Yard Smart Rain Rewards

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Rebates up to $5,000!

Are you planning a landscaping project this year? Yard Smart Rain Rewards is an exciting opportunity for Kirkland homeowners to beautify their yards and help keep polluted rainwater runoff out of Lake Washington.

Qualified homes can take advantage of free technical assistance and rebates to install beautiful projects like rain gardens, native landscaping, and cisterns on their property to manage rainwater runoff.

Why?

Every time it rains, water picks up and carries pollutants from our roofs, driveways, patios, and lawns, into the nearest storm drain, and finally into the nearest creek and Lake Washington. During big storms, the amount of rainwater runoff can cause neighborhood flooding and erosion hazards. 

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Your Yard Can Help!

How does Yard Smart Rain Rewards work?

1) Find Out if Your Property is Eligible

All Kirkland property owners are potentially eligible*. However, only properties with downspouts currently connected to the City's stormwater drainage system are eligible for rebates. Properties with downspouts that are already disconnected are not eligible for rebates in 2023.

If your property has downspouts that connect into the ground, you may be eligible. Yard Smart staff will help verify whether your downspouts are connected and determine your eligibility at your site visit. The photos below demonstrate what connected and disconnected downspouts might look like:

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* Yard Smart rebates cannot be used to install any projects to help meet the requirements of a permit or City code. Properties with an active building or development permit must wait until their project is complete and permit is finaled before becoming eligible for Yard Smart rebates. 

 

2) Schedule a Free Project Consultation

Yard Smart Rain Rewards consultations are a free service to help find the project right for you, your landscape, your budget, and your goals. In order to be eligible to receive a Rain Rewards rebate, all participants must first complete a Yard Smart consultation.

Consultations consist of a 60 minute site visit that will take place at your property with one of our Yard Smart staff. 

Schedule Your Consultation

Please note: We ask that you please reschedule your site visit if you currently have Covid-19, are experiencing any Covid-like symptoms, or have recently been exposed to someone with a positive Covid-19 test result.  

3) Choose Your Yard Smart Project

Eligible project types include rain gardens, rain capture cisterns, and native landscaping. All projects must result in at least 400 square feet of impervious surface being disconnected from the City's stormwater drainage system. Case by case exceptions can be made for smaller areas. Rebates will be awarded at a rate of $7.50 per square foot of impervious surface managed. 

Learn more about each project type, considerations, and requirements. 

4) Build Your Project

Once Yard Smart staff conducts a site visit on your property, we will send you a written report that includes a list of site-specific project options to reduce runoff from your property.

You can install more the one project on your property. Rebates ranges from 75 percent to 100 percent of project costs, up to $5,000 or $10,000 depending on property type. 

Project Steps Checklist(PDF, 6MB)

Contractor List(PDF, 2MB)

Project Approval Forms:

5) Claim Your Rebate

For Single Family Homes, we will cover 75% of project costs up to $5,000 for work done by contractors, or 100% of project costs up to $5,000 for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects. 

For Multi-Family Homes & Non-Residential Properties (commercial, industrial, multi-family), we will cover 75% of project costs up to $10,000. Non-profit participants are eligible to receive 100% of project costs covered up to the $10,000 maximum rebate. 

Rebate Fact Sheet(PDF, 287KB)

To Receive Rebate

  1. After your project is installed, inform City of Kirkland staff (at yardsmart@kirklandwa.gov) that it is ready to be inspected.
  2. City staff will inspect your project(s) and give approval of the installation, or provide any necessary changes.
  3. After receiving final approval, submit a fully completed Project Rebate Packet(PDF, 318KB) , along with required attachments. For downspout disconnection only, use this rebate form(PDF, 126KB)
  4. A rebate check for the installed project(s) will be issued within one month from when your completed Project Rebate Packet is received by the City of Kirkland.
All projects must be installed by November 30, 2023.

 

 

Questions?

View our Frequently Asked Questions or email yardsmart@kirklandwa.gov.

If you're not ready to install a Yard Smart project on your property, or your home is outside of the Rain Rewards eligibility area, Kirkland Public Works recommends everyday steps to reduce polluted stormwater runoff.