SEQUIM — Lawyers for the city and AVB Development Partners appeared in Clallam County Superior Court on Friday, hoping to end a court battle over a proposed west-side shopping center.
But Judge George Wood, who last month denied an appeal challenging the regional shopping center, Sequim Village Marketplace, wasn’t ready to formally sign off on the case.
Citizens group Sequim First sought a full environmental impact statement on the 395,000-square-foot complex planned on 42 acres near West Washington Street and River Road.
While Wood’s original decision denied Sequim First’s request for the impact statement — and that he declare a rezone on the targeted land parcels invalid — he did require that AVB come back with more detailed plans on water and traffic impact monitoring before he would dismiss the suit altogether.
AVB attorney Glenn Amster and Sequim City Attorney Craig Ritchie on Friday presented an order indicating they had formulated a more specific plan which was amenable to the city Public Works Department for monitoring runoff from storm water and ground water into the Dungeness River.
The order also indicated the city and Clallam County government were in the process of determining how a $100,000 traffic-impact fee, solicited late in the project’s appeals hearing before the City Council in June, would be used to improve underdeveloped county roads leading to the proposed retail center.
But Wood declined to close the case, promising only to issue on Monday a semifinal order remanding parts of it back to the City Council while declaring his decision final for the purposes of launching a 30-day appeals period available to Sequim First — if the citizens group chooses to take the case to the state Court of Appeals.
