New tenants will be moving into the PACE Chemical building as soon as the renovations to the site are completed. The building, located at the corner of 7^th Avenue South and 5^th Place, has been vacant for over three years and has suffered from neglect and extensive vandalism. A vagrant has been spotted on the site several times but has managed to elude police. Random cars have been seen there at odd hours, it is suspected that there have been some drug dealings, and teenagers have been using it as a hang out spot. But that is all beginning to change. The owner of the building, Max Gurvich, has hired project manager, John Gilday, to clean up the building and get it ready for the new tenants. A long time Kirkland resident, who is currently living in the Moss Bay Neighborhood, Gilday is very interested in working with the neighbors and addressing their concerns. Immediately after signing on for the project he secured the building against loitering and began cleaning up the exterior.

The major concern for the neighborhood now is the amount of truck traffic that will be generated by the new tenants. There are four loading docks for the warehouse, one of which fronts 7^th Avenue South, a residential street with houses directly across from the loading dock. In the past trucks have idled along this street, waiting to unload, and in some cases have sat in front of the houses for several hours. While backing out of the dock, trucks have a difficult time making the turn onto the street and some end up baking over the neighboring lawns, the mailboxes were hit once.

At our August neighborhood meeting Gilday gave a presentation on the solutions he and Gurvich are proposing to help with the truck traffic. A retaining wall and steel posts will be built on one side of the 7^th Avenue South loading dock which will force the trucks to exit to 5^th Place, through the appropriate industrial area. Gilday is working with the City to see about designing some curbing along with signage for 5^th Place that will keep the trucks that are exiting the other loading docks from turning down 7^th Avenue South and for signage on the corner of State Street and 7^th Avenue South informing the trucks not to turn up the residential street. He is also looking into changing the address from 7^th Avenue South to 5^th Place so that the truckers will naturally come in along 5^th instead of up 7^th.

Gilday has set up a web site for us to make comments and concerns, waterfund.org/Pace.htm, and is eager to work closely with us on solutions that work well for both parties. The new tenants have not been decided upon yet but Gilday assured us that Gurvich will choose one that will be a good fit for the neighborhood.

Our annual neighborhood Picnic will be held Sunday, September 16^th, 1to 4pm at Peter Kirk Park behind the Teen Center. This year we are serving up burgers and hotdogs along with the potluck food and other snacks. Everything you need for a great picnic will be provided along with our own talented neighbor performing her music and the Bubble Man entertaining the children. It is a great way to visit with your neighbors and to catch up on our neighborhood issues. If you would like to bring some food or would be available to help out with the set up or clean up, your help would be greatly appreciated! Contact Laura Lee Pritt, Moss Bay Neighborhood Co-Chair at (425) 827-0790.

Out next Moss Bay Neighborhood is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, October 11th, 7 to 8:45pm in the Kirkland Library meeting room. We are working on arranging a presentation from the city on the Downtown Comprehensive Plan and will have an update on the PACE building. We found out, from the Traffic Calming Department, that the traffic study for the Moss Bay neighborhood isn’t scheduled for another year. We may try to do it the nearer future to take advantage of the momentum created by the study done in the Norkirk Neighborhood while the issues are fresh in everyone’s minds, so start thinking of concerns you have on your street or areas you drive and bring them to the next meeting. Kirkland may be phasing out the "skinny street" program that we were hoping to applying to State Street, so we looking into other ways to make State Street more pedestrian friendly with crosswalk bump outs and planting strips. If you have any ideas please share them with us at the next meeting. It was mentioned at the last meeting that the summer months have brought and increase in litter in and around the parks, so we are working with the city to see about adding more strategically placed garbage cans and possibly setting up an "Adopt A Park" litter clean up program for the different neighborhoods. Please help keep our neighborhoods clean by disposing of trash you may see along the way as clean streets tend to discourage littering. Check out our web site for any new news or updates about these and other Kirkland topics: www.mossbay.org.

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