Kirkland City Council members were deeply divided Tuesday evening. In a 4-3 vote, the council recommended to the Planning Commission that a hotly contested Business Neighborhood (BN) zoned property on Lake Street South be changed from a Residential Market designation to Neighborhood Center.

The move is just a recommendation and does not mean that the property, which is slated for the controversial Potala Village development, will necessarily be changed to neighborhood center – but it is a move in that direction.

The commission asked for a recommendation from council as they review the city’s Comprehensive Plan and the BN-zoned properties in the city. The other BN-zoned property is already designated as a Neighborhood Center.

The difference between the two designations is an up-zoning for the commercial use of the property. The Neighborhood Center designation would allow for commercial use of the space to be more broad, including something like a grocery store. A residential market designation would limit the commercial use of the space to a smaller retail store such as a drug store.

Neither designation deals with the density of the residential part of the mixed-use project.

Many in the audience, who have fought the Potala development’s high density, were not pleased with the decision as a larger commercial use could ultimately bring more traffic to the area.

Councilmembers Bob Sternoff, Toby Nixon and Dave Asher voted against the change, while Mayor Joan McBride, Deputy Mayor Doreen Marchione, Penny Sweet and Amy Walen voted for it. Some on the council voiced displeasure with the decision as well.

“What has been expressed earlier in the generalization is where we want to ultimately go and get more businesses into neighborhoods that now require driving to go anywhere to get anything,” said Asher. “And in doing that you don’t want to, to put it ineloquently, screw the neighborhood, like I am concerned we are doing here tonight.”

His comments led to outbursts from angry residents in the audience dressed in their trademark red shirts.

“The comp plan envisioned an island of commerce and mixed-use without dramatically greater density,” said Walen. “I don’t think that anyone envisioned unlimited density in that particular area … What I think we need to do is allow significantly more density than 24 units per acre but we do need a density cap. I am interested in a compromise.”

The council ultimately came to compromise on many issues.

The issue with the project’s density has a direct impact on traffic on Lake Washington Boulevard, which can be one of the most congested streets in the city. Sweet said that she understands the traffic concerns of the residents but “a person went out and purchased that property under an understanding of what they can do with this property. That implies a contract to me to a certain degree that I believe we have to pay attention to.”

Sternoff agreed with Sweet but pointed out the same argument could be made for those who already live in the area.

“Zoning is to give some kind of certainty and that is not just for the developer. Truth be told, I am a developer,” said Sternoff. “… The certainty is for the people that already live there.”

Many residents have complained about not being able to get out of their driveways because of the traffic volume on the street. The issue of bus access to the area, in order to help mitigate traffic congestion for residents, was also discussed.

“The big bus doesn’t go on Lake Washington Blvd., okay, big problem,” said Sternoff. “Buses go to centers. Buses go to where people are. Just because you put people somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a bus there.”

But personal opinions fueled a lengthy discussion.

“I do believe that there needs to be more density there than folks are asking for,” said Sweet. “… I have read every single email about the traffic. I am in that traffic all the time as well … I don’t believe that 100 more units or something in that number is going to break anything.”

Those emails and citizen activism changed the mayor’s mind – to a point – stating that she could have supported the original 163 unit proposal but has scaled back her opinion of the size of the development.

The city has imposed three moratoriums on the project, the most recent was a six month extension that took place on May 1. The city imposed the moratorium to give the Planning Commission time to look at any conflict between the Comprehensive Plan and the current zoning regulations.

The maximum three residents spoke on the issue during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“Kirkland is a community with a small-town feel, not a big inner city feel with high rises,” Kirkland resident Tom Grim told the council.

Council members agreed that they want to encourage businesses and not office space in the structure and did so through a recommendation on buffers for each. The council recommended that the commercial space be limited to 4,000 square feet.

Despite the recommendation to change the commercial designation, the council did agree on most other recommendations for the property, most of which impact the residential density of the project. One of the biggest was that there should be a residential-density limit for the land, something that had not been imposed. But that exact limit was not expressly recommended during the meeting.

Nixon said that he believed the density should match or be close to the surrounding buildings, a statement that all the council members agreed with.

But Sternoff pointed out that the council’s recommendation of a 13-foot height limit for the commercial space on the bottom floor, along with current height restrictions for the building, will limit the size of the building and its density.