SEQUIM — Residents want a downtown that centers on culture, commerce and civic life.
That is the objective of preliminary recommendations for Sequim’s downtown that were shared with the City Council on Monday night.
“If you make a great place, it will be great for visitors,” said Mark Hinshaw, director of urban design for LMN Architects of Seattle, in the study the city contracted for $80,000 last year.
“Our notion was to make this a great, wonderful place,” he said.
Hinshaw delivered the preliminary recommendation for the city’s downtown plan after a community and leadership vetting process that has been under way since late last year.
It involved open houses and workshops to gather residents’ thoughts about what downtown Sequim needs in the future, from streetscape improvements to better traffic control, pedestrian access and amenities such as a theater and high-density apartments that attract people.
City Manager Steve Burkett said the plan will be brought back to the City Council in two weeks, when the council will hear the city Planning Commission’s comments.
The report calls for a “walkable downtown” with strong functional gateways leading into the commercial core.
Hinshaw said downtown Sequim’s intact main drag — Washington Street — should be improved to make it more walkable between Third and Sequim avenues to attract more people and boost business.
Improving Pioneer Park, which is viewed as underused, and linking it to Etta Street via an east-west alleyway that leads to South Sequim Avenue also was suggested.
Improving directional signs was another recommendation. The study urged replacing existing signs that flop around in the wind and can be read only by pedestrians and often go unnoticed by visiting motorists.
The recommendations also support the development of cottages, smaller homes near the core, plus accessory dwellings where relatives can live adjacent to family homes.
Hinshaw said transportation policies should encourage redirecting some of the traffic around the downtown core and improving east-west circulation.
Hinshaw said denser development was more of a long-term recommendation, which calls for apartments not to exceed 45 feet high in the downtown core and 35 feet around the core.
“Parking should be viewed as a shared resource that is managed and provided in a way that adds to the ambiance,” the report said.
The parking standard should be two spaces for every 1,000 square feet built, Hinshaw said.
“You treat downtown radically different than you do anywhere else in the community.”
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois asked if Sequim had adequate parking downtown for the disabled, and City Manager Steve Burkett said he believed there is not enough.
Hinshaw pointed out that legal disabled parking spaces must be wider than other spaces — 10 feet wide — to allow those using wheelchairs the space to exit the side door of their vehicle while in the chair.
The study also suggested organizing a Main Street program to promote downtown Sequim, making Seal Street the city center, or gathering place for all purposes, including festivities.
Other recommendations included building a small movie theater where the Bank of America building now sits at Bell Street and South Sequim Avenue.
Streetscape should integrate rain gardens for storm drainage, the report said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
