Kirkland's utility rates go up starting December 1, about $22 a month more in 2027 for the City's sample household. Council also voted 6–1, twice, to oppose both statewide initiatives on the November ballot. Those two hearings are on the City's YouTube video but missing from the copy on the City's meeting page, which picks up after the recess right where the hearings ended. Middle housing got a direction, and two Holmes Point code changes are headed for a hearing.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Study session 5:30 PM, regular meeting 7:30 PM, Kirkland City Hall. All seven present, Councilmembers Falcone and Tymczyszyn by video. Councilmember Tymczyszyn left for a work commitment at about 9:20 PM, so the votes after the consent calendar were 6–0 or 5–1. Timestamps below are hours:minutes into the video on the City's meeting page. The full meeting, hearings included, is on the City's YouTube channel.
The Short Version
The Short Version takes one minute and the full recap about eighteen. Your water, sewer and garbage bills are going up, Council took a side on two statewide ballot measures, and if you want to watch that part, you'll need YouTube. See Where to Watch the Hearings below.
ADOPTED 6–0
Utility rates go up starting December 1. After sessions in August and September, four ordinances passed on one motion. The sample household bill moves from $262.09 to $284.12 a month in 2027, about $264 more a year, and the published path reaches $423.69 by 2032. Councilmember Pascal said he'd vote yes but called the increases "unsustainable." (Item 9.a)
ADOPTED 6–1 EACH
Council came out against both statewide initiatives. Resolution R-5748 opposes Initiative 26-638 on girls' school sports, and R-5749 opposes Initiative 26-001 on parental rights in schools. Councilmember Pascal voted no both times. No one came to speak in support, which isn't surprising: on October 6 Council voted 7–0 to draft only opposing resolutions. Fourteen people spoke against (two spoke at both hearings). (Items 6.a and 6.b)
CONSENT 7–0
A 64-parcel zoning change and a three-year police contract passed in about ninety seconds. Ordinance O-4950 carries out a state requirement for bonus development on faith-owned land. Kirkland's version lets qualifying affordable housing in low-density zones rise to 35 feet, or 50 with extra affordability, with no design review or public hearing. The Police Guild agreement passed with its total cost still unstated. Nobody pulled either item. (Item 8)
DIRECTION · NO VOTE
Middle housing: Council leaned toward more, smaller homes and sent it to the Planning Commission. A clear majority chose Option 2, reworking floor area and lot coverage limits so the code rewards four smaller homes over three big ones. If you own or live next to a single-family lot, this decides how big the homes on it can be. (Item 3.c)
APPROVED 6–0 · TWO MOTIONS
Holmes Point: two narrow code changes are on their way. Staff will draft lot-coverage options of roughly 40% to 50%, and tree-removal options that either match the rest of Kirkland or allow half as many. Both go to a Planning Commission hearing. (Item 10.b)
FIVE MORE ITEMS
Green Loop, signals, scooters, helmets and the state agenda. The Green Loop's $283,462-a-year maintenance bill is still unfunded. Two AI traffic-signal pilots got a "yes, but." Shared e-scooters get a study, with answers around the end of 2027 (6–0). Bike helmets get more engagement and a look at incentives such as free helmets, instead of an ordinance for now (5–1). The state legislative agenda comes back November 17. (Item 3.b) (Item 3.a) (Item 10.b) (Item 9.b)
If you only have time for one thing: Deputy Mayor Black wants Council to discuss a rule at its retreats on when it takes positions on statewide ballot measures, and Councilmember Prem agrees a policy is needed. Both voted for both resolutions and want a policy for future measures. Nothing has been decided, so if you have a view on when Council should take these positions, now is the time to share it. CityCouncil@KirklandWA.gov
One more thing before November 3: take your ballot to a King County drop box by 8 PM on Election Day. Mail works if it's postmarked by then, but a drop box is the surer bet. Not registered yet? You can register online through October 26, or in person through Election Day.
Where Your Email Counts Next
Written comments become part of the public record. Email CityCouncil@KirklandWA.gov.
