SEQUIM — A Thurston County Superior Court judge has cleared the way for the construction of a Wal-Mart “supercenter” at the city’s western edge.
Judge Thomas McPhee handed down a ruling Friday that denies a land-use appeal filed in September by the citizens group Sequim First against Wal-Mart and the city of Sequim.
McPhee’s six-page decision marked what might be a swift and succinct end to a yearlong battle over the retailer’s plans to build a 195,000-square-foot store at the intersection of West Washington Street and Priest Road.
The jurist’s brevity sharply contrasted the volumes of written material, dozens of hours of hearings before the City Council and McPhee, and the 3,000-page court record submitted for consideration in the appeal, filed under the state’s Land Use Petition Act.
Sequim First is also appealing a proposed regional shopping center planned for a 30-acre site just southeast of the Wal-Mart project.
The case involving that center — set to include a Home Depot home improvement warehouse — is under review in Clallam County Superior Court.
City Attorney Craig Ritchie said he would submit a copy of McPhee’s decision to Clallam County Judge George Wood.
The ruling, he said, represents new findings of law that could affect Wood’s ruling.
