Developers, residents react to moratorium

POULSBO — As the impacts of the citywide moratorium on new building applications and Planned Unit Developments take hold, two sides to the issue are quickly taking shape. The council unanimously enacted the six-month Sept. 13 and stated that it would be lifted moratorium once the city’s new Critical Areas Ordinance is adopted and its PUD policies are updated.

POULSBO — As the impacts of the citywide moratorium on new building applications and Planned Unit Developments take hold, two sides to the issue are quickly taking shape.

The council unanimously enacted the six-month Sept. 13 and stated that it would be lifted moratorium once the city’s new Critical Areas Ordinance is adopted and its PUD policies are updated.

“I think this is a win-win, and I think the council did a very courageous thing,” said Becky Erickson of the Noll Road Association, which is opposed to the proposed development along Noll Road.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The moratorium should provide enough time for all of the issues associated with development to be addressed including the passage of the Critical Areas Ordinance, Erickson said, adding that she believes the CAO should be the city’s first priority.

“This is something the council didn’t have to do, but it gives everyone time to get their ducks in a row,” she said.

However, Mark Kulhman of Poulsbo’s Team4 Engineering, which is assisting with four projects on Noll Road, offered a different view.

“I think it’s all a mystery, and it was a bit of a surprise,” Kulhman said of the Sept. 13 decision.

One of the principles of the state’s Growth Management Act is predicability in growth, and the council’s moratorium doesn’t fulfill that, he said.

The moratorium wasn’t on the council’s published agenda, so no one had time to prepare for it, he said.

With regard to the moratorium on PUDs, Kuhlman said until it was enacted, the council apparently had no problems approving them under the existing city PUD ordinance.

“They have a quasi-judicial role, so they shouldn’t have firsthand knowledge of things coming before them,” he said.

He added that at the public hearings required for PUD approvals, developers could provide all of the information needed for the council to make a decision.

Another element of the moratorium that has raised questions in Kuhlman’s mind is the fact that the public hearing on it isn’t scheduled on the council agenda until November, he said.

“If they had had the public hearing immediately, the property owners trying to sell their property, developers and the public could have had their concerns addressed,” Kuhlman said.

However, from the council’s perspective, the moratorium gives the city the time it needs to prepare for the anticipated onslaught of growth in its Urban Growth Areas, Councilman Mike Regis said.

“Right now our guiding documents don’t have a lot of that in them,” Regis said, referring to transportation, sewer, stormwater and water infrastructure requirements for development. Though those plans have been drafted by city staff, the council hasn’t had the time to study and approve them, he said.

Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development has the information about the land within the city’s UGA, but city staff needs to obtain it to see what type of growth will be appropriate in the future, he said.

“This allows us to do what we need to do without getting too much on our plate,” Regis said.

Tags: