Rumors of a Sequim building freeze greatly exaggerated

SEQUIM — It looked like an emergency conference for Sequim’s housing industry Tuesday night: Pickup trucks packed the parking spots outside while tanned carpenters jammed the inside of the City Council chambers. 

What drew the crowd?

An e-mail to them.

“The Sequim City Council members are planning to impose a building moratorium,” wrote Clair Kirkman, executive officer of the North Peninsula Builders Association.

The members “need to know what and how this will impact the community they are supposed to be serving,” Kirkman wrote. “Please . . . please plan to attend the meeting.”

And so nearly every seat was filled.

Realtors, builders and developers sat for two hours while the council discussed plans to expand the city’s sewage treatment plant — and listened to Sequim resident Patricia Allen’s complaints about members’ recent behavior.

“Our little town on the surface looks great [to visitors] until they read about all this bickering,” Allen said, referring to differences between the four council members who took office in January and the three who’re in the middle of their terms.

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