REDMOND – The Redmond City Council declined to adopt changes to the city’s development code after a public hearing on Tuesday night.

Instead, the City Council will wait until its Sept. 12 or Sept. 26 meeting to reconsider the code update, which has been three years in the making, said city officials.

The council did decide to close all public testimony on the code, which is a guidebook for how development should occur in Redmond.

The council postponed making a decision on the update to hammer out compromises on a few controversial issues, councilors said.

The council must make final decisions on whether to change building height measurement requirements, whether to force developers to create larger side yards and whether to limit current uses in commercial and industrial zones.

”I can see we are not going to make a decision tonight and that’s how it ought to be,” said Councilor Irv Nygren.

The purpose of the code changes are to encourage more affordable housing, simplify rules, removed outdated sections and make the code’s language consistent with other city documents, such as the city’s comprehensive plan, according to planners.

The City Council heard testimony from a dozen residents and developers on the code update Tuesday. Some disagreed that the proposed changes would meet the city’s stated goals.

The most debated topic was changes to some residential zones that would prohibit multifamily dwellings and duplexes.

Two residents who testified Tuesday said restrictions on residential zones would actually limit the options developers have for creating affordable housing.

”They are not adding more affordable housing, they are actually reducing opportunities for affordable housing,” said Peter Murray, who purchased 4.5 acres in an R2 residential zone several years ago with the intention of creating duplexes on the property.

Under the proposed changes, he and others in the R2 and R3 zones could not create duplexes.

Whether or not to allow duplexes on existing property in the R2 and R3 zones is just one of the questions the councilors must still answer.

City Council members said they would work with city staff over the next few weeks to address the lingering issues.

For more information about proposed changes to the code visit www.ci.redmond.or.us.

Redmond’s new development code would:

* Change the way building heights are measured, from the midpoint of a pitched roof to the high point of the roof.

* Increase side yard setbacks on at least one side of a house from 5 feet to 10 feet.

* Increase the majority of new parking spaces added in the city from 8 feet by 18 feet to 9 feet by 20 feet.

* Allow fully self-contained accessory dwelling units, or ”granny flats,” in all residential zones. There would, however, be conditional uses in R1.

* Allow for two new types of planned unit developments called cottage and cluster. These developments would offer small homes on small lots and give developers more flexibility and greater density options.

* Prohibit planned unit developments, including cottage and cluster developments, in R1 and R2 zones, the most restrictive residential zones.

* Ban duplexes in R1 zones and allow duplexes only on corner lots of 10,000 square feet or more in R2 zones.

* Remove groceries, delis and markets from uses allowed in the C3 commercial zone, which is the medical or special services zone near the hospital.

* Change many outright uses allowed in other commercial and industrial zones.