PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners have agreed that they should extend by six months a contract with a company in Oregon that is reviewing plans for a 27-bathroom, 32,000-square-foot bed and breakfast planned for Sequim Bay.
Commissioners will take formal action today to extend the county’s contract with Clair Co. through June 11 to give Judy Lee — a California woman suing the county in federal court — an additional opportunity to submit adequate plans.
“The idea would be hopefully that Judy Lee will either submit revised plans or she will continue to be inactive, which would be to our benefit,” said Chief Civil Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez.
This extension does not increase how much the county is willing to pay the company. The company extended the contract in June, increasing it to a maximum compensation of $30,000.
Lee filed a lawsuit in December 2017 that alleges that the Clallam County Department of Community Development director, Mary Ellen Winborn, has worked to thwart her plans to build her dream home — a 32,000-square-foot, four-story structure she calls a bed and breakfast that features five bedrooms and 27 bathrooms — along the banks of Sequim Bay.
She purchased five acres at 695 E. Sequim Bay Road in 2016 to “make her home into an attractive bed and breakfast to allow others to enjoy the area,” according to the lawsuit.
Winborn determined that the building, which would be larger than the Quality Inn & Suites in Sequim and the Clallam County Public Utility District headquarters in Carlsborg, was actually a hotel and could not be built in that area.
Clallam County selected Clair Co. to review the application in October 2018 after the county and Lee agreed to have a third party review the application.
Winborn has protested this move and said she will not participate in that process.
When Lee filed her third revised application with Clair Co., the company rejected the proposal because the application was not complete. Lee was asked to respond to 49 comments before the application could be considered.
The county has extended the Oregon company’s contract to Dec. 11, 2019, but Lee said in a deposition that she has not taken steps to make the corrections required, including a number of corrections required for Building/Fire/Life Safety Review.
Motion to dismiss
The county asked in October that the lawsuit be dismissed and a motion hearing is now set for Dec. 11 at U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
In a response to the motion, Lee’s attorney said that Winborn “instructed her staff to engage in a helter-skelter pattern of bureaucratic tricks, concealment, and maneuvering — including needless appeals and court actions designed to only frustrate Lee’s project.
“After nearly two years of run-around, caused by Winborn’s officious tactics, Lee filed this lawsuit.”
In her response, Lee wrote that she is hopeful that Clair Co. will issue a permit in the coming months.
The county responded on Nov. 19, arguing that Lee doesn’t dispute the county’s key reasons for requesting the lawsuit be dismissed.
The county emphasizes that Lee never received a permit for the project and has never satisfied any conditions to receive one.
“Indeed, even in late 2018, when the Clair Company received the third amended application from Ms. Lee, it stressed that the plans and specifications were so deficient that they were not suitable for review,” the county’s motion says.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
