The Ocean Shores City Council has extended and modified its moratorium on the acceptance of applications for new development or redevelopment of properties in the area just north of the jetty along Ocean Shores Boulevard where erosion continues to impact the shoreline.

“We’re trying to keep people from harm’s way of their house falling into the ocean until we have a better grasp on the erosion issue,” said City Attorney Brent Dille.

The 9-month moratorium specifically applies to Block 1, Division 19, and Division 19 A, located above the area where the city along with a group from the Department of Ecology, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of Grays Harbor have been working on emergency efforts and a long-range plan to battle the shoreline erosion.

At a public hearing on April 24, several citizens raised concern with the moratorium, but it drew no specific opposition.

Marlene Penry noted there had been a stated intent to keep the moratorium in place until the city adopts its pending Shoreline Management Plan, which also was the subject of a recent public hearing.

“There is a section in the Shoreline Management Plan that is specifically about hazardous geological areas, and the Planning Commission and Citizens Advisory Committee spent a lot of time talking about the contents of that and the parameters of development in that area,” Penry said.

Eric Noble, a Planning Commission member and also the manager of the WorldMark Mariner Village resort that is in the Division affected, brought up another issue.

“We have a very unique situation down there in that last year, the Fire Department came down and inspected our property and found out we were in non-compliance with the grills that were on our deck,” Noble noted. The issue was there were no sprinklers on the decks.

That required the resort to have to remove the barbecue grills, which Noble said he was in full agreement was proper.

“In order to do that, we would like to make a common area where we can have grills for our owners and guests who come to our resort,” Noble said.

Due to the previous moratorium, Noble said, the resort could not get a permit.

“We are just trying to put in two common-area patios with a gazebo where we can put six or eight common-area grills,” he said.

In response, Dille told Noble that the revised moratorium exempts “non-habitable” structures. “Things like developing an area for barbecuing would require a permit for the square footage, (but) that is not going to be part of the moratorium,” Dille said. “If someone wants to build a shed or some other structure that would require a building permit, but it’s not going to be used for habitation or living, that would be okay.”

The moratorium will be in effect until the city “completes the process of analysis and studies relating to beach erosion for the areas subject to this moratorium.”

Mayor Crystal Dingler said the moratorium was intended to stop the building of new residences, and was modified to allow for the non-habitable structures.

“We didn’t know how long the moratorium would be in place,” Dingler said, of the original action that was taken in February 2016, and renewed for an additional 9-month period on Aug. 8, 2016.

“We’re coming up on a kind of lengthy time, so it has turned out that we do need to make a modification.”

Dingler said it was unclear how long it would take to complete studies in the area, noting that the state Legislature appears to have declined to fund the city’s request for funds to begin a longer-range potential solution at the jetty.

“There’s too much erosion and too many problems going on,” she said, suggesting the council may find it necessary to halt all development there “in the near future.”

“All we can do is wait while these various groups gather information, and present that information to us,” she said of the technical study team assigned to the jetty area.

Dingler also met recently with U.S. Rep Derek Kilmer to discuss the dilemma.

“So the moratorium will remain in place for a long time,” said Councilwoman Holly Plackett, in a statement that also was as much a question posed to Dingler. Plackett also asked if it would have any impact on the final Shoreline Management Plan the council will be asked to pass later this year.

“It’s not, in and of itself, a final solution,” Dingler replied about the moratorium.

Councilman John Lynn noted the moratorium can be stopped at any time by council vote during the process.

Dille also clarified that the moratorium is limited to new construction, and that property owners who need a permit to remodel or repair or improve a home can still go through the process. But the existing footprint could not be expanded, he said, unless granted under appeal by a hearings examiner.

The council waived a second reading of the measure and adopted the moratorium 7-0.