Coupeville hits legal barrier in effort to expand housing on 33-acre parcel

Coupeville officials now believe they cannot safely rewrite a 2004 development agreement for a 33.02-acre parcel north of Highway 20 without exposing the town to legal challenge, delay and possible costs that could fall on taxpayers.

The property, between Main Street and Broadway Street, has been tied for years to a memorandum of agreement between the Town of Coupeville and Cecil and Cheryl K. Stuurmans. Town materials say the site was divided into nine subareas and given 108 dwelling-unit credits, a system that has long controlled what can be built there. As of mid-2025, 49 credits had been used, 31 were unavailable and 28 remained across three undeveloped parcels.

For months, town leaders had been working on changes meant to raise the site’s housing capacity. A March 2026 proposal would have allowed up to 49 total housing units under an amended agreement, along with accessory dwelling units on every parcel and limited duplexes in some cases. Under one scenario, town materials said the property could support as many as 66 dwellings on the undeveloped parcels if the old memorandum were extinguished and current rules applied.

By April, however, staff had shifted course. A report discussed by town officials said amending the memorandum could create legal risks because Washington law requires development agreements to be consistent with applicable development regulations. In plain terms, Coupeville now believes it may be legally safer to end the old deal and let the land fall under current zoning and development rules than to try to patch a site-specific agreement that no longer fits the town’s broader code.

That change matters because the parcel sits in the middle of Coupeville’s housing debate. In July 2025, council members asked for more discussion and public input before acting on the proposal. Mayor Molly Hughes pressed for assurance that any new homes would stay affordable, and Community Planning Director Joshua Engelbrecht said he would need to do more digging before the town could move ahead.

The broader planning picture has only sharpened the stakes. Coupeville’s 2025-2045 comprehensive plan says the town is expected to plan for 351 new households over the next two decades. The town’s middle-housing code update, launched with a 2024 Washington Department of Commerce grant, was designed to preserve Coupeville’s historic village character while making room for more homes.

That leaves the 33-acre tract at a crossroads. If the town persists with an amendment that conflicts with state law, it risks a legal fight over land-use authority. If it extinguishes the memorandum, the site could become part of Coupeville’s wider housing strategy, but only after the town abandons a once-special deal that has shaped the property since January 2004.