With the Town Center six-month moratorium nearing expiration on June 2, the Mercer Island City Council voted unanimously for a six-month extension at its May 4 meeting.

There were no speakers during the public hearing portion, which was followed by council voting unanimously to suspend its rules of procedure requiring a second reading of an ordinance.

Prior to the votes, Jeff Thomas, interim Community Planning and Development director, said that an options discussion related to ending the moratorium would continue at council’s June 1 meeting.

On June 2, 2020, council unanimously adopted an ordinance to place a moratorium on major new construction in the Town Center. One of council’s concerns upon adoption of the moratorium was that new developments in the area south of Southeast 29th Street “may not provide adequate retail space, and they would like to review this component of the current code,” according to a press release.

Council amended the scope of the moratorium on Sept. 1, 2020 and extended it by six months on Nov. 17, 2020. Council discussed the draft Town Center retail analysis at its April 6 and April 20 meetings. As part of council’s budget process at its Dec. 1, 2020 meeting, according to a previous Reporter article, the seven members appropriated $50,000 for a Town Center retail analysis and approved a “placeholder” docket request for potential Town Center plan/code amendments.

Also at its May 4 meeting, council unanimously voted for an extension on the interim design and concealment standards for small cell facilities deployment. Council approved the emergency ordinance — in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules that significantly changed how the city must regulate small cell deployment — on Jan. 15, 2019. The city has extended it four times since that adoption, and the current interim standards are set to expire on July 11.

In the case document, small cell deployment is defined as: The construction and installation of either small cell facilities, small cell networks, or both small cell facilities and small cell networks, together with the installation of the fiber network supporting the small cell facility and small cell network. The full document is available at: https://tinyurl.com/y2gkyzuh.

No one spoke at the public hearing and council also voted unanimously to suspend its rules of procedure requiring a second reading of an ordinance.

Thomas said the city Planning Commission’s effort toward securing permanent standards was halted in 2020 due to the pandemic. That work is back on the commission’s docket this spring, and the city is expecting a recommendation from the commission this month.