The Council retreats, ballot-measure positions. Say whether you think Council should take positions on statewide measures, and when, while it's still an open question.
The Planning Commission, middle housing. If you live next to a low-density lot, or tried to build a cottage behind your house and gave up, write to the Commission and copy Council.
The Planning Commission, Holmes Point. The Mayor asked how much overlay land can even hold middle housing. That number is worth asking for in writing.
October 29, the budget retreat. The signal pilots, the scooter study, the helmet program and the police contract's 2027–2028 cost are all budget questions now.
November 17, the state legislative agenda. Capital requests for the 1st, 45th and 48th Districts are still being developed.
2027, how utility rates are split. Phase 2 of the rate study decides how the burden is divided among customer classes and what a low-income discount looks like, for the 2029–2030 rates.
Where to Watch the Hearings
If you were watching on the City's website Tuesday night and lost the picture around the time the hearings began, you weren't alone. The feed came back as Council moved on to the consent calendar. The City's YouTube stream carried the hearings the whole way through.
The two public hearings are on the City's YouTube video of the meeting, starting about 2:42 in: watch the hearings. They aren't on the copy linked from the City's meeting page, and the gap lines up exactly with them.
At 1:53 on that copy, the Mayor calls a five-minute recess so the Clerk can compile the hearing sign-ups: "we'll be back at 8:01." Twenty seconds later, with no cut you can see, Council is "back after a short break" and moving to the consent calendar. What's missing is the coin toss, sixteen speaking turns, six councilmembers' statements and both votes. The hearings ran from about 8:02 to 9:12 PM, followed by a break to 9:20, so nearly an hour and a half of the evening isn't there (our math).
The meeting page copy is the one most people will find later. We'd ask the City Clerk's office to add the hearings there too. It matters more than usual, because Council took a position on two measures that voters are filling out right now. The hearing passages below carry clock times instead of timestamps.
9A — Utility rates: adopted 6–0
Who this touches: every household and business that pays a Kirkland utility bill.
1:55–2:07. Councilmember Pascal moved all four ordinances, O-4951 through O-4954, in one motion, and Deputy Mayor Black seconded. Water goes up 6.75% in each of 2027 and 2028, Kirkland sewer 8.85% (King County's share rises 13.29% and then 12.75%), surface water 5.9% and solid waste 5.3%. Water and sewer apply to usage from December 1, surface water and garbage from January 1. Part of how the City softened them: some sewer pipe reinvestment is put off for now and brought back to policy levels by 2032. Separately, in September staff proposed moving two lower-priority sewer projects, about $3.4 million, to the unfunded list, to be revisited in the coming General Sewer Plan. Deputy City Manager Tracey Dunlap said "these increases for this two-year period are only the beginning," driven by regional partners.
The Mayor said it felt "anti-climactic." Councilmember Pascal said he'd vote yes, recognizing the pressures on the utilities, but called the increases an unsustainable burden on residents and businesses and said the City must "work extra hard in the year or two ahead to reduce some costs." Nobody else spoke.
What it means for your bill: $22.03 more a month for the sample household in 2027, $45.74 more by 2028, and a published path to $161.60 more by 2032. The City's utility tax rises with the bill.
Why weigh in now → Phase 2 of the rate study, starting in 2027, decides how the bill is split between households, businesses and other customers, and whether there's a low-income discount. CityCouncil@KirklandWA.gov
6A — Initiative 26-638, girls' school sports: opposed 6–1
Who this touches: every Kirkland voter, and families with kids in school and school sports.
About 8:02 to 9:12 PM for both hearings, on the City's YouTube video starting about 2:42 (watch).
The initiative's official subject is participation in athletics at K-12 schools. Before the hearings, Councilmember Arnold disclosed (1:52 on the video) that his website business has Fuse Washington, part of the opposition campaign, as a client. He said his work is technical and unrelated to the campaigns, and that it doesn't affect his ability to consider the item. State law lets a council take a position at an open meeting if the notice names the measure and both sides get roughly equal time, here 16 minutes a side.
