A. Implementation Methods

There is a broad range of measures necessary to implement the Comprehensive Plan involving a wide variety of people and organizations. It is the responsibility of the City, however, to put in place the mechanisms that will promote the actions needed for implementation. Listed below are the methods that will be used to implement the Plan over the 20-year planning horizon.

Annual Plan Amendments. To keep the Comprehensive Plan current, it will be necessary to review and update it on a regular basis. At the very least, it will be necessary to annually consider amendments to the six-year projects list in the Capital Facilities Element. Other issues are likely to arise each year which can also be considered in the annual update.

Neighborhood Plans. The plans for Kirkland’s 15 neighborhoods are an important part of the Comprehensive Plan. Each Neighborhood Plan should be reviewed at least once between every two major Comprehensive Plan updates or more frequently as needed, given City Council priorities and available resources, both to maintain their currency and to bring them into compliance with the more recently adopted Plan Elements.

Functional and Management Plans. Referenced in the Comprehensive Plan, functional and management plans address in detail subjects more generally discussed in the Comprehensive Plan. See Capital Facilities Element for the list of City functional and management plans.

Functional and management plans are both guided by and help to guide the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan sets the broad policy framework while the functional and management plans are more detailed. However, functional and management plans also raise issues and ideas that help to shape Comprehensive Plan goals and policies. General consistency between the Comprehensive Plan and functional and management plans is important, as is regular updating of functional and management plans to maintain their currency.

Regulations. Regulations set the legal requirements for new development. The vast majority of the regulations are found in the Kirkland Zoning Code (including the official Zoning Map and shoreline management regulations), and the Subdivision Code found in the Kirkland Municipal Code. Local administration of the State Environmental Policy Act is also a regulatory tool. The Growth Management Act requires that development regulations must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Keeping Kirkland’s regulatory documents updated for consistency is a high priority, and should be undertaken as appropriate on a regular basis.

Programs. Another way to implement the Comprehensive Plan is through the establishment of City programs and teams that provide services to help achieve the goals and policies in the Plan. Examples of these programs are the Neighborhood Traffic Control Program, Neighborhood Service Team, the Green Team and the Tree Team.

Ongoing Administrative Activities. Implementation also depends on a variety of day-to-day actions such as development permitting and code enforcement. Ongoing monitoring of land capacity, demographics, development trends, housing costs, traffic levels, transit usage, levels of service for public facilities, and other factors affecting growth is also necessary.

Intergovernmental Coordination. Many of the goals and policies in the Comprehensive Plan cannot be achieved by Kirkland alone. Because Kirkland is part of a much larger and growing metropolitan area, issues involving growth rates, housing demand and supply, climate change, and transportation systems increasingly require intergovernmental responses. To protect local interests and meet regional obligations, Kirkland must involve itself at a variety of levels, including:

♦    Ongoing communication with neighboring cities and adoption of interlocal agreements where appropriate;

♦    Participation in subregional organizations such as A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) and the Eastside Transportation Partnership (ETP);

♦    Participation in Countywide organizations such as the Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC), King County Climate Change Collaborative (K4C) and Metropolitan King County;

♦    Participation in multicounty organizations such as the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) (Sound Transit).

Citizen Involvement and Education. Implementation also depends upon keeping the lines of communication open between City government and its citizens. The Comprehensive Plan will only be successful if it is understood and embraced by the public and if it is regularly revised to reflect evolving community aspirations and concerns.

Budgeting and City Work Program. Governmental expenditures play an essential role in implementation. The City’s annual operating budget allocates resources for personnel and supplies needed to carry out implementation measures; and the annual Capital Improvement Program targets the resources for transportation facilities, parks, utilities, and other public facilities necessary to implement the Plan.

The City Council adopts a biennial City Work Program in conjunction with the budget. The City Work Program prioritizes major cross-departmental efforts with significant impacts designed to maintain and enhance the public health, safety and quality of life in Kirkland. The Work Program establishes a two-year “action plan” by which the public can measure the City’s success in accomplishing its major policy and administrative goals. Many of these Work Program items will implement Comprehensive Plan objectives.