Langley City Council ponders more code changes

Published 1:30 am Friday, May 23, 2025

Camping with a permit, allowing a brewery on the fairgrounds and regulating generator noise were among the proposed code changes discussed by the Langley City Council this week.

As part of the city’s comprehensive plan update, the council has been reviewing and discussing possible code changes. The amendment process is required by the Growth Management Act, which mandates that the Village by the Sea must accommodate population growth over the next 20 years.

People in RVs can currently camp on private property for seven days without a permit and 30 days with a permit. The proposed changes would make it so campers would have to obtain a permit on the first day, but they would be able to apply for multiple 30-day extensions, not to exceed a total of 180 days.

“This was really a council-initiated suggestion to allow for more temporary options for housing while people are in between jobs or need a place to stay,” Meredith Penny, the city’s planning director, said during the May 19 meeting.

The city’s Planning Advisory Board recommended adding conditions of approval to the permit that address things like sanitation, outdoor cooking and noise. The citizen committee also suggested making it clear to the public through the definition that this includes detachable trailers.

Councilmember Rhonda Salerno asked if the definition of camping extended to kids sleeping out in the backyard in a tent, to which Penny responded that it doesn’t include tents. Salerno preferred going back to the old rule about camping seven days without a permit, but Penny said getting a permit from day one would help staff keep track of campers better.

In case of an emergency scenario, like the big 9.0 earthquake hitting, Councilmember Craig Cyr asked if the mayor could issue a disaster declaration waiving permit requirements if homes are damaged and people must resort to living in vehicles, to which Mayor Kennedy Horstman agreed.

Penny said the number of permits issued per year could be limited. So far, it hasn’t generated any interest.

“We have had this on the books, and I’ve never had anybody apply for a permit or ask about it,” she said.

Though the code changes about camping pertain to private property, the council’s discussion drifted to the campground on the Whidbey Island Fairgrounds, owned and operated by the Port of South Whidbey. Councilmember Gail Fleming wondered if homeless people might be able to park an RV on the campground for an extended period of time.

“It just seems like one other thing in our arsenal of trying to address the affordable housing crisis,” she said.

Penny responded that she had heard from the port’s executive director that because the port’s primary objective is economic development and not housing, stays have to be short-term in order to allow people to camp during events.

The council, however, pushed back against this, asking why the port offers long-term moorage at the South Whidbey Harbor for what are “essentially floating RVs,” as Carlson put it. Councilmember Craig Cyr pointed out that there are times in the winter and fall when almost nobody is using the port’s campground.

When it comes to allowable uses for the fairgrounds, other code changes have been proposed. Penny made a footnote that only hostels are allowed and added a definition for the term, which is temporary lodging with shared amenities. There is no full-service accommodation. She interpreted it as possibly supporting agricultural events happening on the site.

“The port doesn’t have any intentions, as far as I’m aware of, of ever creating or building a hostel,” she said.

Hotels and motels are not currently allowed on the fairgrounds, despite some confusion in the meeting room.

Breweries have also been added as a permitted use of the fairgrounds, though a condition prohibits on-site sales or consumption, except for approved events. The council wondered about expanding this to include wineries, cideries, meaderies and distilleries.

The mention of a hostel generated mixed reactions from the council. Carlson wondered if it could be removed from the code, to which Penny said council has that power. Fleming, on the other hand, said she liked it because a hostel could provide a place for people to stay if there was an art school or something similar on the fairgrounds where people came to learn. Salerno agreed that she loved the idea of hostels.

Two recent letters from concerned citizens have alerted the council that current city code provides insufficient regulation for noisy home electrical generators.

“The vague wording of the noise ordinance has enabled generators like one in their neighborhood that they say produces 90-100 decibels of noise 20 feet from a neighboring bedroom,” Carlson, who helped draft new language for the code, wrote in a memo to the council.

This volume exceeds Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, which says exposure to noise at or above 85 decibels for more than eight hours is hazardous to health, potentially resulting in permanent hearing loss.

The proposed change includes an exemption for portable generators used during power outages caused by natural disasters, though this does not preclude the operator from being responsible for mitigating the noise to the degree possible.

Sounds created by stationary generators, however, that do not exceed a sound level of 75 decibels at any property line would be exempt during a power outage.

Noise emanating from stationary generators for routine maintenance outside of power outages are also exempt, with some conditions. The sound level cannot exceed 75 decibels at the property line and should only occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. The maintenance operations would need to be limited to no more than once per week for a maximum duration of 20 minutes.

Penny acknowledged that generators already installed that exceed 75 decibels during their routine maintenance period might be exempt. Carlson said he looked at the largest models for the top two brands of stationary generators and found that they emit an average of 63 decibels from 20 feet away.

Salerno suggested taking a closer look at the city’s noise ordinances to address other kinds of loud sounds.