Time Sensitive Houghton Village Public Hearing 11/18 & Election Results

HOUGHTON VILLAGE UPDATE and PUBLIC HEARING Tuesday, November 18th

During their 11/5 meeting, Council received an update from staff on Houghton Village. At their next meeting on Tuesday 11/18, there will be a public hearing to gather input on next steps. PLEASE…if you feel compelled, please write to council and/or speak during the hearing. [email protected] & to their individual emails. ***On Tuesday 12/9, Council will take a final vote to secure next steps. ***

The city is still holding onto an interfund loan for the 2022 $14.2 million purchase that is accruing interest which needs to be repaid.

Since acquiring the property, the city has spent well over 1 million dollars in consultants, maintenance, hazardous soils testing and upkeep as the landlord of Houghton Village. This doesn’t include the value of staff time (hundreds of hours) over the past 3+ years.

The 2 firms who submitted development proposals, are insisting that the city contribute a minimum of $7 million plus additional tax breaks for them to move forward. Both were presented with the opportunity to submit revised proposals and have refused.

Here’s what’s being considered: click here for staff memo to council

1. Explore the sale of the property with a development plan. The plan would guide the long-term growth, land use and improvement of the property and include specific public benefits. With the development plan, the city is assuming 2- 5-story building(s) with an appraisal land value of $18.25 million. NOTE: Any purchaser would not have to abide by the development plan but need to go through additional approvals/requirements if they chose not to.

2. Explore sale of the property without development plan. So…basically 3 stores max. Appraisal of $16.5M. The owner would then need to generate their own development plan for city approval

3. Retain the property to explore future options. New financing options would need to be explored.

Based upon the limited discussion that council had on the issue, it appears that they are leaning towards selling the property with a development plan.

Questions remain as to what the market will bear. Experts in commercial/residential development believe the appraisal is well in excess of actual market value. With a go ahead to sell, how long will it take? What expenses will continue to build? What’s the real value of the property? What do you want the voting council members to know?

Kirkland City Council Elections and other race outcomes impacting Houghton residents

We voted by November 4th but, the votes are still being counted by King County Elections. (see daily results at this link) The city council races have not been this close or hotly contested in decades. In fact, the results on election night showed a different picture than they do today. That said, enough of the 42.84% of voters who participated have been counted that we believe these outcomes will hold.

Congratulations to incumbent councilmen Neal Black, Jay Arnold, Jon Pascal and new councilwoman Shilpa Prem who will fill the seat longtime councilwoman and former mayor Penny Sweet is retiring from.

We’d also like to thank Catie Malik, Ken Mackenzie, Ken Oberman for their effort to run and desire to serve our community in this way.

King County Executive

With 45.26 percent of ballots received, Girmay Zahilay is the new King County Executive. He beat fellow city council member Claudia Balducci who represents the 6th district that includes, Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Mercer Island and the Points communities.

State Senator

The 48th district State Senator race was won by Vandana Slatter. She was appointed to the seat vacated by Patty Kurderer, who was elected to State Insurance Commissioner several months ago by members of the King County Council. She defeated sitting State Representative Amy Walen. Just over 39 percent of ballots were cast.

State Representative Position 1

Osman Salahuddin held on to the 48th State Senate seat he was appointed to by the King County Council when Vandana Slatter was appointed to the state senate seat several months ago. He prevailed over candidate Dennis Ellis.

It is noteworthy that Houghton/Kirkland’s own councilman Neal Black put his name forward for consideration for both the state representative and state senate appointments. Kirkland has a long history of graduating council members to state offices.