SEQUIM — This city’s planners sound worn out, much of the time, by the onslaught of construction.
“We’ve seen a lot of development in the last few years. We’d sure like to offset that with some preservation,” Planning Director Dennis Lefevre said this week.
Lefevre and Public Works Director James Bay, it turns out, have a plan for that very thing.
It involves accepting a donation of 10 acres of open space from the Keeler family of Sequim, plus purchasing an additional 35.7 adjacent acres, to create the city’s largest park.
Its working title: the Johnson Creek/Keeler Recreation Reserve.
The parcel is south of U.S. Highway 101 and east of Simdars Road, and affords views of Sequim Bay, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Protection Island on clear days, Lefevre said.
If it becomes a city park, it would feature paths connecting to the Olympic Discovery Trail, wildlife viewing platforms and interpretive stations.
The Keelers’ donation is on two conditions: that the land be preserved as a park in perpetuity — never to be sold for development — and that it will remain a natural area rather than have athletic fields built on it, added Bay.
Grant sought
The city is applying for a $500,000 grant from the state Interagency Committee’s Wildlife and Recreation Program to help fund the land purchase.
From July 31 through Aug. 3, independent program evaluators will look at grant applications from Sequim and dozens of other entities, said grants manager Kammie Bunes.
In an interview from her Olympia office, Bunes said she sees numerous applications from communities needing relief from rapid development.
“We hear that a lot,” she said. “We also hear that this county or that city is ‘the fastest-growing in the state.”‘
Bunes and the panel of evaluators rank the applications on their merits, and after the state Legislature allocates money for local parks, the top scorers receive reimbursements for their land purchases and other expenses.
The panel considers how well a grant proposal “meets a large need in the area,” Bunes said. Each grant seeker, meanwhile, shows how the proposed project fits into the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
