SEQUIM — City Council members and their chosen citizen advisers Monday talked about everything from improving communication to building design issues to the future of the Guy Cole Community Center.
Council members, in separate joint meetings with the Planning Commission, Design Review Board and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, caught up on issues and aired problems.
“I think it’s very important to respect our recommendations,” said JulieAnna Gardiner, city Planning Commission chairwoman.
She asked council members not to “badger us into changing our minds” on planning and zoning matters.
Planning Commissioner Jon Wendt said he thought the council should interpret planning and zoning matters according to the will of the voters.
Mayor Ken Hays said he was surprised the council did not receive Planning Commission feedback over the binding site plan for the proposed 109-unit affordable-apartment complex on acreage southeast of Brownfield Road and South Sequim Avenue near U.S. Highway 101.
The council in a 4-3 vote approved the plan, with some members voicing concerns about the proposal’s density and whether it would blend in with the surrounding neighborhood’s character.
The project, proposed by Sequim developer Paul H. Murphy, has been scuttled, and the property is back up for sale, city officials and real estate agents said Monday.
The 7.5-acre site is zoned for mixed use, including light manufacturing and heavy-duty commercial businesses.
Gardiner, with an engineering background, said the project was “one of the best we’ve seen” and “met the terms” as proposed.
“Except for parking,” Hays responded.
Councilman Bill Huizinga called for the city to rethink transportation.
Gardiner said the Planning Commission could address the topic this year.
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois said she wants downtown to be more pedestrian-friendly and urged a plan to direct commercial and other traffic around residential neighborhoods.
Councilman Don Hall suggested the council communicate more directly with the planners instead of through interim Planning Director Joe Irvin when it returns a recommendation for review.
Calling it a “baby board” only 2 years old, Design Review Board Chairwoman Troye Jarmuth told council members that the review board has had some “pretty clear-cut” proposals go before it that met city codes.
But the cases of the Taco Bell restaurant on East Washington Street and the International House of Pancakes at the west end of the street were different matters, Jarmuth said.
The original designs that went before the Design Review Board were sent back to the drawing board.
Review board member Colleen McAleer said she prefers light industrial design out of sight, buffered by landscaping and trees.
“I know we do need it,” she said. “I don’t want to see it in the downtown core, but I know we need it for jobs.”
In their joint council session, Citizens Park Advisory Board members advocated forming a city Parks Department with one or two employees who could coordinate programs and parks facility maintenance.
Sequim’s parks have enough amenities that they could draw organized sports such as softball tournaments, he said.
The council also broached the subject of Keeler Park. Hays questioned if the 40-acre “passive” natural area south of U.S. Highway 101 at Happy Valley Road was a good city investment.
“If I had to do it over again, I would not have voted to acquire this park,” Hays said.
The park cost $1 million three years ago. The city is paying it off through developer impact fees.
City Attorney Craig Ritchie said that because the park is dotted with wetland, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to construct trails for public use given the requirement for natural buffers.
