The Woodland City Council has taken action to put a stop to residential uses in commercially-zoned land by outright prohibiting it in a section of it’s city zoning.
During its June 20 meeting, the city council voted 6-1 to approve an ordinance restricting new residential uses in the city’s highway commercial zones. That zoning mainly exists on land located off of the city’s two interchanges with Interstate 5.
The decision caps off about a year’s worth of discussion on how Woodland will handle development propositions to build housing in that zone. Last year, the council voted to put a moratorium in place to prevent construction or expansion of such uses in all of its commercial zones, Community Development Director Travis Goddard said.
The moratorium extension was also on the agenda for the meeting, but after the council passed the ordinance to make the code changes, the extension was rendered moot, Goddard explained.
“The moratorium is simply to keep people from sneaking in the back door while we’re trying to take care of business,” Goddard said.
The moratorium stemmed from a planned senior living development that was going to be housed behind Safeway in the highway commercial zoning district. More recently, a developer was looking to bring about 400 apartment units to Belmont Loop on the other side of Interstate 5.
Goddard said a recommendation from the city’s planning commission came before the council in March but it was remanded by the council back to the commission. The initial recommendation stated the need for one floor of commercial space for every three floors of residential space in a project. He said that recommendation was a compromise of suggestions by developers based on the current market conditions and the commission felt it was more in line with development in Woodland.
Upon revisiting it, Goddard said the commission ultimately recommended outright elimination of residential uses in the city’s highway commercial zoning district. He said the commission wanted the restriction in place until the city was able to garner feedback from the public on what citizens would like to see regarding residential development in commercial zones.
Councilor Carol Rounds was initially in favor of allowing one floor of residential for every floor of commercial, which is also something that was suggested by Mayor Will Finn. Finn said the Belmont Loop development had a ratio of three residential floors to one commercial. Goddard said that ratio didn’t have an effect on the allowed density.
Rounds pushed back on the larger-scale developments that led to the moratorium.
“That’s not what it’s here for. It’s for a mom-and-pop business, or any business that wants to have their business below and live up above, where it’s economical for them,” Rounds said.
Councilor DeeAnna Holland agreed that Rounds’ idea was applicable for downtown, though she didn’t agree with it being the case in the highway commercial zoning. She remarked on the current zoning situation and the potential exploitation of code should that zone not be excluded from residential uses.
“It’s weird that you have house, house, business. … It doesn’t make sense that this is light industrial across the street from housing, and then now people want to pack houses or any kind of living situation out by the freeway,” Holland said. “I’m a big proponent of housing people, but that one just seems silly to me.”
Councilors Rounds and Jennifer Rowland were the only ones to vote in favor of the one-to-one ratio. Rounds was also the only councilor to vote against the approval of the residential prohibition in the highway commercial zone.
During the discussion, Councilor Melissa Doughty was the first to suggest going with the planning commission’s recommendation.
“There’s no reason to have housing in the highway district at this time,” Doughty said.
Councilor Monte Smith noted the council could address future projects that looked to put residential uses in the zone.
“I think if somebody comes to the council with a good project, they can bring it forward to us and we can determine if it would be a good fit in that area,” Smith said.
