By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

Stop the building - but not for long, please.

The Bonney Lake City Council unanimously approved a permit and building moratorium at its March 13 meeting. The moratorium is aimed at an area of the downtown core and is designed to allow a period of time to put in place design standards and regulations for development.

The moratorium is set to expire in six months.

&#8220We are going to go through this as fast as we can,” Councilman Jim Rackley said. &#8220We don't want to scare anyone, but we don't want anyone slipping in there before we are ready.”

Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman said the ordinance affects 11 pieces of private property inside the triangle bordered by state Route 410 East and Sumner-Buckley Highway and 184th Street East. The area includes Diary Queen and the Grocery Outlet store.

&#8220It gives us a time-out to decide what we are doing down there,” Swatman said.

The council is looking to enact specific regulations concerning drive-through outlets, architectural styles and signs. Drive-throughs include examples like Starbucks, fast food businesses and pharmacies where people can drive up to a window and pick up an item.

&#8220It's all about what is going to get built in the future,” Swatman said. &#8220What's there is going to stay there. But any drive-through that is built now we would want the cars lined up inside; we don't want cars going out into the street. It's (the moratorium) a tool so we get some say about what goes on in the downtown.”

The regulations will go before the design and planning commission to give some time for public discussion of the ideas.

&#8220These problems are not unsolvable,” Councilman Dave King said. &#8220We are not talking about a great number of items, but we are making a case there is work the city needs to do.”

During the meeting, City Attorney Jim Dionne suggested language be inserted in the ordinance declaring the moratorium a public emergency, which would make the measure effective as soon as it was passed and signed by Mayor Neil Johnson.

The emergency provision passed and was signed by the mayor at the end of the meeting.

Planning Director Bob Leedy said there were no pending permits or applications at the time of the meeting.

Swatman said he expected the moratorium to be lifted prior to the six-month deadline. The council can vote to extend the moratorium after six months if members decide more time is needed.

The moratorium includes any improvements on existing buildings and properties in the designated downtown area that would need a city permit.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.