SEQUIM — City officials on Tuesday received their second piece of good news in four days over legal issues surrounding two planned “big box” retail developments on the city’s west side.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George Wood issued a 19-page opinion in the case brought by the citizens group Sequim First against AVB Development Partners and the city involving Sequim Village Marketplace, AVB’s proposed shopping center to be anchored by The Home Depot.
On Friday, a six-page decision by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee succinctly dismissed a similar Sequim First appeal that would have complicated plans for a Wal-Mart “supercenter” just northwest of the AVB project.
Judge Wood’s ruling issued Tuesday was contained in a complex document that offers rays of hope to both sides.
“It’s a well-reasoned and very deliberative opinion,” said Andrew Shogren, vice president of Sequim First.
“I think Judge Wood’s opinion does validate many of the concerns we had over both of these projects.”
Wood’s decision, although saying the city generally acted correctly in permitting the shopping center, was not as cut and dry as McPhee’s.
It acknowledges two major areas of concern that led to Sequim First’s appeals before City Council, which upheld initial permitting by City Planning Director Dennis Lefevre for the 395,000-square-foot Marketplace complex near the intersection of West Washington Street and River Road.
Under the state’s Land Use Petition Act, Sequim First asked Wood to order a full and independent environmental impact statement for each project.
The citizens group’s suit concentrates on concerns over stormwater and groundwater quality, traffic impacts on nearby roads, and harm to small businesses in the city’s downtown core.
Stopping short of ordering the impact statements, Wood nonetheless found merit in some of Sequim First’s arguments.
He delayed entering a final order on the project until the developers submit more precise water-monitoring plans.
He also instructed officials from Sequim and Clallam County to iron out details of a $100,000 traffic mitigation payment solicited from AVB during the City Council’s quasi-judicial hearing in June.
