ORD NO. 2020-12 EXTENDING MORATORIUM ON SELF-SERVICE STORAGE FACILITIESPage 1 of 6
ORDINANCE NO. 2020-12
AN ORDINANCE of the City of Bainbridge Island, Washington, adopted
pursuant to RCW 35A.63.220 and RCW 36.70A.390; amending Ordinance
No. 2019-40 that imposed a moratorium on certain activities related to self-
service storage facilities; continuing the basis for the emergency
moratorium; providing for severability; leaving the effective date of the
moratorium unchanged; and extending the moratorium for six months until
November 26, 2020.
WHEREAS, within the express terms of the Growth Management Act, the
Washington State Legislature has specifically conferred upon the governing bodies of
Washington cities the right to establish and adopt moratoria related to land uses; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Bainbridge Island (“City”) updated
the City’s Comprehensive Plan in February of 2017; and
WHEREAS, self-service storage facilities are currently a permitted use in the
Business/Industrial (B/I) and Neighborhood Center (NC) districts within the City; and
WHEREAS, only 109.23 acres of land on Bainbridge Island are within the B/I
district, which constitutes 0.63% of the total acreage of land on Bainbridge Island; and
WHEREAS, Policy 1.5 of the Economic Element of the City’s Comprehensive
Plan states that “[i]n order to provide opportunities for business enterprise, adequate
space must be provided for efficient use of existing developed areas near public
transportation (e.g., ferry, bus service) and for growth that recognizes and protects the
Island’s valued natural amenities, its limits of land and water and the quality of its
residential neighborhoods”; and
WHEREAS, given the limited amount of land within the B/I district, the City
Council has a significant interest in ensuring that the use of such land provides the best
opportunities for business enterprise within the City; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has significant concerns regarding further
development of self-service storage facilities within the B/I district under current
regulations in the context of the vision and goals of the City’s Comprehensive Plan; and
WHEREAS, Policy 15.2 of the Economic Element of the City’s Comprehensive
Plan is to “[p]romote manufacturing and business/industrial employment as an important
source of family wage jobs on Bainbridge Island”; and
WHEREAS, self-service storage facilities have been found in other Washington
jurisdictions to employ approximately one person per acre; and
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WHEREAS, the City Council has significant concerns regarding whether self-
storage facilities create family wage jobs as compared to other possible permitted uses
within the B/I district; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has similar concerns regarding self-service storage
facilities located in the NC district as it does with such facilities located in the B/I district;
and
WHEREAS, based on these and related concerns, the City Council requires
additional time to review the regulations and policies at issue to ensure that the vision and
goals of the City’s Comprehensive Plan are being met to the Council’s satisfaction; and
WHEREAS, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency and pandemic, tens
of thousands of persons in Washington State have contracted the virus and hundreds of
persons have died due to the virus thus far and during the time period that this
moratorium has been in effect, and the public health emergency is ongoing and is
expected to continue for many months, and likely much longer; and
WHEREAS, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency and pandemic, the
City has been engaged in essential work on a highest-priority basis related to the public
health emergency, and as a result City staff and the City Council have had to significantly
adjust work priorities accordingly to address the public health crisis, including related to
work that the Council has been able to consider at modified Council meetings during this
time period; and
WHEREAS, as a result of the public health emergency, City staff and the City
Council have not had a meaningful opportunity to substantially review the regulations
and policies at issue related to this moratorium to ensure that the vision and goals of the
City’s Comprehensive Plan are being met to the Council’s satisfaction; and
WHEREAS, at its April 28, 2020 meeting, the City Council considered options
related to this moratorium and decided to set a public hearing for May 12, 2020 to accept
public comment and consider this ordinance to extend the moratorium for another six
months; and
WHEREAS, at that April 28, 2020 meeting, the City Council, based on public
comment and Council discussion, directed the City Manager to amend the moratorium to
exempt projects that are partially constructed and/or at some point built because the
