Council Passes Moratorium on Increasing Residential Density

The Woodinville City Council approved a temporary moratorium on single-family residential development which exceeds the base zone density at Tuesday night’s meeting.

allows developers to put more houses than the R-1 zone allows, typically one house per acre, with subdivision approval. "The city planning commission has  been  studying  this  issue  as  part  of the  moratorium  established  by  the  City Council to study transfer of development rights and density transfers in the single-family zones", according to a staff report.

The six month moratorium, Ordinance No. 543, passed with a 4-2 vote, with Liz Aspen and Les Rubstello voting no and Scott Hageman recusing himself. Hageman said he could not vote on the moratorium because it could expose him and his family to litigation because of recent correspondence he had on the subject of zoning.

The moratorium will not go into effect until five days after its publication. Until then, a developer could still come in and file an application for a higher-density subdivision and not have the moratorium affect the project.