SEQUIM — Think of it as a tugboat maneuvering the city into the future, Sequim community development director Chris Hugo told the City Council on Monday.
The city will launch its draft preliminary comprehensive plan in a matter of days, sending the tug out on sea trials.
By next week, the plan should receive a review from the city Planning Commission, with the council reviewing it in early April.
By early May, the council should be making its revisions and scheduling public hearings in early June, Hugo said.
A final comprehensive rezoning ordinance probably is a year away, he said.
Scaled back
The draft preliminary plan scales back Sequim’s aggressive commercial and high-density residential zoning that marked the early years of the millennium.
Areas zoned as commercial strips instead could become mixed-use or “economic opportunity” areas that Hugo defined as “a more focused version of mixed use.”
A brief sketch of the land-use changes in the plan as outlined Monday:
■ The area between U.S. Highway 101 and the Costco retail zone would become an economic opportunity area, as would an area due south of downtown.
■ South of the highway, land presently designated high-density residential lacks utilities and streets and would revert to low-density residential.
■ High-density residential zoning would be redirected to downtown.
■ West of the city, a “senior living district” will aim to attract retirees with “anything that would support the lifestyle of people who are hitting midage and hoping to stay in place,” Hugo said.
■ Low-density residential zoning is proposed for the area east of downtown, except for existing community businesses and a high-tech industrial zone farther east.
■ The Simdars Road interchange with U.S. 101, currently limited to public use, would become low-density residential with services such as a senior center.
■ A large tract farther east of town would become a planned resort zone.
■ Land around Carrie Blake Park would become high-density residential.
■ The Port Williams Road area would become low-density residential.
Hugo said the draft preliminary plan will be posted on the city’s website as soon as planners correct typographical errors.
Community outreach
They also will take it on the circuit of civic groups and service clubs, place notices in the next round of utility bills and reach out to groups like the Sequim Association of Realtors and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Hugo called the changes “pretty benign.”
“I’m not anticipating huge troubles making that transition,” he said.
In other action Monday, council members said they had invited the Navy to hold a public briefing on its proposed Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range that would have EA-18G “Growler” aircraft from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island flying tests across the Olympic Peninsula and over the Pacific Ocean.
The Navy has not responded, said City Clerk Karen Kuznek-Reese.
Meanwhile, City Manager Steve Burkett said a petition drive to create a metropolitan park district to fund the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center would be short-sighted if it proposed to provide only an indoor swimming center.
Petitioners would place such a proposal on an August special ballot and, if unsuccessful, on the following November ballot
But Burkett said other interests, such as tennis and pickleball playing and the Boys & Girls Club, should be included in “a broader and more deliberate conversation than you could have in two months,” when petitioners may need to turn in their signatures.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com