Council did not intend for the moratorium to apply to such projects, and this ordinance
includes an exemption to meet the Council’s intent in that regard; and
WHEREAS, on May 12, 2020, the City Council conducted a public hearing on
this ordinance and the Council received and considered public comment related to this
ordinance; and
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WHEREAS, on May 12, 2020, after considering such public comment, the City
Council adopted this ordinance to extend this moratorium for six months, to November
26, 2020, unless the Council terminates the moratorium earlier, and to otherwise amend
the moratorium as stated in this ordinance; and
WHEREAS, the City possesses land use jurisdiction and regulatory authority
over the City’s incorporated lands; and
WHEREAS, the moratorium imposed herein promotes the public good and is
necessary for the protection of public health, property, safety, and welfare. The public
emergency that existed requiring that this moratorium become effective immediately
upon adoption on November 26, 2019 continues to exist.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASHINGTON, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Findings of Fact. The recitals set forth above are hereby adopted as
additional and supplemental findings of fact to the City Council’s initial findings of fact
in support of the moratorium established by Ordinance No. 2019-40. The City Council
may, in its discretion, adopt additional findings after the public hearing referenced below.
Section 2. Continuation of Existing Moratorium. As authorized by the police
powers of the City as set forth, for example, in Article XI, Section 11, of the Washington
State Constitution, and pursuant to statutory authority set forth, for example, in RCW
36.70A.390 and RCW 35A.63.220, and unless expressly excluded under this ordinance,
the City Council is hereby continuing the imposition of the temporary moratorium that
was imposed by Ordinance No. 2019-40, as described in this Section 2, for those
properties requesting the following (“Permit Applications”):
All building permit applications or land use applications for self-service
storage facilities located, or proposed to be located, in the
Business/Industrial or Neighborhood Center districts.
Section 3. Exclusions.
A. The moratorium imposed under Section 2 of this ordinance shall not apply
to permits required for upkeep, repair, or maintenance of existing self-service storage
structures, or work mandated by the City to maintain public health and safety.
B. The moratorium imposed under Section 2 of this ordinance shall not apply
to building permits and other land use approvals related to self-service storage facilities
that received land use approval for such a facility prior to the effective date of this
moratorium and for which self-service storage facilities exist currently on the subject
property, and for which any new structures are included within what was approved for
the site prior to the effective date of the moratorium.
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Section 4. Moratorium Extended and Amended. The moratorium is hereby
amended to extend the moratorium in the amended form as specified in this ordinance for
six months, which is until November 26, 2020.
Section 5. Public Hearing. Pursuant to RCW 35A.63.220 and RCW 36.70A.390,
the City Council conducted a public hearing on this extension of the moratorium at its
meeting on May 12, 2020, and took public testimony and considered further findings of
fact.
Section 6. Moratorium Work Plan. As provided for under RCW 35A.63.220
and RCW 36.70A.390, the City may renew a moratorium for one or more six-month
periods if a work plan has been developed, a public hearing has been held, and findings
of fact have been made. Pursuant to this ordinance, and based on the findings of fact that
are hereby adopted in this ordinance and which were adopted in the previous ordinance
related to this moratorium, Ordinance No. 2019-40, the City is hereby extending the
moratorium for an additional six months based on the work plan as incorporated herein
(see attached Exhibit A). These supplemental findings of fact and the work plan
incorporated herein are being adopted after the City Council conducted a public hearing
on this moratorium on May 12, 2020.
Section 7. Effect on Vested Rights. The moratorium extended under Section 2 of
this ordinance shall apply prospectively only and shall operate to prevent acceptance of
Permit Applications submitted after the effective date of this moratorium. Nothing in this
ordinance shall be construed to extinguish, limit, or otherwise infringe on any permit
applicant’s vested development rights as defined by state law and City of Bainbridge
Island regulations, provided that such a permit applicant has filed a complete Permit
Application before the effective date of this moratorium.
