Mount Vernon council upholds hearing examiner, approves McLaughlin Road rezone

Mount Vernon City Council voted Jan. 14 to approve ordinance 39-33, adopting a site-specific rezone that changes approximately 8.3 acres at 4400 McLaughlin Road from a public zoning designation to multifamily residential (R-4). The vote came after a closed-record hearing and a staff presentation that cited a hearing examiner recommendation to approve the change.

The rezone request, filed as PLAN210506, was described by senior planner Mary Anne Manville Ailes as a measure to bring the property into compliance with a 2020 comprehensive-plan designation of "medium-high density multifamily." City materials and the hearing record reference state law requiring development regulations to implement the comprehensive plan. Manville told the council the applicant had completed required procedural steps and that the hearing examiner had recommended approval after reviewing the record.

Neighbors warned of flood hazards and emergency-access concerns. Testifying on behalf of nearby residents, Norm Barber quoted the hearing examiner's caution that "one major point against the higher density zoning is that the rezone area is in a mapped flood hazard area," and urged the council to adopt the examiner's alternative to rezone the property to a lower-density R-3 classification to "minimize potential damage." Barber cited December floods that affected the site and said McLaughlin Road is the only access to the property.

Planner Manville responded that the applicant prepared two no-rise flood studies, worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Ecology, and that the studies concluded negligible flood impacts from the proposed rezone when properly mitigated. She told council, "The applicant has satisfied the rezone criteria outlined within the Mount Vernon municipal code and has completed the procedural requirements for rezones." Council members asked whether site-specific traffic and flood studies would be required at the development stage; staff said some studies (for example traffic concurrency) must be updated for any future site-specific proposal.

Councilmember West moved to approve ordinance 39-33; the motion was seconded by Councilmember Tricero. After brief discussion the council voted to adopt the ordinance, with the motion passing as read. The rezone authorizes R-4 zoning for the parcel; any future development would still be subject to site-specific reviews for stormwater, floodplain elevation, traffic concurrency, and other city requirements.

The decision closes a long-running file the planner noted dated to 2021 and brings the property's zoning into alignment with the 2020 comprehensive-plan redesignation, while leaving open the specific design and mitigation review that would accompany any development proposal.