Staff said both campaigns were invited, and the Mayor asked for supporters in the room and online. No one came forward to speak in support. That isn't surprising: on October 6 Council voted 7–0 to draft only resolutions opposing the measures. Mayor Curtis, who asked for the item in September after what she described as requests from community members, and Councilmember Falcone, who moved both resolutions, have been listed as endorsers on the No Hate in WA State campaign's website since at least May. Elected officials are free to endorse ballot measures, and both made their positions clear from the dais. Eight people spoke against. They included a high school athlete, a parent, a retired cardiologist speaking for Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, and representatives of PFLAG Bellevue Eastside and Indivisible Eastside. For the campaigns' own arguments, the state Voters' Pamphlet has statements for and against both measures.
Councilmember Falcone moved adoption and Deputy Mayor Black seconded. Black said Council "could and probably should limit council resolutions" on ballot measures to those that affect City operations, budget, resources or grants, and he wants that rule discussed at the Council retreats. He supported the resolution anyway: "I'm not going to let a technical council procedure concern prevent me from voting in favor of a resolution that is squarely before me and that I otherwise believe in vehemently, both heart and mind." Councilmember Prem walked through the law. Cities may take positions as long as both sides get a fair chance to speak, and "the law does leave cities with some discretion." She said Council needs "some transparent policy" on which measures it takes up, offering a broad version and a narrow one tied to City finances, and she called this measure's approach to determining a child's sex "just terrifying." Councilmember Arnold, who moved on October 6 to drop the subject, said he was glad that motion failed, because the hearing showed the value of "real stories from real people."
Councilmember Pascal voted no. His objection wasn't to the substance, which voters will decide. He said Council has "little more information than any other voter," that past positions involved the City's budget or authority, and that the hour came out of a calendar that keeps pushing City business to consent. The Mayor called both initiatives "anti-LGBTQ" and "anti-child." Councilmember Tymczyszyn was among the six votes for both resolutions, without comment. Asked at the first hearing whether he had anything to add, he said he didn't; he wasn't called on at the second. Adopted 6–1 at about 8:40 PM.
6B — Initiative 26-001, parental rights in schools: opposed 6–1
The initiative concerns parental rights relating to their children in public school. Staff summarized the changes: parents could get school records within 10 business days instead of 45, now including health and counseling records; parents would get notice before medical services and when police question a student; opt-outs would widen; and schools would have to notify parents right away if a child is removed from campus without their permission, including to a youth shelter. Staff said it isn't expert in education law and worked from the initiative text and the explanatory materials on the Secretary of State's website.
Again no one spoke in support. Eight people spoke against (two of them had also spoken at the first hearing), many of them about students who rely on school counselors when home isn't safe.
Councilmember Falcone moved and Deputy Mayor Black seconded. Falcone spoke as a survivor of childhood abuse: "schools need to be a safe space." Black supported this one too, and repeated his call for a rule, which he said Council could waive when a measure matters to cities. Councilmember Pascal voted no: "Do we trust voters to make informed decisions, or do we think the city's megaphone will make the difference?" Councilmember Arnold said the night showed "the pitfall of the initiative process." Adopted 6–1 at about 9:12 PM. The resolutions have no legal force over any school or voter.
Why weigh in now → the ballot-measure rule may come up at the retreats. If you think Council should stay out of statewide measures, or weigh in only when City money or authority is at stake, say so while it's being discussed. CityCouncil@KirklandWA.gov
8 — Consent calendar: approved 7–0
Who this touches: neighbors of the 64 faith-owned parcels, and every taxpayer who funds the police contract.
1:54–1:55. Deputy Mayor Black moved and Councilmember Prem seconded. Nothing was pulled and nobody asked a question. Payroll and bills came to about $22.8 million (our math).
On the same vote: Ordinance O-4950, the by-right affordable housing bonus for 64 faith-owned parcels, with heights to 50 feet in low-density zones; the 2026–2028 Police Guild agreement, with raises of 4.0%, 3.8% and then an inflation-based raise, a new retiree medical contribution and new pay premiums for bilingual officers and instructors; the October 6 minutes recording the 3–4 minimum wage vote; and seven capital project closeouts, including Fire Station 27.
