The Bellevue city council has approved three of five comprehensive plan amendments.

During a Dec. 10 meeting, the council adopted plan amendments for City Dacha LLC, Red Town, and the Grand Connection while declining the proposed amendment to alter the zoning for the Bellevue Nursery. The council also deferred a proposed amendment regarding East Main Station planning area to 2019 to undergo further review.

The Bellevue Nursery amendment would have changed the zoning from the nursery’s current status of “single family-high” to “neighborhood business.” Councilmember Jennifer Robertson proposed rejecting the amendment and instead directed staff to process a land use code amendment to allow the business to redevelop without changing the zoning.

This proposal was brought up because there had been some concern on council about the potential impacts a zoning change could have. The Bellevue Nursery is a historic business in the city, operating since 1955. If it ceased to operate, that would leave an incompatible use on their half-acre of land. That incompatible use would set a precedent, Robertson said, for other properties on single-family zoned property to change to a commercial use, which could commercialize neighborhoods.

The council voted to deny the proposed change and directed staff to bring back a land use code amendment draft in early 2019.

In a series of quick votes the council approved ordinances changing the zoning designation on the City Dacha LLC property at 160 118th Ave. SE from “public/single family-low” to “multifamily-medium,” changing the zoning on the Red Town site at 16425 SE Cougar Mountain Way from “single family-medium” to “single family-urban residential,” and incorporating the Grand Connection’s Framework Plan and policies into the comprehensive plan.