SEQUIM — Tom Schaafsma, co-owner of All Safe Mini Storage, a Rotarian and supporter of Olympic Theatre Arts and the Parenting Matters Foundation, has purchased a small piece of land from the Sequim School District.
The district sold the land, just under an acre next to the city waste-collection yard south of Hammond Street and Second Avenue, for $179,000, a spokesperson said Monday.
Schools Superintendent Garn Christensen tried to reach an agreement with the city to use the land for a new school bus barn.
But that didn’t work out, Christensen said.
Schaafsma said he has yet to lay specific plans for his new property, which has no structures on it.
The school district, meanwhile, has a list of projects that will eat away at Monday’s influx of money.
Another bus barn site
It must choose another site for a bus barn. Its facilities plan also calls for improvements to the Community School, to keep the building at 220 W. Alder St. viable for a range of programs serving preschoolers to independent-study high-schoolers.
Though enrollment in the Sequim district is almost flat — at fewer than 3,000 students this year — Christensen anticipates growth as the city adds some 2,500 housing units and 13,000 in population in the coming decade.
The district will eventually need to add a campus, he said.
“We’re keeping an eye open for parcels that become available, especially in eastern Sequim,” Christensen said.
