Brewster Council approves Title 17 zoning code adjustments

BREWSTER – Acting on a recommendation from the city planning commission, the city council approved a resolution containing additions and changes to provisions of Title 17 Zoning in the Brewster Municipal Code (BMC) at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12.

The new language addresses the status of nonconforming residential structures located within the C1 Commercial, and Heavy Industrial (HI) zones and eases restrictions on what can be done with them.

City attorney Chuck Zimmerman explained that the measures before the council defined dormitory housing and manipulated the language for nonconforming use for homeowners who want to sell their homes, obtain second mortgages, or rebuild after damage can do so.

Zimmerman said that unlike a decade ago when the city’s goal was to try to get everything to conform, the current housing shortage puts a premium on the availability of shelter. Under the previous code language, homeowners in the affected zones had prohibitions on remodeling and replacement of nonconforming structures to the extent that commercial lenders would not finance them. The new language makes these structures once again acceptable for financing according to a survey of local lenders.

The issue was brought to the attention of the planning commission last October when the sale of a residence on Lakeview Drive, one of several homes in that Commercial zone, was denied financing and the sale fell through. Responding to concerns of residents who sought redress of an earlier zoning change that restricted what they could do with their properties, the planning commission convened to correct the problem.

Over the course of two meetings in October and November the planning commission revisited the BMC and suggested alterations to the provisions that would resolve the obstacles to future uses of nonconforming structures. City officials consulted several local lenders to confirm that the proposed changes would satisfy financing concerns.

A final step involves submission of the changes to the Washington State Department of Commerce for its review and comment.
Homeowner Ron Paslay, whose house at 410 Lakeview Drive lies within the C1 zone, inquired what the consequences of the Commerce Department’s might be.

Zimmerman predicted that any comment or objection by the state is unlikely and an ordinance should be returned and be eligible for enactment within the next 60 days.