This measure will appease city officials who are concerned that the Avondale Square project could be negatively affected by increased rental housing in the neighborhood.

“The moratorium just temporarily bans the process of rental-housing licenses in order to give the city a chance to study the issue and see what ordinances they want to adopt that would affect future licenses,” said Tom Yadon, an assistant attorney with the city. “This maintains the status quo while the issue is being investigated.”

During the council’s discussion about the proposal, Councilmember Kevin Beard voiced concern that this measure could create a false perception about the city.

“I just wanted to be reassured that there would not be a perception that the city was favoring its own project to the detriment of other folks who want to obtain a rental license for their property,” Beard said.

Beard said City Manager Ted Staton’s response, which emphasized that the city has issued similar moratoriums for projects such as West Village, pacified his concerns.

“What’s driving this is the idea that the city’s policy of trying to encourage home ownership, owner occupancy and support for our school districts in proximity to the schools could be at risk if we aren’t able to slow down the conversion of other properties in that area to rental,” Beard said.

Typically, there are only one or two requests for licenses per year, so this moratorium shouldn’t put too many people at a disadvantage, said Annette Irwin, the city’s operations administrator for the Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation Department.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, a public hearing was set for the Dec. 18 City Council meeting to discuss New Dynasty Buffet’s request to allow dancing and entertainment in a portion of the restaurant.

New Dynasty Buffet’s request calls to modify the Special Use Permit in the restaurant, located at 1020 Trowbridge Road, to allow dancing and entertainment in a 3,100-square-foot area of the restaurant.

New Dynasty Buffet currently has a liquor license and an interior seating capacity of 276 people, according to a city staff report.

The restaurant’s current Special Use Permit does not allow such activities, said Ron Springer, a community development analyst for the city.

If passed, the project wouldn’t require any outside construction because all the modifications would occur inside the restaurant, Springer said.