Public hearing on moratorium set for Tuesday

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 3, 2026

A public hearing on a proposed extension of a building moratorium Island County’s semi-urban areas will be earlier than originally scheduled.

Residents will get their chance to comment during an Island County Commissioners meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7 at the hearing room in Coupeville. A Zoom link will also be available on the agenda for the meeting.

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon said the hearing date changed because the meeting on the original date was overstuffed with other matters.

At a workshop meeting last month, the commissioners discussed extending the emergency, 12-month moratorium for another six months because the adoption of the periodic comprehensive plan update is running late. They informally agreed it seemed like a good idea, but they must first hold a public hearing before it can pass.

Originally adopted in April 2025 and then amended in July, the measure prevents development in 11 areas zoned mixed-use Rural Areas of Intense Development, or RAIDS. Those areas are in Clinton, Ken’s Korner, Bayview, Greenbank, Cornet Bay and Deception Pass, as well as areas on Camano Island.

Currently, the moratorium expires this month. The extension will add six months — the timeframe prescribed in state law — but the commissioners can repeal it earlier, which they all agreed was likely.

Commissioners adopted the measure in a 2-1 vote in April of last year; Commissioner Janet St. Clair voted in opposition. The purpose of the moratorium was to temporarily pause land-use and building applications in mixed-use RAIDs to give planners time to develop new density and zoning regulations as part of the comprehensive plan and subsequent code update. As part of the update process, planners realized that the zones are significantly underutilized for housing.

The moratorium proved to be controversial on South Whidbey, especially in Clinton, where a Whidbey couple were planning to build a new hotel.