Dear Kirkland City Council,

I believe that I am addressing the correct authority. Recently, I was checking out at a store at the foot of the hill that I live on. I was informed that the city council had approved a request from the fire department of the City of Kirkland to have “Eminent Domain” for the purchase of the area where two stores now do business. The address is 9826 N.E. 132nd St., Kirkland, Wash. 98034. The large parking area and stores are actually where the former grocery Albertsons and present Rite Aid store sit. I know that the area is actually all of that and the land where the U.S. Bank sits. This is a huge area and it sits directly across from Juanita Elementary School. It is worth a lot of money.

For those who do not know, the party who has Eminent Domain is allowed to purchase a piece of land or location and to have no competition for this purchase. No other offers are allowed. The city council has OK’d this to happen. You need to know that this land is worth a lot of money. While a fire station is normally a good thing this is not the place for such a facility.

At first I was just amazed that the city council allowed this to go forward. I have no idea if there has been any information regarding this decision in the press, or if any of the parents know about this declaration. Consider if you will having a fire department, training facility as well as station across from a large established elementary school. The real space is way bigger than they will require. The real important information is how the activities this fire department station will impact the main road up onto Finn Hill and the parents who deliver and pick up their children every day at school. Right now just the parking alone serves the parents with a place to collect their children since the parking lot allotted to them in front of the school is not big enough. The movement is careful and very slow. The congestion is huge, HUGE!!

I know for a fact that there are several small fire department locations on Finn Hill which have been deactivated and are just storage units for equipment. Some are large, some small but if you need the help from our fire department you get it from somewhere else. Perhaps the one located near Interstate 405.

I had hoped that eventually this area would resemble the land that was renovated near Juanita beach. Small businesses with apartments on top of all of the buildings. In reality it may still happen. The fire department may already know that this space is a ridiculous location because of the school. It would then be able to sell the land and profit. Unfortunately time will go on as the fire department of Kirkland keeps buying and not using the facilities they own.

Kirkland needs to think about this with some sort of clarity! And the public needs to actually know what this means for them. What is Eminent Domain? It is the government has the right to seize private property without the owner’s consent. Think about this! Think about this at this location

Carol Lynn Kirchner,

Kirkland