Bank of America appeal

Bank of America development appeal

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Our Comprehensive Plan supports keeping downtown Kirkland building heights at 2 stories along all of Lake Street South. The developer of the Bank of America site received initial approval from City administrators for a proposed 5-story structure (55 feet) at the corner of Lake & Kirkland.

We were pleased that the Bank site would be redeveloped, but we believed that the administrative approval process and the original 5-story proposal did not conform to the City's Comprehensive Plan. The Plan provides that structures higher than 2 stories require an exercise of discretion by the City, and that a 5^th story requires a finding of "superior retail."

We believed that the administrative process failed to properly exercise discretion and that the finding of "superior retail" was not merited. If the administrative approval was allowed to become final, other developers would have argued that such approval set precedent for other pending multi-story proposals on Lake Street. Therefore, we filed an appeal to the City Council, so that the Council could evaluate all factors and make the ultimate decision.

The appeal was a formal legal process that was heard before the City Council at which Council members sat as judge and jury. The appeal hearing was not like a normal City Council meeting. The appeal process necessitated that we hire an attorney and experts, and that we incurred legal fees and costs.