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Council extends interim unit-lot subdivision rules for six months, lowers review level to ease applications
Summary
After a public hearing with no speakers, the council voted unanimously to adopt ordinance 2025-02 extending interim development regulations for unit-lot subdivisions for six months and signaled a move to reduce the permit review level from a hearing-examiner (Type 3) to a planning-director (Type 2) decision to reduce time and cost for applicants.
The Poulsbo City Council held a public hearing and voted to extend interim development regulations authorizing unit-lot subdivisions for an additional six months. Planning staff said the change is intended to allow staff time to draft permanent regulations while the city learns from an initial project that proceeded under the original interim rules.
Planning staff recommended lowering the permit review level. As Nicole explained during the hearing, "It was it's currently as written a type 3 permit, which requires it to go to the hearing examiner... but after some consultation with our city attorney, that's not required. And so we believe that a type 2, which is a planning director decision will make the unit lots more appealing to applicants and hopefully we'll get more applications for them." The council took no public testimony and moved to adopt the extension by ordinance.
Councilmember Eckard moved to adopt Ordinance No. 2025-02 to extend the interim zoning ordinance for unit-lot subdivisions; the motion passed by roll-call vote with all members present recorded as "aye." Following the vote, staff said they will use the extra time to prepare permanent development regulations and coordinate with the hearing examiner where needed.
What changed: the extension preserves the interim regulatory framework for an additional six months and staff plans to reduce some procedural burdens (review level) to encourage more applicants and to refine permanent code changes based on the project's lessons.
