The Poulsbo City Council adopted an emergency moratorium on certain development in the 30-year-old Olhava Master Plan at its meeting Sept. 20.

A public hearing will be held Oct. 18 around 5:15 p.m. on the moratorium.

A few projects have already asked to be exempted from the moratorium.

The moratorium is scheduled to be in effect for 12 months unless terminated or renewed by the City Council for one or more six-month periods, city documents state. The moratorium would prohibit all building permit and land-use applications on undeveloped property zoned commercial (C-4) and Business Park (BP) within the Olhava plan that had not received a land-use permit prior to the moratorium.

Jim Laughlin, president of Laughlin Development LLC, is looking to build a 49-unit affordable apartment complex in College Marketplace. He is asking that the project be exempt from the moratorium. His reasoning was outlined in a letter to the city: increased housing capacity and accommodating affordable housing to all economic segments is a need in the moratorium; delaying affordable housing projects is in contradiction to the city’s effort to promote affordable housing; and the year or longer delay will make it financially impossible for local residents invested in the community to hold the property and move forward.

John Hantzmon, agent of CMP Investment Group LLC, which owns several lots at College Marketplace, including the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, also wrote a letter asking to be exempt.

“Given the many stakeholders in the area, we are concerned that the moratorium and subsequent discussions around city planning could be a protracted conversation,” the letter states. “While we are very supportive of easing restrictions, particularly around building height and zoning, we ask the City Council to consider allowing the Home2 to progress under the active Master Plan without delay.

“Not only will this create jobs in the short- and long-term, but there is an immediate need for another hotel in the area. We believe that the current zoning in place is sufficient for our uses on that particular parcel.”

Councilmembers discussed why they approved the moratorium.

“Developer profit margins are really not my concern,” Councilmember Britt Livdahl said. “The direction of our community and the limited available land that’s left is very much the concern of mine, this council and other members of our community. We’re dealing with a Master Plan that’s thirty years old. Things change and a moratorium is more within our rights as a council. We do feel it’s an emergency, and I’m still very much in favor of keeping it in place.”

Councilmember David Musgrove said: “While it is certainly not a preferable way to do things, it is a good opportunity to look deeply into how to make that happen the best for everyone in the picture, not just some. I would not have preferred to do it this way but it is one way to take a very good look at how it really should be done. I hope this will happen in fairly quick order because delays for anybody is not good.”

Mayor Becky Erickson added: “We never do a moratorium cavalierly. We always do it with very specific intentions. I am not anti-business—my degree is in economics—but I want the best thing for my city. That also means the best for the people who are trying to develop. Right now we’re hindered by a thirty-year-old code…and it needs to be fixed.”

The Olhava plan was approved by the council in 1995 and anticipated a mixture of residential, commercial and business park uses and allocated those uses a maximum amount of square footage (840,000 commercial floor area; 325,000 business park floor area; 50,000 college floor space; and 490 for residential units.)

The city has received a land-use application that exceeds the maximum amount of square footage and will require an amendment to the Master Plan to be approved by the council, per documents. Olympic College’s Poulsbo campus is located and subject to the Olhava plan and OC trustees have announced plans to move its Nursing and Allied Health Division programs to OC’s Poulsbo campus.

The OC campus is expected to expand to 100,000 square feet of facilities between the existing and proposed buildings, including five acres of vacant land south of the campus that is within the Business Park zoning. The Master Plan does not allow for any additional residential units beyond the original maximum of 400 without an amendment. “The plan is nearly thirty years old and no longer reflects the preferred land-use development patterns and uses as established by the recent amendments to the GMA,” per documents.

The council plans to evaluate the maximum square footage amounts, non-residential uses and analyze opportunities for increasing housing capacity on undeveloped parcels. Unless a moratorium is adopted, vacant lands could be developed prior to the city completing a review of the remaining properties to determine uses that best meet the city’s vision, documents say. “The moratorium imposed herein promotes the public good and is necessary for the protection of public health, property, safety and welfare,” documents read. “A public emergency exists requiring that the city’s moratorium become effective immediately upon adoption.”