Kira Erickson reports from the Mar. 7 meeting of the Langley City Council:
A proposed moratorium on certain types of building within the city of Langley elicited strong feelings from city council members and citizens alike during a meeting Monday night.
Councilmember Rhonda Salerno suggested pressing pause on the acceptance of permit applications for new development proposals submitted under either the city’s Planned Unit Development, known as PUD, or multi-family infill provisions…. Salerno said the city should take the six-month period of the moratorium to reevaluate its open-ended form-based code ordinances, which have no requirements for affordable housing currently.
They Said It
“As you know, immediately following our adoption of the form-based code for multi-family infill, an application for a nine-unit condominium development was submitted without any public or council consideration and without any affordability or climate wise requirements,” [Councilmember Rhonda] Salerno wrote in a memo. “This is one of the largest developments Langley has seen in a decade and we have missed our opportunity to include affordable and climate sensitive requirements.”
When asked by Councilmember Craig Cyr why she hadn’t brought the moratorium up before the PAB, Salerno responded that as a liaison her role is to listen, not comment, at PAB meetings.
“This is a council decision, not a PAB decision,” she said. “PAB is an advisory board that’s directed by the council to take up issues that we choose.”
Cyr disagreed, arguing that the purpose for such commissions is for subject matter experts to advise the council.
“I’m really having difficulty with voting in favor of this,” he said. “I think at the very least we need to hear from the PAB and have them meet about it.”
Salerno told Cyr that one of the things that illustrates white supremacy is “pushing things through really fast…”
“Putting in a moratorium is just extra paperwork and an extra bulletin board to the community at large that Langley is not friendly,” [Councilmember Thomas Gill] said, “and to the developers that say, ‘Don’t bother even trying to come to Langley. Go to the county and try to work out a deal to put 50 units on 50 acres,’ which is the exact opposite of the point of the Growth Management Act.”
Councilmember Gail Fleming was the only other council member present at the meeting to support the moratorium. She said she would like to have more public input on the matter.
