PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners Tuesday agreed to incorporate four private roads within the SunLand community north of Sequim into the county road system.
Blakely Boulevard, Cascadia Loop, Mendel Drive and Mount Baker Drive — which total slightly more than 1 mile — are located in the northwest corner of the development.
They are the last remaining private roads in the community.
County Engineer Ross Tyler said the roads recently were brought up to county standards. He recommended that the three commissioners give “favorable consideration” to incorporating the roads.
“It just continues the historic practice of accepting roads that are built to county standards,” Commissioner Jim McEntire said after a short public hearing.
“This kind of rounds out the whole equation for me.”
Commissioners said they would accept the roads by formal resolution at their next business meeting Tuesday.
County maintenance
The county will assume seasonal maintenance responsibilities, including snowplowing and sanding.
Tyler has said the maintenance should be minimal for “many years to come.”
He added that drainage won’t be an issue because soils percolate well.
Kevin Estes of Estes Builders testified in favor of the transfer of ownership. He was the only public speaker at the hearing.
Estes, whose Sequim-based company funded improvements to the roads, and more than 100 SunLand property owners petitioned the county to take on the long-term maintenance of the four roads.
The roads serve 63 lots and a public driving range for the 18-hole, semi-private SunLand Golf & Country Club.
In 1998, a Clallam County hearings examiner approved a conditional-use permit that allowed the development of the new lots and a nine-hole golf course expansion in SunLand’s northwest division.
One of the 17 conditions specified that the applicant, Sunland Associates, wanted to “dedicate the new platted roads within this division to the county for public road purposes.”
While the nine-hole executive course has not been developed, Estes said its 33 acres has been set aside as open space.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
