SEQUIM – What a difference several thousand new houses make.
In a vigorous debate, eight Sequim City Council candidates looked into the city’s future, and asked for voters’ support in the Nov. 6 all-mail election.
Ballots were mailed to registered voters Wednesday.
About 70 people attended Wednesday night’s League of Women Voters forum at the Senior Activities Center, which illustrated how times have changed since 2005.
That year, Sequim had just three City Council candidates – who all ran unopposed.
In the rainstorm of words this week, the six would-be newcomers spoke of how they’d shake up the City Council, control growth and, amid the big-box stores, somehow preserve Sequim’s rural feeling.
More than 3,300 dwelling units are in various stages of construction, said Susan Lorenzen, the city planning commissioner hoping to unseat incumbent Don Hall.
“Our Planning Department’s been overworked for a long time,” replied Hall.
“I get frustrated” when city staffers take months and years to update the Sequim Municipal Code and finish public facilities.
But Sequim will upgrade its sewer and water systems within the decade, he said.
