The Langley City Council has dialed back a motion concerning zoning that was made during a joint special meeting last week and passed a new one in its place.

During a regular meeting Monday night, the council revisited the original motion made Sept. 12, which aims to make a blanket change to all public use zones in the city. The proposed change would allow housing as a secondary use in the zone.

A zoning change was proposed at the Whidbey Island Fairgrounds by the Port of South Whidbey, which is hoping to create workforce housing. Housing is currently not an allowable use for the fairgrounds.

During the joint special meeting between the port and the council, Councilmember Thomas Gill suggested making a change to the city’s zoning code that is inclusive of other public use zones, such as where the South Whidbey Community Center is located. He received support from one other council member present, Craig Cyr, and a motion which would begin the process of making the zoning change passed in a 2-0 vote.

Councilmember Rhonda Salerno abstained because she wanted to focus on getting the zoning changed just for the fairgrounds.

According to a memo from Director of Community Planning Meredith Penny, after a review of the published agenda for the special meeting, it was determined that Gill’s motion was potentially outside of the scope of what had previously been advertised on the agenda. As a result, she thought it best to resume the conversation with all council members present to weigh in on the issue.

Councilmember Gail Fleming, who did not attend the original special meeting due to technical difficulties, said she felt “disenfranchised” and would have abstained from the vote if she had been there, citing a lack of information on the city’s zoning.

Gill, however, argued that Fleming had an opportunity to attend the meeting in person and chose not to use it. Additionally, he wondered aloud how council members with several combined years of experience on the city’s Planning Advisory Board don’t have a “semi-working knowledge” of the city’s zoning map and in particular, publicly owned properties.

“It just makes me wonder how prepared everyone is when this is something we’ve been talking about for at least a year now, relating to the fairgrounds and all the ancillary processes,” he said.

Fleming countered that the special meeting’s agenda included discussion but did not mention a vote, which she didn’t know would happen. She maintained that the decision felt rushed.

Salerno suggested that the council move forward with the motion she made at the previous meeting, which was to initiate a change in the zoning only at the fairgrounds. As part of her motion, she recommended honoring Penny’s request to hire Brigid Reynolds, the city’s former planning director, to complete the work needed to make the zoning change.

Gill objected to this latter part of the motion, arguing that the project should go out to bid.

“I don’t feel comfortable providing a former employee with special access to a project like this without going through an actual proper, public process,” he said.

The rest of the council, however, did not support this amendment he proposed for Salerno’s motion. As a result, Salerno’s motion passed 4-1, with Gill opposed.

Penny said the discussion of who would be paying the contract and whether the need to go out to bid could be waived would be brought back to the council at a later date.

The application to change the fairgrounds’ zoning will require multiple meetings before the Planning Advisory Board and council as well as a SEPA review.