SEQUIM — Sequim City Council members continue to seek options to encourage more affordable/workforce housing development in the area.
Some of their recent decisions include reducing park impact fees, pursuing a grant to waive builder fees and more. Here’s a summary of those efforts.
Park impact fees
Park impact fees for new development will be reduced by 50 percent through Dec. 31, 2028, if the prospective household income is 30 percent to 80 percent of Area Median Income.
Council members unanimously approved the exemption in their consent agenda on Oct. 9 after narrowly passing a motion 4-3 on Sept. 25 for staff to bring back an ordinance.
Council member Kathy Downer, who originally pushed for the motion, said her intent was to do something to entice developers to build workforce housing in the city.
“If we don’t have any affordable housing built, then we’ve failed as councilors,” she said.
Council member William Armacost said city staff is doing everything they can to seek affordable/workforce housing, but the city’s Capital Improvement Plan is still relevant and the fee reduction would deplete from future projects.
Council member Vicki Lowe said they could continue to look for grants and other money in other places for those projects, while Downer said the reduction is for development that hasn’t happened so the impact would be unknown.
Council members who voted against the Sept. 25 motion, including council members Rachel Anderson, Armacost and mayor Tom Ferrell, previously indicated they were torn between making a pledge to Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County’s city housing project and reducing fees, but not doing both.
Anderson said the decision was difficult because in “a lot of situations, we have to end up prioritizing one thing over another … feels like prioritizing one child over another. It’s a struggle.”
Lowe said “prioritizing housing over parks is an easy decision (as you’re) helping the child that needs the most help.”
CHIP grant
Council members hope to receive a grant that will help defer general facility charges for affordable housing units.
They unanimously approved, with Ferrell excused from the meeting on Oct. 9, to pass an ordinance to qualify for the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) grant.
If the city receives the grant, then developers could receive reductions in general facility charges for connecting to city water and sewer, and it defrays costs the city incurs for the new hook-ups.
An ordinance is required by the Department of Commerce for the grant, and Charisse Deschenes — Sequim’s deputy city manager and director of Community & Economic Development — said city staff have met with Habitat for Humanity leaders and plan to apply for the grant by Oct. 31.
City staff and council members agreed on the grant’s importance.
“It’s a must,” City Manager Matt Huish told the council, “(and) a great opportunity.”
Deputy mayor Brandon Janisse said it shows the council’s dedication to helping complete Habitat’s Brownfield Road Project, a 50-plus Habitat-built home effort.
Urgent housing
A resolution approved unanimously on Sept. 25 in part stated “the lack of affordable and workforce housing within the City limits of Sequim has become an urgent situation and should be declared as such.”
Council members unanimously approved it on Sept. 25 after splitting 4-3 earlier in the month.
Downer, who recommended the ordinance, said housing is an urgent matter in Sequim and she wanted to recognize that everyone needs to be fed.
The ordinance states that “council acknowledges that housing affects the physical and mental stability of all, and everyone deserves to be housed” and they hope area agencies use the resolution for grant applications.
Anderson, Armacost and Ferrell voted against the resolution on Sept. 11, saying it felt redundant to the city’s ongoing efforts.
Initially, Downer wanted her declaration to state the housing issue was an “emergency” but changed it to “urgent” following some councilors’ concerns.
Lowe encouraged council to do it if it helped agencies receive grant funding.
Interlocal pact
City and Clallam County staffers will iron out details on an interlocal agreement to use House Bill 1590 funds from Sequim in the area. The 0.1 percent sales tax to support affordable housing and related services generates about $500,000 a year in the county, city officials said.
Council members voted 4-3 on Sept. 25 with Anderson, Armacost and Ferrell opposed to the staff pursuing an interlocal agreement.
Council member Lowell Rathbun said the money from HB 1590 could be used to waive impact fees for affordable housing and he preferred the funding from Sequim to stay in the area.
A majority of the council agreed to keep it in Sequim School District boundaries.
Ferrell said any project will help the county and that it’s “myopic” to only have the funds stay in the city.
“If you refine it too much, you’re missing the principle of this funding,” he said.
Rathbun initially wanted a joint council, county commissioner meeting, but fellow councilors agreed for the staffs to have discussions before bringing back an interlocal agreement following a recommendation by Timothy Dalton, Clallam’s housing and grant resource director.
Commissioner Mike French said there is a committee working on a spending plan with a regional approach.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