The zoning change, which reaches 64 properties, cleared Tuesday without discussion; the Planning Commission held its public hearing in August. The police contract's total cost isn't stated in the packet. The memo says only that "the cost for 2027 and 2028 will be included in the 2027-2028 biennial budget," which reached Council the same night.
3C — Middle housing: Option 2, no vote
Who this touches: anyone who owns, rents or lives next to a single-family lot.
0:58–1:29. Kirkland allowed four to six homes per lot in 2025, but its floor area and lot coverage limits stayed at 50%, so builders use the square footage on fewer, bigger cottages and ADUs. Senior Planner Martha Rubardt's example: a lot that now holds a 3,200-square-foot house and two ADUs could instead hold four 1,200-square-foot homes, or keep its original 1,000-square-foot rambler and add three more homes. The Master Builders Association backs Option 2.
Most councilmembers backed Option 2, several with pieces of Options 1 and 3. Deputy Mayor Black's test was his four S's: simple, smaller, streamlined, and stability. Councilmember Arnold wanted to go further and give an ADU or cottage its size outright, without the floor area math. Councilmember Prem put the goal plainly: "So that's the ultimate goal, right, is the number of units." Councilmember Pascal wants a fix for the retiree who tries to build a backyard cottage and gets buried in tree code and frontage requirements, and the Mayor asked whether anyone is using the City's pre-approved ADU plans.
This was the first public meeting on the options. Bringing a project this size to Council before the Planning Commission is now standard, under a rule Council adopted in April. The Commission takes it up next and will hold the public hearing. Deputy Mayor Black pushed back on the idea that middle housing has stalled: Kirkland may simply build 140 to 160 a year because that's what its builders can produce, and fear of a collapse "is not borne out by the data." His bigger worry is that a drawn-out process slows building.
Why weigh in now → the Planning Commission is next. CityCouncil@KirklandWA.gov
10B — City Manager reports: four ideas, four motions
Who this touches: Holmes Point homeowners and neighbors, and anyone who rides, or dodges, a bike or scooter.
Four councilmember requests for staff study came up at once, which the City Manager called "very unusual." Any that need money will be decided in the budget.
Holmes Point lot coverage: options between 40% and 50% (6–0)
2:51–3:14. The Holmes Point overlay west of Juanita Drive has its own, stricter rules, and it's full of landslide hazard areas, streams and wetlands that limit building no matter what Council changes. Its lot coverage runs on a sliding scale: 40% on the first 6,500 square feet, 28% up to 9,000 square feet and 10% beyond. Councilmember Arnold said staff couldn't find a justification for that scale, and he wants options below 50%, with 40 as his max.
Councilmembers Pascal and Falcone wrote the request. Pascal wants a surgical change without reopening the overlay. Arnold and Pascal had talked with an overlay homeowner at a Conversations with Council session, and Falcone had visited his property and learned the problem hits several others. Falcone wants both 50% and lower numbers analyzed, with a count of how many lots are affected. Councilmember Prem asked how staff would pick a number between 40 and 50. Planning and Building Director Adam Weinstein said it's "a little bit arbitrary" in that narrow range and will come back with three options. The Mayor asked what share of overlay land is even eligible for middle housing, which she expects to be small. Pascal moved options from 50% down to 40%, or others staff evaluates, with standard public engagement, Falcone seconded, and it carried 6–0.
Holmes Point trees: match the city, or half (6–0)
3:14–3:21. Overlay homeowners may now remove only hazard or nuisance trees; the rest of Kirkland may remove two to four a year, depending on lot size. The Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance suggested two every five years. Deputy Mayor Black was ready to match the city outright, Councilmember Pascal thought half was reasonable, and Councilmember Arnold opposed matching the city. Falcone moved both versions to a hearing, with standard engagement, and it carried 6–0. The Alliance's two-every-five-years idea isn't one of the two versions, and its letter had asked for more engagement than the standard process.
