SEQUIM — Growth has slowed here, but the growing pains still smart around the city’s edges and in the council chambers.
Members of the City Council wrangled during their meeting Monday night over how dense housing should be how dense the state requires it to be, and whether the city should annex a small, potentially dense acre of land.
First came a discussion of changing the Sequim Municipal Code’s minimum-lot-size and setback requirements.
Today, a residential lot here must cover at least 6,250 square feet.
Planning Director Dennis Lefevre said that rule makes it difficult for Sequim to comply with the state Growth Management Act’s mandate for higher-density housing in cities.
If the minimum lot size requirement were dropped, the city could permit more dwelling units per acre.
Clusters
Council member Bill Huizinga, chairman of the city’s affordable housing committee, urged the council to also consider clustered townhouse developments.
Clustering is a “more creative use of land,” he said, that wraps continuous green space around a fairly large number of units.
This style requires less asphalt and costs less when it comes to sewer and water extensions, he said.
“We’re always talking about building green,” Huizinga added.
To his mind, clustering is a way to do it.
Council member Ken Hays, an architect, cautioned against too much density.
“It seems like there’s a possibility for development to become unseemly or unsightly or overbearing to a neighborhood,” he said.
Variety is key, added Council member Paul McHugh.
“I see this as creating the opportunity for different styles of development,” while meeting the need for density.
The council opted to discuss the lot-size issue at a later meeting.
Proposed annexation
Then the members turned to Jay Sorensen’s proposed annexation of a 1.23-acre parcel at Ninth Avenue and Fir Street.
If approved, it would allow up to five homes on the property.
That would mean high density development snug against a rural setting, said Council member Susan Lorenzen, adding that nearby Palo Verde subdivision’s residents have asked Clallam County to impose a building moratorium on the area.
Annexing and building on the Ninth Avenue land “would just be going counter to what I feel is right,” Lorenzen said.
McHugh sought to dismiss that argument.
“If we follow that line of thinking, there will be no more developments and no more building permits issued,” he said.
“With almost every single annexation brought before us since I’ve been on the council, there have been neighbors who were unhappy about it.”
The council vote on the annexation was split 3-3, with Lorenzen abstaining.
Then the members voted unanimously to bring it back for more discussion at their Dec. 8 meeting. That session will start at 6 p.m. in the Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailyews.com
