LFP City Council approves extension of moratorium on Town Center zoning changes

Parcel map of Town Center

The Lake Forest Park City Council unanimously approved the extension of the moratorium on changes in zoning to the Town Center property last Thursday night.

The original moratorium, approved last September, was set to expire in mid-March, and the approved ordinance extends that until mid-September.

The city Planning Commission has been holding extra meetings during the original moratorium, gathering public comments and debating different ways of accommodating various stakeholders as they consider changes to the property’s zoning, according to City Councilmember John Wright.

The Mayor and many Councilmembers praised the work of the Planning Commission, and, in a separate action, re-appointed incumbent commissioners T.L. Fudge, Rachael Katz, and Ira Gross for another four-year term.

“We don’t need to become the same thing as the communities on either side [of Lake Forest Park] have become, with their high-density zoning,” said one resident during the public comment period. 

This sentiment was echoed by all but one of the roughly dozen spoken and written comments that the city received. The lone comment opposing the moratorium extension was presented by a representative of Seattle King County Realtors, an industry association. There was no comment from Merlone-Geier Partners, the owners of Town Center.

--Tracy Furutani