SEQUIM — Clallam County transportation officials have thrown a new wrinkle into the city’s “big box” retail development saga — possibly closing a road.
In a letter sent Thursday to city Planning Director Dennis Lefevre, County Engineer Don McInnes listed closing Priest Road to through traffic as one of three alternatives for accommodating what they say will be a significant increase in traffic if Wal-Mart builds a “superstore” at Priest’s intersection with Washington Street.
The presence of a regional shopping center across the street from Wal-Mart would make matters even worse, according to testimony submitted in appeals challenging both developments.
County planning officials have challenged plans to build the major retail complexes near the western Sequim city limit, where county roads carry traffic from nearby unincorporated areas into the city.
“We consider these two stores to be like magnets,” McInnes said.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.