Shared e-scooters: a study, with answers around the end of 2027 (6–0)
2:20–2:38. Scooters from neighboring cities already roll into Kirkland, which led Councilmember Pascal to call this "a discussion on timeline, not whether." Councilmembers split on a small pilot versus a long-term contract with an operator, and Deputy Mayor Black wants any rollout tied to the new bus rapid transit lines. The Mayor: "honestly, I think it's inevitable." Black drafted a motion on the spot for a due-diligence study with the Transportation Commission, and Councilmember Arnold seconded. After Pascal asked about cost, Black added "subject to budget discussions and available resources." He called it "the longest, most convoluted motion we've had in a while." It carried 6–0.
Bike helmets: more engagement and incentives, no ordinance for now (5–1)
2:38–2:51. Councilmember Prem wanted a helmet law now. She said about half the teenagers she sees riding to school aren't wearing one, which terrifies her. Deputy Mayor Black agreed, calling a helmet law the kind of paternalism he accepts. The others preferred incentives over enforcement, citing equity concerns. The Mayor suggested EvergreenHealth or another partner might supply free helmets for police to hand out. Councilmember Arnold moved more engagement and a look at an incentive approach, and it carried 5–1, with Prem holding out for an ordinance.
3B — Green Loop: priorities confirmed, maintenance unfunded
0:30–0:58. No vote. The planned 13.7-mile trail loop, about half of it new, would be built in pieces over 10 to 20 years. Staff reported more than $3.9 million in grants won in a little over a year, on top of $10 million from the King County Parks Levy. No one asked to reorder the priorities, though Councilmember Arnold questioned a few rankings. Deputy Mayor Black asked staff to deliver on the parks plan's promise to North Juanita, which he said has one of the greatest needs for park space, and Councilmember Pascal asked what "near-term" means to a resident. Staff agreed the January plan needs a map of what will actually happen in each near-term area.
The Mayor asked whether the levy can pay the $283,462 a year to maintain the loop. Staff said no. "So that's not funded at this point," the Mayor said. Once the full loop is built, that's $5.7 million every 20 years (our math). The logo choices are a tree ring, a banana slug and a fern; a community survey closes October 26 and two finalists go to a community vote in November.
3A — AI at the traffic signal: "yes, but"
0:01–0:30. No vote. Staff proposed two pilots: AI-adjusted signal timing on NE 85th Street between I-405 and the Redmond line, about $74,000 for six intersections, and near-miss analysis at $16,000 per intersection a year. Transportation Engineering Supervisor Jennifer Palmer said the vendors' travel-time claims deserve "a grain of salt perhaps, but these systems do work is what the data tells us." Councilmember Pascal asked whether the City has staff to run new technology, since he's seen agencies win grants for it and then lack the people. The answer: the timing pilot can run on the traffic center's one full-time engineer, but near-miss analysis can't grow without more staff. Councilmember Arnold is "not prepared to say yes" to even $100,000 in this budget without seeing the trade-offs. The pilots come back as budget options, if at all.
9B — State legislative agenda: one addition, back November 17
2:07–2:19. No vote. The draft covers housing tools and local planning authority, utility affordability, e-motorcycle safety, transportation funding, jail liability, public defense costs that nearly doubled from 2018 to 2025, behavioral health and bigger buffer zones around ballot boxes. The Mayor asked for one addition: say outright that Kirkland's contributions through ARCH, the regional housing agency, should count toward the City's state affordable housing targets. Councilmember Arnold supported making it explicit, and the City Manager suggested wording that covers any sub-regional housing group. Adoption is scheduled for November 17.
