Community Meetings
Upcoming Meetings:
None at this time
Previous Meetings:
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9/18/2024, 7pm at St John Vianney Church - Community Room
12600 84th Ave NE
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​FHNA hosted a community meeting for the purpose of neighbors getting questions answered about the Comprehensive Plan Update for the City of Kirkland. The proposal to study high-density development for a half mile along transit corridors had become a highly contentious issue among Kirkland residents. FHNA would like to thank the Director of Planning and Building, Adam Weinstein, for so thoughtfully answering everyone's questions at the meeting. His slideshow presentation was also very appreciated.
Thank you to all who attended! Thank you to City Councilmembers Amy Falcone and Jon Pascal for attending.
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For those of you who were unable to attend, you can watch the video here.
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To view the slideshow, click here.
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​Timeline for the remaining public meetings:
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- September 26th, 2024: Planning Commission Public Hearing
Option to attend the City Hall Open House first from 4:00 to 5:30.
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- October 15th, 2024: Joint City Council/Planning Commission Study Session
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- December 10th, 2024: Council Adoption of the Comprehensive Plan Update
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If you have comments or questions we encourage you to send them to the appropriate city staff:
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PlanningCommissioners@kirklandwa.gov
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Director of Planning and Building - Adam Weinstein aweinstein@kirklandwa.gov
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Deputy Planning Director - Allison Zike azike@kirklandwa.gov
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Or to your elected officials: CityCouncil@kirklandwa.gov​​​​
2/28/2024, 7pm at St John Vianney Church - Community Room
12600 84th Ave NE
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FHNA Members’ Meeting
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The Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance (FHNA) invites all Finn Hill residents to FHNA’s annual members meeting at St. John Vianney Church.
We’ll vote to elect directors to 2-year terms, meet Kirkland Councilmembers John Tymczysyn and Neal Black, and hear about plans for trails in the Juanita Woodlands and a new project to promote native plants in Finn Hill yards (grant funds are available for native plant landscaping).
Time permitting, we’ll wrap up a preview of FHNA’s projects for 2024.
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AGENDA
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7:00 Welcome: Scott Morris
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7:10 Board Elections Candidate Introductions
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7:25 Councilmembers John Tymczyszyn and Neal Black
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7:35 Election Results: Jaime Lusardo (FHNA board)
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7:40 Juanita Woodlands Trails: Kelli Heintz (King County Parks)
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8:00 Native Planting Yard by Yard: Lynne Robins (Pollinator Pathways)
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8:20 FHNA projects for 2024: Scott Morris
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8:30 Adjourn
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Post-meeting Details:
Thank you to all who attended! We re-elected directors Bill Blanchard, Fred Schaffalitzky, James Kumin, Scott Morris, and Susan Carlson. We also welcomed Kali Oswald to the board. You can read their bios below.
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Post-meeting Documents:
1) 2024 Overview Presentation
2) Juanita Woodlands Concept Update
3) WaterWorks Finn Hill Gardens Presentation
Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance Board of Directors Candidate Biographies
February 2024
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Bill Blanchard: Bill moved to Finn Hill from Seattle in 1989 and joined the FHNA Board in the 2013. He and his wife Joanie raised their three children on the hill, where they attended the local schools. He spent 25 years in the advertising industry, creating marketing messages for consumer brands and corporations. In 2007 he joined Windermere in Kirkland as a real estate agent. In 2023 he joined the Engels Volker Real Estate group. Bill served on the Kirkland Strategic Housing Committee; he is Co-Chair of the Kirkland Association of Neighborhoods (KAN), which meets monthly with city staff and Council leadership to help shape the future of Kirkland.
For 10 years, Bill has represented the neighborhood on the Big Finn Hill Parks Committee. As a FHNA board member, Bill is active on the Green Loop project; he helped secure millions of dollars for land acquisition resulting in over 10 acres of land being set aside for open space and future park land. Bill continues to find and mentor future leaders for Kirkland and Finn Hill as well as continuing to locate and acquire land for future generations.
Fred Schaffalitzky: Fred moved to Washington from Switzerland in 2010 and to Holmes Point on Finn Hill in 2013,
where he now lives on a steep slope with his four cats. After leaving academia in 2005, Fred worked as an
engineer at four large, west coast information-technology companies on projects related to imaging and robotics.
His only consistent leisure interests are yard work and hiking, and his focus on the FHNA board is conserving and
restoring the urban forests in Finn Hill. Fred has been actively engaged in FHNA’s park stewardship projects and in
identifying and researching potential parcels and easements for the Finn Hill Green Loop.
James Kumin: James has lived on Finn Hill since fall of 2012 when he arrived to serve as pastor of Inglewood
Presbyterian. He grew up in Portland, but then lived in LA County, central New Jersey, and SE Michigan before
making it back to the PNW.
After college he first worked as a city planner while also launching a non-profit learning center in his Latino immigrant neighborhood; he then became a pastor in a desire to integrate his love for neighborhoods and skills in networking resources across lines that typically divide us from each other.
He enjoys walks with his wife, playing with his two kids (ages 14 and 11), laughing at his dog, and ingesting a wide variety of
good food. He sometimes thinks about kayaking again. His urban planning background and deep connections with
Finn Hill community are assets on both policy matters and outreach efforts.
Kali Oswald: Kali is a mid-west transplant who has lived on Finn Hill since 2010, and prior to that lived in both
downtown Kirkland and downtown Bellevue. She came to the hill to enjoy the natural environment and gain
garden space as she is an avid gardener and canner. She lives with her husband, two elementary aged kids, a dog,
2 cats, and chickens.
Kali has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy and Management and a masters certification in Urban Forestry. She previously worked for the City of Bellevue Parks Department in both the Forest Management division and Street Trees and Arterials Landscapes division. She spends her free time with her kids in the backyard gardening, and usually ends up with a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes each year.
She enjoys volunteering for elementary and Green Kirkland Partnership restoring natural areas on Finn Hill. She feels
a strong sense of duty towards protecting green space and creating an ecologically rich environment in which her
friends and family live and is devoted to serving her community with her expertise and experience.
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Scott Morris: Scott moved to the Homes Point area of Finn Hill in 1997 and became involved in the community’s
campaign to save the Juanita Woodlands from development in 2000. Shortly thereafter, he joined the board of
FHNA’s predecessor organization, the Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance, and has served as the President of both
DCNA and FHNA for the last 12 years. Scott is the general counsel for a Bellevue-based firm that owns and
operates cellular telephone companies located outside the United States.
Susan Carlson: Susan and her husband Eric moved to the Seattle area in 2013 after thirty years in Washington, DC,
where Susan worked for several national environmental nonprofits and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She and
her husband chose to put down roots in Finn Hill because of its beauty, intact natural areas, and trails. Since
moving to the Northwest, Susan has been active in several conservation and environmental education initiatives
which include playing a central role in the creation of the new Environmental Education and Research Center
(EERC) at St. Edward State Park, a partnership between Washington State Parks and the University of Washington
Bothell; serving on the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust’s National Heritage Area’s Planning Committee; and
leveraging state’s first major appropriation for Climate Science Education. She also serves on the boards of the
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and is looking forward to supporting FHNA in realizing the vision of the Green
Loop Campaign.