Sequim tries out design standards
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
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But then, a year from now, those standards will expire.
Such was the result of the Sequim City Council's long argument over design standards for new construction of shopping centers, condominiums and apartments.
The standards are aimed at building a more pedestrian-friendly Sequim, while preserving the city's rural feeling, Council member Ken Hays said.
The council voted 4-2 Monday night to adopt the standards for a trial period of one year.
The standards are part of an ordinance governing just about every aspect of a new building: from roofs and windows to entrances, parking lots, signs, trash-can location and the color of walls and trim.
The council was divided along newcomer-versus-long-timer lines.
Hays, along with the three other members who took office this year, voted for the new, prescriptive standards, while Council members Paul McHugh and Walt Schubert, two who've been in office for many years, voted no.
"For a town like Sequim that has so much hope and aspiration to grow into a vital, sustainable community," these design standards are crucial, Hays said.
Port Townsend has design standards for commercial, mixed-use and multifamily buildings in its historic district.
Port Angeles has no such requirements, only "suggestions and recommendations" for building styles, said assistant planner Dan Bialzik.
Sequim's standards also include softer "guidelines," encouraging developers to consider their neighbors and build condos or shopping strips that are "visually compatible" with what's nearby.
In addition, they include more stringent rules requiring "high quality materials," such as brick masonry, large timbers, sandstone, river rock and "recycled and ecologically friendly materials."
McHugh opposed
McHugh, in a vehement speech Monday night, called the 35-page ordinance "the worst piece of legislation I've seen come before the council."
If the city foists these standards on those who would build here, "there is going to be no new construction," he added.
Along with detailing the design standards, the ordinance forms a design review board, a five-member committee to read project applications and, if the city planning staff requests it, hold hearings on project applications.
This board, McHugh said in a disgusted tone, "is going to have to approve whether you've been properly indoctrinated on rural, small-town feel."
Business people "are going to be furious," he said.
The ordinance, McHugh finished, is "an awful, awful document."
Hays called McHugh's words "gross distortion, and added, "Frankly, I'm just flabbergasted by the tirade I've just heard."
Like Hays, council members Erik Erichsen and Susan Lorenzen have lamented that some developers have been allowed to do too much in Sequim.
One example, Lorenzen said, is the Rock Plaza shopping center taking shape at Sequim-Dungeness Way and Old Olympic Highway, which she said blocks a neighboring subdivision's views.
Erichsen added that "the two drugstores right next to each other," Rite Aid and Walgreens at Fifth Avenue and Washington Street, might not have been built as they were, had the design standards been in place.
Both have large parking lots in front; the standards call for such stores to be closer to sidewalks with most of their parking in back.
Schubert wanted to continue the discussion at the council's next evening meeting on Sept. 22, so Councilman Bill Huizinga, who was absent Monday because of the flu, could participate.
And by then, the council will have "calmed down," Schubert hoped.
But Don Hall, a former council member, came to the podium to remind him that the design-standards debate has dragged on for years.
"I really think you should approve this on an interim basis as soon as possible," so some unsuitable development doesn't receive approval, he said.
"You should get it on the books . . . because something might come up."
'A leap forward'
The four new council members agreed.
"We can debate this until the cows come home, which they can do in Sequim," Hays said.
"It's time we make a leap forward."
With the ordinance enacted, city Planning Director Dennis Lefevre is composing an application for design review board members.
He's looking for professional architects, engineers and artists to serve.
Lefevre hopes to post the application on the city's Web site, www.ci.Sequim.wa.us, later next week.
"We want to get this board up and running," he said.
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Sequim Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 09. 2008 9:00PM