Citizens should be alarmed by the new developments in the Parkplace saga. It was disturbing to see at the Dec. 12 Planning Commission meeting how many big and small changes are being made to the original Touchstone plan that was initially approved by Kirkland City Council for the Parkplace development.

Now Touchstone is out of the picture. Their overly ambitious plan did not succeed and they have sold their interest in the property. With a new owner this is a totally different math problem. It isn’t A (retail and restaurants) plus B (offices) plus C (entertainment) plus D (tourist facilities) plus E (public open space and amenities). There are a lot of minuses. The city should be using a clean piece of paper. Why should Talon benefit by the agreement between Touchstone and the City Council when they have a much different plan?

As a concerned citizen, I went to the meetings from 2008 through 2010 relating to the Parkplace development. I heard what the citizens of Kirkland had to say in response to the presentations by Touchstone. I also listened to the discussions regarding Touchstone’s proposal by the Planning Commission, the Design Review Board and the Kirkland City Council.

This new plan resembles Touchstone’s project in only one major way. They are allowed to build up to eight stories. Does this seem right to you? It appears that in Talon’s new plan has very little destination retail proposed. The hotel and conference center, that would bring tourists into Kirkland ,has been removed. Much of the office space for the jobs we are mandated by the Growth Management Act to provide is replaced with housing. Shouldn’t we go back to the old zoning guidelines? Touchstone was only granted a PAR because the City Council wanted what they had to offer. The Council ignored citizen outrage against such a large development. Most of us who spoke-up didn’t want eight-story buildings towering over our waterfront village. Even a dense five-story development is going to make us look more like Redmond or Bellevue.

One of the major changes that Talon wants approval for is an eight-story apartment building that will replace the current Parkplace retail. Is that what the citizens of Kirkland want? Don’t we have enough housing concentrated in our downtown core with all the new residential projects under construction?

Kroger’s has the right to determine what goes into the Parkplace project because of their original lease. They want to build a bigger store. In order to do so they are insisting that a large residential building be above them. Is it right that a national grocery store chain gets to tell us what to build in our beautiful downtown? Do we need a bigger QFC? It has all the groceries I need just the way it is. What I can’t find there I can get at one of the other groceries store in the city of Kirkland.

I implore my fellow citizen to get involved and read over the packet from the Dec. 11, 2014 Planning Commission meeting. Now is the time to write letters to the Planning Commission and the City Council with your opinions.

Margaret Bull, Kirkland