Pullman City Council addressed potential parking shortages during graduation and parents’ weekends due to a zoning change at a meeting Tuesday night.

Councilmembers approved the changes to a 3.6-acre residential area for visiting alumni located on the east side of NE North Fairway Road.

Planning Director Pete Dickinson said the residential area is also approximately 1,000 feet south of NE Terre View Drive. There was a public hearing about the proposed changes on Oct. 24, and there was a unanimous decision to approve the proposal, he said.

Zoning changes include changing the area from a WSU district, which provides for university services, to a R3 district, which permits single family dwellings, duplexes, townhouses and apartments, according to the City Council Memorandum 1 Zone Change Z-18-4 document.

The residential area would be surrounded by WSU districts, but north of it would be an R4 district. In addition, there would be approximately three buildings with nine units, 27 parking spaces and 81 beds, according to the document.

Councilmember Eileen Macoll said she is troubled by a typo in one of the documents, which states that the area would be south of an R3 district when it is actually south of an R4 district.

“I do support future development in this area and I realized this is the first foothold in that,” Macoll said. “I just want to make sure [we’ve got] some of these details nailed down before we launch into an area of development that’s going to be very important.”

Councilmember Nathan Weller said he is also worried about the possibility of an increase in traffic at the location of the residential area, which is east of NE North Fairway Road.

“The capacity on that road is modest,” Macoll said.

Councilmember Brandon Chapman also noted the limited number of parking spaces, to which Dickinson replied and said they need to abide by parking regulations.

The proposed construction date for the residential area is summer 2019 through summer 2020, according to the document.