The city of Langley may be moving ahead with a six-month building moratorium on new development – with some exceptions.

Proposed by Director of Community Planning Meredith Penny, the moratorium is intended to allow city staff more time to develop procedures that are needed to implement a 15% inclusionary housing requirement, which includes an option for projects of six units or fewer to pay a fee in-lieu of providing on-site affordable units. With inclusionary zoning, developers must set aside a portion of units for lower income households.

There is an exemption for projects in which 100% of units are income-restricted affordable housing, as many of these projects already have monitoring requirements through their funding mechanisms.

A public hearing will be held at the next city council meeting on Dec. 15. A policy will come before the council at a later date to be adopted by resolution; it will detail administrative procedures outside of city code that can be adopted or adjusted more often as needed.

“I’m aiming to complete this within three months, but wanting the moratorium to be passed for six just to give us that extra time if needed,” Penny told the council at the meeting this week. “If we finish before the six months, the moratorium can be lifted early.”

Two projects currently fall under the 100% affordable category – Island Roots Housing’s Generations Place and Habitat for Humanity’s Heron Park Townhomes.

Councilmember Chris Carlson asked if there’s any chance the city would be able to develop policies for impact fees within the six-month time period, but Penny said that although it’s on the 2026 work plan, she doesn’t expect it to be done before the moratorium is up.

Carlson said he’d like to advocate for adding a tier to the moratorium that exempts projects that are from 80% to 120% of area median income, or AMI, from the exclusionary zoning requirement. He said people earning that income are part of the “missing middle” for workforce housing, which are not eligible for a lot of the federal and state subsidies that are available for projects that are targeting 80% AMI or below. Having inclusionary zoning tacked on to projects for that bracket of incomes, he said, just makes it even less realistic that those projects will be able to move forward.

Councilmember Rhonda Salerno pointed out that AMI is a countywide number, and it may not be as relevant when considering the city of Langley.

Penny said three projects would be affected by the moratorium.

Ross Chapin, a Langley citizen with a six-unit home project in development on First Street, seemed to be in support of Carlson’s amendment but said that the “missing middle” can cover up to 150% AMI, which still includes people who can’t currently afford a home but don’t qualify for lower income housing.

In the end, the city council unanimously voted for an ordinance establishing the moratorium with an exemption for 100% income restricted affordable housing projects. Carlson’s proposal will require a separate ordinance.