Thursday, April 27 is the Kirkland Planning Commission meeting on Holmes Point Overlay ordinance. The Planning Commission will meet at City Hall to discuss amendments to the Holmes Point Overlay – an ordinance to protect trees west of Juanita Drive. FHNA and Holmes Point residents have been meeting informally for several months to discuss modifications to the ordinance. The HPO revision is part of ongoing work on the Finn Hill neighborhood plan. We’ll report to the neighborhood on possible HPO revisions and on the status of the neighborhood plan in the near future. Comments or concerns can be sent to: board at finnhillalliance.org
Holmes Point Overlay April 27 Meeting
We need revisions to the overlay that allow some realism. As a resident of Holmes Point with several mature trees on my lot, the city would not allow me to remove a single tree on my large lot. However developers seem to be granted permission to clear cut entire postage stamp size lots without regard for the damage risk this may cause to the surrounding homes. Why no consistent or fair treatment in the way the ‘overlay’ is enforced?
In the April 16, 2017 The Seattle Times, the newspaper magazine called ‘Pacific NW’ there is an article:What One Tree Tells Us about Climate Change. This article is only one scientific article of many that I have read that stresses the importance of trees, LARGE trees.Trees are the homes for many creatures in its canopy of leaves,the root system fosters and has a healthy relationship with soil microbes.Trees play an important role in climate change and serves as a buffer to weather and erosion. Kirkland does not need a tree replacement program that is designed to keep the developers happy and show a feeble attempt at being environmentally friendly. The little ornamental trees planted in sidewalks are not adequate -Kirkland needs to keep its BIG TREES. There is a certain percentage of property owners on Holmes Point who pay lip service to the ordinance and are more interested in their expensive lake front view, their boat launch and keeping large birds from nesting on their property, creating unsightly messes on their manicured lawns. They complain when it rains hard and their lawn washes out and/or the stream wanders away from landscaped restraints. I have no sympathy for these clueless landowners.Also subdividing these lots and giving each new owner their own driveway, etc.only increases the amount of impervious surfaces, less vegetation which leads to more flash floods and guaranteed erosion. It is obvious that hot real estate, greed plus the search for the perfect manicured lake front home can assist in the slow destruction of Lake Washington and fish.