SEQUIM — The over-arching concept of a downtown is that it’s “more of an idea than a piece of geography,” consultant Mark Hinshaw said at last week’s open house featuring recommendations for the center of Sequim.
Among the major recommendations delivered Thursday to Sequim residents and business owners at the Sequim City Council chambers by consultants hired by the city to gather community thoughts to enhance downtown assets:
• Organize a Main Street program, such as that in Port Townsend and Port Angeles, to promote downtown Sequim.
• Make Seal Street a central gathering place, a “festival street,” the heart and soul of downtown.
• Build a small movie theater where the Bank of America building now sits at Bell Street and South Sequim Avenue.
A City Council study session on the plan will be conducted March 14, followed by a city Planning Commission meeting and public hearing March 15.
A final City Council public hearing before the council considers adopting the plan is scheduled March 28.
Main drag
Hinshaw, director of urban design at LMN Architects in Seattle and city-hired project managing consultant for Sequim’s downtown planning project and consultants team, said downtown Sequim’s intact main drag — Washington Street — was probably the envy of other small cities that have business-challenged downtowns.
The idea is to make it even better and more “walkable” between Third and Sequim Avenues to attract more people and boost business.
It’s all about attracting more people downtown, city officials and private consultants told more than 50 residents and business people at the second public gathering for ideas and discussion on what’s wanted in downtown Sequim.
Other ideas from the consultants:
• Create secondary pedestrian “spines” using downtown’s network of alleys.
Design those alleys to slow motor vehicles while giving walkers, bicyclers and scooter riders safer, more special places to move from one end of town to another.
• Pursue development of a downtown hotel, more places to eat and entertainment hot spots that keep Sequim alive and vibrant after dark.
• Encourage more three-story apartment development with street-level retail shops and flank the downtown core with more higher-density housing.
• Leverage City Hall redevelopment at its existing West Cedar Street site.
• Construct a southern downtown commercial truck route away from residential neighborhoods.
Kendra Brieland, senior transportation planner with Fehr & Peers transportation planning in Seattle, called for “slow-down areas” downtown to let motorists know “you know you are entering a special space.”
Brieland also promoted the idea of activating the use of alleys and “woonerfs” for pedestrian use.
A woonerf is an area where pedestrians have priority over motorists and are attractively designed to make motor vehicle traffic slow to a crawl.
Seal Street, off Washington Street, is the closest example of a woonerf in downtown Sequim, officials said.
Downtown apartments
Hinshaw said there was pent-up demand for developing apartments downtown, one that would create a core business foundation for retailers.
That idea was backed by several residents who encouraged building apartments up, not out.
Jeri Sanford, the longtime owner of downtown retail shop Over the Fence, said the city could buy a sound system that would help visitors hear choirs and other performances over the buzz of downtown traffic.
Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, a downtown planning committee member and president of the art council that organized the downtown gallery walk, said she learned that many residents believe parking is important.
She said she heard much support for a theater, restaurants and small retail downtown. Her art students at Peninsula College said they would like to see more activities downtown.
“At the same time, they didn’t want to see it overbuilt,” Brock-Richmond said.
Sequim retiree Bob Murphy, who talked to the consultants about downtown traffic plans, came away skeptical but hopeful.
“I’m wondering if a plan in itself can revitalize downtown,” Murphy said. “It’s a lot of money and will take a lot of time.”
Fir Street resident Vicki Adams, who was concerned about the plan’s potential effects on her home, revealed that she rarely goes downtown but might take the walk if it improves.
Don Skidmore, a Sequim-area retiree who attended the event with his disabled wife, Betty, said they were both concerned about the availability of handicapped parking downtown.
He said he also had a “strong dislike” for roundabouts in and around Sequim, questioning their safety for motorists.
Betty Skidmore said she feared the city was adding development that would create additional parking and traffic problems.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
