The city is working to correct an oversight in Old Bellevue that led to fewer parking spaces being constructed since the late ‘90s than had been intended.

Under a 1986 ordinance, the city didn’t require parking for the first 1,500 square feet of a property constructed for restaurants or retail in Old Bellevue. A new ordinance was adopted in 1998 that only allowed the parking requirement to be waived for existing buildings.

“They wanted it only to be allowed for existing buildings, as a mechanism to foster reuse and redevelopment of those buildings,” said Carol Helland, city land use director.

The ordinance was only meant to apply to buildings that existed before its adoption in 1998, but ended up being applied to buildings constructed after, Helland said.

The city council will now consider adopting a land use code amendment — following a public hearing July 6 — that clarifies the exemption only applies to buildings constructed before the 1998 ordinance was adopted.

Buildings constructed without the necessary parking — 10 stalls per 1,000 square feet for restaurants and two stalls per 1,000 square feet for retail — are only required to comply under the LUCA when there is a tenant change or structural modifications, Helland said.

City staff found that the Main Place Apartments, One Main and Borgata buildings should have provided an additional 24 parking stalls in Old Bellevue, but the land use amendment will not require correcting this lack of parking until new tenants take over these buildings or the buildings are modified.

“There are concerns about whether certain amounts of tenants would be able to acquire the required parking,” Helland said, adding property owners will have the option of using off-site parking to meet those requirements.