It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing — or flying, in this case — for a resolution the Eatonville Town Council ended up approving at its Oct. 11 meeting for a preliminary plat for a subdivision known as Lynch Creek Landings.
Crabtree Surveying had requested to change the zoning of the Lynch Creek property, located in the northeastern portion of Eatonville and bordered on the west by the Lynch Creek Road and Eatonville Airport (Swanson Field) on the east, from multifamily residential to downtown commercial for the development of single-family residences and aircraft storage hangars.
“Residential encroachment in general aviation airports is what kills airports,” Councilmember Robert Thomas said in noting the plat’s service road is too close to the airport’s runway and a lack of certainty regarding hangars being built on each lot.
He was also critical of the fact that no aviation experts appeared to be involved in the process or were available to answer questions during the the town council meeting.
The Planning Commission had previously recommended passage of Resolution 2021-KK.
“So, I’m kind of disappointed to see this come out of the Planning Commission in the shape that it is without these questions being answered,” Thomas said.
He offered a motion to amend the resolution to include a requirement that a full-size hangar be built on each lot, but nobody seconded the motion, which ended up passing by a vote of 3 to 1. Council members Bill Dunn, Jennie Hannah and Emily McFadden voted yes. Thomas was the lone no vote.
In other business, the council had a second reading and passed Ordinance 2021-8, approving a site-specific rezone for all real property located at 331 and 333 Washington Ave. N. and amending the classification of the property from multi-family residential district to downtown commercial district.The council set the agenda for the Oct. 18 Zoom meeting of the Planning Commission to include a review of Eatonville Municipal Code Chapter 19, “Design Standards and Guidelines” and a discussion of short-term rentals.
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