Members of the Langley City Council were hesitant to grant an access-related request for the owners of a building under renovation on First Street.

Janice and Charlie Kleiner, who own the Dog House in Langley, have hit many snags in their renovation plans since purchasing the historic tavern in 2010. Most recently, the Kleiners asked permission from the city to utilize the public right-of-way adjacent to their property leading down to Seawall Park. They have proposed adding a two-car garage to the rear of their building, which faces north.

The owners are ready to enter into the second phase of their project, which requires determining building occupancy and final design.

The public right-of-way is paved but considered to be unimproved. It is narrow and steep, and pedestrians often use it to access Seawall Park. It is currently used only by authorized vehicles, such as emergency vehicles or public works vehicles needing to access the sewer lift station or Seawall Park.

At a city council meeting Monday night, Public Works Director Randi Perry presented the council with a recommendation from city staff and two citizen-led committees, the Public Works Advisory Commission and the Parks and Open Space Commission.

The recommendation, which the council adopted, calls for the right-of-way to remain accessible for authorized vehicles only.

“Staff can continue to work towards solutions for Public Works maintenance vehicles to gain access to the eastern portions of the seawall, but do not see more frequent vehicle traffic near the park to be in the best interest of the public,” the memorandum stated.

During past council meetings, the building owners have bemoaned the amount of time and money they’ve invested into renovating the Dog House, a project they have said no one else was willing to tackle.

Although conceptual designs including a garage were presented to the city’s Design Review Board, a phase one building permit was issued to only address structural problems and siding, windows and signage. No authorization or approval was given for any new construction, which the garage is considered to be.

“If the city has suggested that we do this and misled us all along the way, does the city plan on reimbursing us for the hundreds of thousands of dollars that we’ve had to put in because of this, or are we just supposed to eat that because you feel sorry for us?” Janice Kleiner asked during Monday’s meeting.

While sympathetic to the Kleiners’ situation, the majority of city council members supported the staff recommendation and voiced their concerns about cars and people mixing on the right-of-way.

“We have very little access as people of Langley to the sea, and we are called the Village by the Sea,” Councilmember Rhonda Salerno said.

Councilmember Gail Fleming said she felt badly that the Kleiners may have had some assumptions leading them in a certain direction.

“I don’t feel good about that, on behalf of all of us,” she said. “I think we all, as a community, would love to see the Dog House up and running again and have a lot of support for that.”

Councilmember Thomas Gill was the only one to speak in opposition to the staff recommendation.

He claimed that under an informal agreement, previous owners of the building have been able to use the adjacent right-of-way without any issue, which he referred to as a driveway instead of an extension of Anthes Avenue.

“To change the rules, especially after all this work the city did under previous planners and public works directors, just rubs me the wrong way,” he said, adding that it did not seem “kosher” to remove the rights of the property owners, given that the city encouraged construction of the garage on the building.

Perry said the building owners’ plans had not been reviewed by the public works department.

She pointed out that typical use of a right-of-way for this kind of development must meet a standard 16-foot width, which could potentially be reduced to 12 to 14 feet wide if the city engineer and the fire marshal both approve. If upgraded, the road will also need a separate walkway for foot traffic that meets ADA requirements.

“Any improvements of that roadway most likely are going to trigger stormwater management. Those rules have changed,” she said. “Even though the concept of the garage had been approved, it hasn’t been permitted and from my perspective looking at it as new development, in public works, it requires roadway improvements.”

Previous and current business owners of First Street spoke in support of the Kleiners being able to use the right-of-way for their own purposes.

Fred Lundahl, owner of Music for the Eyes, said he recalled keeping an eye out for traffic on First Street so a former building owner could move her car from down at Seawall Park up to the street.

“It would seem to me that since the previous owners were an authorized user of that restricted access, the easiest way to solve this would be to simply give the same courtesy to the current owners, the Kleiners, for their occasional use as an authorized vehicle under whatever restricted access there would have to be,” he said.

Ultimately, the council agreed to follow the recommendation from city staff in a 4-1 vote, with Gill being the sole vote against.