7. Public Services and Facilities

The City of Kirkland and other agencies provide a wide range of public services and facilities to serve residents and workers in the Totem Lake Business District. Policy direction for these services is provided in three functional elements of the Comprehensive Plan: Public Services, Utilities and Capital Facilities. These policies, while not repeated here, are applicable to the Totem Lake Business District. The goals and policies provided below address specific public service issues unique to the Totem Lake Business District.

Goal TL-11: Prioritize available infrastructure funding to projects within Totem Lake to support its development at Urban Center densities.

Policy TL-11.1: Coordinate with developers to provide required flow control and water quality treatment in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Policy TL-11.2: Provide stormwater management facilities to serve untreated and uncontrolled runoff from already developed impervious surfaces.

Policy TL-11.3: Evaluate opportunities for regional approaches to provide stormwater management facilities and provide incentives to property owners to partner with the City to site these facilities.

Policy TL-11.4: Reduce the overall rate and volume of stormwater runoff during peak storm periods.

Much of the development in the Totem Lake Business District contains extensive impervious surface area. This style of development has contributed to unusually high rates of runoff to streams and wetlands during peak storm periods. As the rate and volume of stormwater runoff increases, water quality decreases, the potential for severe floods increases and flood peaks are extended.

Public and private measures, such as provision of public funds for improved stormwater detention facilities to handle existing development levels, and revised development standards to reduce impervious surface area, expand buffers/vegetated areas, and increase detention standards, will contribute to the reduction of stormwater flows.