This matters because, under state law, King County's planning policies ask Kirkland to plan for 13,200 more homes between 2019 and 2044, including 7,388 for households earning 30% of area median income or less. From 2019 through 2023, Kirkland added about 205 of those. Kirkland also pays into ARCH's housing trust fund, and in its last four funding rounds about three-quarters of the roughly $4.3 million it committed, about $3.3 million, went to projects in other cities (our math). The county's planning policies say its progress reports should credit cities for these contributions; the county is still settling how, and so far it plans to show each city's dollars alongside the homes ARCH funds region-wide. Under the state's current guidance, the money doesn't reduce how much land a city must zone for its share, though a city can cite it in its housing plan. Counting it has a real case: pooled money goes further, and Kirkland has long been one of ARCH's biggest contributors. It also raises questions. Would credit be counted in dollars or in homes? If Kirkland claims a home built in Bellevue, does Bellevue lose it, or does it count twice? The new wording comes back November 17.
Items from the Audience
1:33–1:51. Seven people spoke. Council doesn't respond during this period.
Gas leaf blowers, three speakers. A group in green bandanas asked Council to move the phase-out of gas blowers up from the end of 2028 to early 2027. The City already has a step under way. This month it began a one-year pilot at Phyllis A. Needy Houghton Park, where crews keep that park and nearby parks with electric mowers, edgers and blowers. It's also asking volunteers to help rake leaves there on Tuesdays this fall, which it says will help the pilot succeed. Staff updates Council on December 8.
Holmes Point, two speakers. An overlay homeowner said the sliding scale leaves him unable to add an ADU, a garage or a ground-mounted heat pump, and that proving the City wrong on one remodel cost him $50,000. A speaker with the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance asked that any change go through the normal Planning Commission review.
Loud exhausts. A Kenmore resident thanked the City for training three officers to measure exhaust noise and write citations that hold up in court.
Tool lending. A speaker pointed to the King County Library System's new "library of things" at the Issaquah Library, which opened October 10 with the City of Issaquah donating a little over half the items, and asked Kirkland to partner with KCLS the same way. That's a different path from the one already under way here. Council set aside $100,000 for a community tool library, and in August it voted 5–2 to let staff negotiate with the Eastside Tool Collective, the only group that answered the City's request for proposals; the agreement comes back this fall. Issaquah's collection is small, about 50 square feet, and its items came from the city's donation and a KCLS Foundation grant, but it's housed in a library system Kirkland residents already pay for through their property taxes. KCLS was on the invitation list for the City's March tool library session. Before the agreement comes back, it's worth asking whether a partnership like Issaquah's was considered.
Also Tuesday
The executive session shrank
At 1:29 the Mayor announced an executive session on the sale or lease of real property and on potential litigation. At 3:21 the Mayor clarified it was real property only. On October 6 the City Manager said the City is "finalizing the bids for the Houghton Village property" and asked for a dedicated hour or so with Council in executive session, ideally not at the end of a long meeting. Tuesday's session came at the end of one, and the agenda doesn't say which property it covered.
The budget is out
The 2027–2028 budget book reached Council two days early and is posted on the City's website. The budget retreat is October 29.
What To Watch Next
Dated items are in Where Your Email Counts Next above. Also coming back: a December 8 resolution on utility reserves; the Green Loop plan in January; the report on whether the City's pre-approved ADU plans are being used; and whether the City adds the hearings to the video on its meeting page.
Prepared by a Kirkland neighbor from the meeting video on the City's meeting page and, for the two public hearings that copy leaves out, from the City's YouTube broadcast of the full meeting. Figures are checked against the published October 20, 2026 agenda packet. Timestamps are hours:minutes into the meeting page video; hearing times are clock times. Vote counts and movers are as called from the dais. We did the math ourselves for the consent total of about $22.8 million, the length of the gap in the meeting page video, the 20-year Green Loop maintenance figure and the household bill increases, using figures stated at the meeting or printed in the packet. Public commenters are described rather than named, and organizations are named where a speaker appeared on their behalf. Some names and figures are hard to catch on the video, so check the official minutes before quoting anyone.
Sources & city records
Full meeting on the City's YouTube channel, including both public hearings
Our September article on Kirkland's ballot measure positions
KCLS: The Curiosity Collection launches at the Issaquah Library
KCLS Foundation library programs (Curiosity Collection size)
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