Sultan may extend land development ban

Published 10:46 pm Sunday, September 7, 2008

The Sultan City Council may decide this week to extend a land use moratorium that’s been in place since March.

Public comment on extending the moratorium will be taken when the council meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sultan Community Center, 319 Main St. The City Council, which first adopted the moratorium March 13, will decide at Thursday’s meeting whether to extend it for up to six months, city administrator Deborah Knight said Wednesday.

If no action is taken, the moratorium will expire Saturday.

Knight said the moratorium, in effect within Sultan’s city limits, is tied to work being done by the city to revise its 2004 Comprehensive Plan.

“The Growth Management Hearings Board asked the City Council to put in place a land use moratorium so the city could concentrate on revising the Comprehensive Plan without the distraction of processing certain land use applications,” Knight said.

“The city won’t be taking action on 2008 revisions to the 2004 Comprehensive Plan until Sept. 25. And we won’t hear the growth management hearings board’s decision until Dec. 6,” she added.

The moratorium isn’t a building ban. Knight said its purpose is to stop land from being divided into lots while the comprehensive plan is being revised. She said there are as many as 400 lots currently available for use.

“We have no building activity. It hasn’t had any impact,” Knight said. “We have an excess supply of buildable lots. If people want to build, there are buildable lots.”

Before the moratorium was enacted in March, Knight said that even some developers supported it. “There was quite a bit of comment. Interestingly enough, we heard from the Master Builders Association (of King and Snohomish Counties), and they were supportive of a moratorium. They understand the city needs to get its land use policies in place to have development progress.”

Someone who lives in the city’s urban growth area but outside the city limits has petitioned the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board numerous times with objections to Sultan’s comprehensive plan, Knight said. “Anybody can petition any plan at any time,” she said. “I could be sitting in Sultan but could petition Liberty Lake.”

The Growth Management Hearings Board determined that the city’s transportation improvement plan and its capital facilities plan are missing details and analysis required under the state Growth Management Act. The capital facilities plan must show how the city will provide services such as roads, parks, water and sewer — and how those services will be funded.

“The comp plan sets policy and development regulations, and implements that policy. The two have to be consistent,” Knight said. “Key issues have come up. This revision is trying to address those key issues.”

The Sultan City Council can choose next week to extend the land use moratorium for up to six months. Not knowing what the growth management hearing examiner will decide Dec. 6, Knight said, “It could be extended again.”

Reporter Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.