Land-Use Plan For Indian Trail May Be Revised

After three years of work and dozens of drafts, a land-use plan for the Indian Trail neighborhood is not yet ready for approval, the City Council decided Monday.

Instead of passing the plan or even hearing an appeal from developer Harlan Douglass, the council sent the document back to the Plan Commission for changes.

A moratorium on development, in place for more than a year, was extended 90 days pending those changes.

The plan had gone through numerous drafts, but the delay was a result of new information about improvements in air quality and a threatened lawsuit from Douglass and his attorney Michael J. Murphy.

The new air quality information from the Department of Ecology means that a proposed development cap, which limits the number of new units, may no longer be necessary, said city Planning Director Charlie Dotson.

There also is information from Murphy that the amount of buildable land in Indian Trail is about half of what planners first estimated.

The delay is the second this month for residents who had hoped to speak directly to the City Council about their neighborhood.

Resident Sharon Page said the delay was typical of the planning process, in which statements by lawyers and planners receive more weight than those of homeowners.

“I’m a little irritated tonight,” Page told council members. “We pointed out the error in acreage in July. It just galls me that it takes a high-powered attorney from Seattle and you wouldn’t listen to citizens.”

, DataTimes