For a third time, SeaTac lawmakers extended July 24 a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens.

City Attorney Mary Mirante Bartolo said the city’s dilemma is that the state recognizes medical marijuana and regulates it but federal law doesn’t allow it.

Further complicating the issue is a statewide measure to legalize marijuana on the November ballot, City Manager Todd Cutts noted.

This time around, SeaTac council members approved a work plan with the moratorium. Staffers will analyze marijuana dispensary zoning in other cities and research state law and legal cases. The staff will present their findings to the council.

“Eventually, we will have to make a decision,” senior planner Al Torrico observed.

Lawmakers also added to the final docket of the city’s comprehensive plan amendments two zoning changes. The Planning Commission recommended moving forward on the amendments while planning staff opposed their addition.

The City Council is expected to make a final decision on the two amendments on Nov. 27 following a public hearing and open house on Oct. 16.

One amendment would rezone a single parcel in Riverton Heights near South 150th Street from residential low density to residential medium density.

The one-acre lot is currently vacant but a developer wants to add townhouses or condominiums. The lot is next to multi-family housing but is surrounded by single-family homes. Many of them are rentals.

The parcel is a half-block from the city’s light rail station planning area and is near the site of the old Riverton Heights school that the city is planning to redevelop.

The other amendment is for a sloped property between Military Road South and Interstate 5 near South 200th Street. Zoning would change from residential medium density to residential high density.

The developer is proposing a nursing/convalescent home with an adjoining community center for the patients. The main building would be five stories above Military Road South with a two-story parking garage underneath on the slope toward I-5.

“I think the neighbors would have problems with that,” Councilman Barry Ladenburg declared.

Residents of the nearby Angle Lake neighborhood rallied to block redevelopment of the property last year.

Ladenburg was the only vote against adding the two amendments to the final docket.