on Finn Hill Rezoning': Kirkland City Staff