POULSBO — After enacting a moratorium Sept. 13 to allow for the adoption of a new Critical Areas Ordinance, the Poulsbo City Council is set to take the next step down that road tonight.

The moratorium has also impacted Planned Unit Developments as the city is in the process of revising its existing PUD ordinance.

Council members will listen to planning department staff discuss the major differences between the current regulations and the draft of the new CAO in addition to reviewing the Planning Commission’s work on the project.

“We have to look at the recommendations from the consultant and staff to see if our policies need to be changed,” Councilman Mike Regis said.

The council also needs to examine Kitsap County’s policies to ensure that the two are comparable, Regis said.

“When we annex in our Urban Growth Area we need to make sure there’s some consistency,” he said, adding that the urban environment allows for more density than the rural environment.

More than anything else, the city needs to respect its critical areas, he said.

“We need the CAO to protect the integrity of the Puget Sound,” Regis said. “Every city has that obligation not to have the Puget Sound fail and become a Dead Sea.”

The council needs to take its time to carefully consider the entire Critical Areas Ordinance, said Noll Road Association spokeswoman Becky Erickson, who is opposing PUDs in her neighborhood.

“I have a great deal of trust in the council to operate in a prudent fashion,” Erickson said.

The association’s main concern is the protection of the Lemolo Creek Corridor under the new ordinance, she said.

“It’s really unspoiled relative to Dogfish (Creek),” she said. “We hope everybody understands that.”

While there is no doubt that development will take place along Noll Road, it is important to limit its impacts, Erickson said.

From the business community’s standpoint, the council’s consideration of the new CAO will help complete the development picture for the entire North End, said Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce executive director Stuart Leidner.

“It will help to get it completed, so everybody has a clearer picture,” Leidner said, adding that the CAO’s adoption has been anticipated for quite some time.

The council should carefully consider the new CAO and gather input from residential and commercial property owners, taking note of the impacts it’s going to have on both, Leidner said.

While no date has been set for the public hearing on the CAO, the council will have a public hearing on its moratorium on Nov. 1.