Section 8. Interpretive Authority. The City of Bainbridge Island Director of
Planning and Community Development, or designee, is hereby authorized to issue
official interpretations arising under or otherwise necessitated by this ordinance.
Section 9. Severability. Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, or
phrase of this ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance, be declared
unconstitutional or otherwise invalid for any reason, or should any portion of this
ordinance be preempted by state or federal law or regulation, such decision or preemption
shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance or its application
to other persons or circumstances.
Section 10. No Change to Basis for Declaration of Emergency or Effective
Date. This ordinance shall take effect and be in full force five (5) days from and after its
passage and publication as required by law. Provided, that this ordinance is not intended
to change the basis of the emergency declaration stated in the moratorium ordinance
which preceded this ordinance, Ordinance No. 2019-40, except as described in the
“Whereas” clauses of this ordinance. Pursuant to Matson v. Clark County Board of
Commissioners, 79 Wn. App. 641 (1995), non-exhaustive underlying facts necessary to
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support the emergency declarations adopted as part of the enactment of this moratorium
were included in the “Whereas” clauses of Ordinance No. 2019-40, as well as in this
ordinance, and those “Whereas” clauses are adopted as findings of fact. This ordinance
does not change the effective date of this moratorium, which is November 26, 2019.
PASSED by the City Council this 12th day of May, 2020.
APPROVED by the Mayor this 12th day of May, 2020.
ATTEST/AUTHENTICATE:
FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK: May 1, 2020
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: May 12, 2020
PUBLISHED: May 15, 2020
EFFECTIVE DATE: May 20, 2020
ORDINANCE NUMBER: 2020-12
Exhibit A (Work Plan)
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EXHIBIT A
SELF-SERVICE STORAGE FACILITIES MORATORIUM
WORK PLAN (May 12, 2020)
MORATORIUM – Self-Service Storage Facilities:
On November 26, 2019, the City Council imposed a temporary six-month moratorium on the
acceptance of building permit or land use permit applications for new self-service storage
facilities in the Business/Industrial (B/I) and Neighborhood Center (NC) zoning districts. The
moratorium does not apply to permits required for upkeep, repair, or maintenance of existing self-
service storage structures. The moratorium was in effect for 6 months, or until May 26, 2020. On
May 12, 2020, the Council voted to extend the moratorium in an amended form for an additional
6 months via adoption of this current ordinance, Ordinance 2020-12. As a result, the moratorium
will be in effect until November 26, 2020, unless terminated earlier or extended by the Council.
The City has developed the following Work Plan described below to address issues related to
self-service storage facilities based on direction provided by the City Council:
Mid-May – June 2020
Staff will gather the applicable visions and goals of the Comprehensive Plan as they relate to the
BI and NC zoning districts. Staff will also compile information on self-service storage capacity
and demand as well as research regulations of other local jurisdictions regarding self-service
storage. Staff will also research the amount of jobs that self-service storage facilities provide and
the vacancy rate of existing facilities (if available).
July 2020
Staff will present their findings from their research to the City Council and seek direction from
the Council on how to proceed. The various options for the Council to consider may include but
are not limited to: 1) limit self-service storage to one of the two zoning districts; 2) develop use
specific standards for self-service storage (i.e., design character, require market demand analysis,
increased landscape buffers); 3) eliminate self-service storage as an allowed use; or 4) require
self-service storage to obtain a conditional use permit in existing or other zoning districts.
August – September 2020
Following direction from the City Council, staff will begin drafting regulations to reflect the
Council’s direction.
October 2020
Staff will provide to the Planning Commission draft code changes for consideration at a study
session. After holding a public hearing, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to
the City Council on a draft ordinance.
November 2020
The City Council will review and take action on the proposed ordinance or consider another six-
month extension if such an extension is necessary to complete the work for the adoption of
updated regulations.