LANGLEY — Although a discussion about changes to city rules to promote waterfront development in Langley is in its fledgling stages, some Langley residents have already said they’re opposed to the amendments.

City planner Larry Cort will make a presentation to the city council at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the regular meeting at city hall. Cort will cover how city rules from the current comprehensive plan, the Shoreline Master Program and the municipal code apply to new development along the shoreline, and how the regulations could be changed to allow more intense growth.

“The city has had the longtime desire to increase development potential on the waterfront. We also had a couple of inquires from people. We thought we would bring it to the community and see what they think,” Cort said.

The area touched by the changes includes the waterfront stretching north of First Street and east of Cascade Avenue.

Code changes could include height limits on new buildings in the neighborhood business zone and the nearby central business district.

According to a draft set of the rules, the city could allow for 35-foot-tall buildings along Cascade Avenue.

Individual buildings that could sit below the cliff could be built as high as 65 feet. By comparison, the building on Second Street housing the Giraffe Project is about 35 feet tall, Cort said.

Critics say the new rules are out of touch with the city’s vision for its future.

“It is my estimation and several others that this proposal is not in step with our current planning process, our comp plan revision process and Langley’s new emphasis on transparency and greater public participation,” said Langley resident Mark Wahl.

Cort said he understands the regulations are a sensitive subject, and said the city would explore code changes only with appropriate safeguards in place to protect bluff stability, preserve views, enhance public access and establish acceptable height standards.

One of the proposed changes, according to the draft, would limit heights of buildings to the crest of the Cascade Avenue centerline to preserve views and not block the view of Saratoga Passage.

All developers would be required to survey their properties to determine if building would damage steep slopes nearby.

Cort hopes to get feedback from the council to see if city planners should explore additional changes to the code that would encourage waterfront development.

If the city council signs off on the idea, the draft code amendments will go to the Planning Advisory Board for review.

Public hearings will also be held before the Planning Advisory Board and the city council.

A number of Langley residents are already criticizing the city’s move.

“Building on a near vertical slope, a critical area if there ever was one, with only the requirement that a geotechnical expert hired by the developer need pass on the safety of the project to gain approval,” Wahl wrote a letter to Cort. “Applicants have a tendency to hire less than the most stringent critique and ignore the precautionary principle when a permit is at stake,” he added.

Wahl also criticized the height limits that have been proposed, saying tall buildings threaten to change the village character of Langley and will block views of the Sound.

Rhonda Salerno, a member of the group working on updating the city’s growth plan, said Councilman Robert Gilman and Cort have discouraged the comp plan group from introducing zoning proposals until the review of the plan is finished.

“They are doing something we’re working on,” she said.

Faced with the potential of a room full of unhappy residents at tonight’s meeting, Langley Mayor Neil Colburn said he wants everyone who is interested in the future of Langley to be a part of the discussion.

“I keep encouraging people to come to the city council meeting,” Colburn said.

The presentation and the discussion about changes to the code are preliminary steps, he said. A long list of government proceedings, including public input, must happen before city regulations are changed.

“It’s the beginning,” Colburn said. “All the handwringing and teethmashing about this is ridiculous.”

“I am doing things in the open and direct in-your-face manner I’ve always done it,” he said.