The Kent City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that makes it unlawful for sellers to impose private restrictions limiting future commercial uses of a property, Mayor Dana Ralph said during her weekly update.

The change was framed as a tool to support reinvigoration of vacant commercial sites after anchor tenants close. "One of the things that council did, the action that they took was to make sure that as those types of properties go back on the market, that there's no restrictions on them," Mayor Dana Ralph said. "...make it against the law to put those restrictions on." The mayor cited the closing of a Fred Meyer store and a past example at an Albertsons location near Panther Lake as motivating examples for the measure.

According to Ralph, the ordinance prevents sellers from including contractual or deed provisions that would bar uses such as grocery stores, pharmacies or gas stations when the property is sold. The mayor noted that the city cannot pick a buyer for private property, but the new ordinance removes one common obstacle to returning properties to those community-serving uses.

The city manager, ordinance number, mover/second and vote tally were not specified in the mayor’s remarks and were not available in the update. The transcript did not include the ordinance text or a recorded vote. The mayor described the outcome as a council action that passed; no implementing date, reporting requirement or enforcement mechanism was provided in the update.

The issue is likely to affect owners and potential buyers of larger commercial parcels in Kent; the mayor used the Fred Meyer closure as a concrete example but said the change applies generally to resale of commercial properties. The mayor said the ordinance is intended to remove one hurdle to redevelopment, while acknowledging private property rights remain in place.

City officials or the city clerk’s office should be consulted for the ordinance number, full text and the official vote record.