Amy, who gave only her first name and serves on the Kirkland Design Review Board, said her 30 years as an urban designer and architect shape how she evaluates projects and how they connect to public spaces.

“I actually worked for the city of Redmond, the city of Issaquah, both again in urban design,” Amy said. “So I felt like having that background, I can contribute in making sure that when we make decisions on these projects, that we're being fair and objective.”

In a brief recorded interview, Amy pointed to international travel as a source of ideas for walkability and civic spaces. “There’s so many wonderful cities, in not only in Europe, but also in Asia that, do a great job with their walkability, their civic spaces,” she said. She added that experiencing those places in three dimensions helped her “understand what it takes to have these successful, you know, mixed use, walkable developments.”

Amy singled out The Foundry, a Totem Lake development application reviewed by the board in 2024, for the way the project interfaces with the Cross Kirkland Trail. She said the design allows trail users to access parts of the property and reflects thinking about trail‑oriented development in an area that the city’s comprehensive plan designates for future mixed‑use, high‑density development.

Totem Lake currently contains a number of light industrial uses, Amy said, and The Foundry is among the first projects the board has seen that attempts to integrate more directly with the trail and future higher‑density uses called for in the comprehensive plan. The interview did not include details on project permits, construction timelines, financing or final approvals.

No formal votes or actions were recorded in the interview. The remarks are descriptive of how a board member approaches design review and of characteristics Amy observed in The Foundry application; they do not represent final council or board decisions.