SEQUIM — The Sequim City Council has decided to allow the application for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed medication-assisted treatment to be processed by city staff, a move that has met with opposition from some members of the public.
Barry Berezowsky, city director of community development, posted on the city’s website at www.sequimwa.gov/471/Current-Projects that the application will go through the A-2 process. which means that he will determine approval of the project after it has been reviewed by the city’s engineer, public works director, police chief and representatives of Clallam County Fire District 3.
Sequim resident Robert Bilow is appealing the use of the A-2 process to consider the application for the proposed 17,000-square-foot outpatient clinic for opioid use disorder.
Both he and Jodi Wilke, chair of Save Our Sequim (SOS), say that the application should be processed through the C-2 procedure, which would require more public input and a quasi-judicial review — and more involvement by the City Council.
They say that the project falls under the “broad public interest” of C-2 rather than A-2’s “limited public interest.”
In a letter to the Sequim City Council, Wilke said that the proposed medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic is “not a common medical clinic” because it focuses on addiction treatment and behavioral health rather than such diseases as diabetes and heart disease.
In an interview, she reiterated that SOS is not against those with opioid use disorder receiving treatment but rather the location and size of the proposed clinic.
The city council has agreed to accept appeals of the decision.
Filing an appeal costs $600, according to Berezowsky.
Berezowsky wrote in the notice he posted Friday afternoon that the “clinic is a permitted use because it meets the definition of a medical clinic in the City’s zoning codes.”
The clinic on the west side of Sequim would dispense daily doses of methadone, Suboxone and Vivitrol for opioid-use disorder and provide wrap-around services such as primary care health services, dental care and counseling services to people who volunteer for treatment and live in Clallam or Jefferson counties.
Tribal staff filed the application on Jan. 10, but City Manager Charlie Bush asked city staff on Jan. 14 to hold it until council members discussed the proposed clinic at a special work session on Thursday.
Berezowsky received approval to continue the application process under the A-2 procedure during a 90-minute executive session with council members at the Thursday work session.
After the closed executive session, council members spoke in public session for less than 30 minutes.
Deputy Mayor Ted Miller said that despite objections from some council members, “the law is clear it is an A-2 process and we have to observe that.
“It does help city council in one way,” he added. “If we conclude it’s an A-2 process, then the city council will be free, finally to speak its mind.
“Frankly, we’re as frustrated as you are. … we have our definite opinions with some on either side of the aisle. We are really restricted on what we can say. Until it’s approved, we can’t even do that.”
New council member Troy Tenneson urged the application be processed through the C-2 process. He said in the Thursday discussion that he continues to have concerns over interpretation of the city’s code.
On Jan. 13, he had asked for a moratorium on applications like the MAT, but other council members said that couldn’t be done because the application was already filed. Instead, they opted for the work session.
Staff opinion
Berezowsky said in the notice posted Friday that the city “historically reviewed medical clinics and offices under the A-2 administrative review process.”
“For the City to now divert from its historic permitting process to intentionally treat the proposed MAT clinic differently than other medical clinics could be viewed as intentional discrimination,” he wrote.
Berezowsky also said that public interest does not change the procedure.
“While there is no question that the subject project has generated ‘public interest,’ the subject application also provides little opportunity to exercise ‘substantial discretion’ due to the fact that the application consists of a building permit which is ministerial, design review which is not listed in the table of application types, but nevertheless required, and SEPA [State Environmental Policy Act] which has its own procedural and substantive limitations and does not offer ‘substantial discretion,’” he wrote.
“Frankly, the theory that the degree of ‘public interest’ should be used to determine what type of process a permit should be subjected to falls apart when examined closer.”
Tenneson said that if a majority of council members direct the city manager to do something, he will do all he can to accomplish it.
“There’s a case being made of the city council’s role in this … I believe very much it’s the city council’s business,” he said.
Council member Jennifer States said that’s true unless it violates the city’s municipal code.
“In this case, the determination of A-2 is laid out in the code, and no matter what our opinion is, even if all seven of us said the city manager should violate the code, that can’t be done,” she said.
“That’s precedent. It starts with the code and the law. Going forward, the code is what we need to address.”
Said Miller: “We are limited in our discretion. If four of us want something done, he’s going to bend over backwards to get it done, but he’s not going to violate the state law.”
Armacost said the city has an opportunity to be part of the solution.
“I think in my 35 years here, I’ve never seen the engagement like this in our community,” he said. “I choose to see that as a wonderful thing.
“Whenever we get people talking to one another who normally do not mix, we have an opportunity to come up with a greater result than we intended.”
He encouraged continued communication, transparency and accountability in the city government.
Sequim City Council next meets at 6 p.m. Monday in Sequim City Hall, 152 W. Cedar St.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
