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‘Old,’ ‘new’ Sequim City Council members agree: Central city needs rejuvenation

Published 4:06 am Tuesday, June 3, 2008

By Diane Urbani de la Paz

SEQUIM — They’re looking for vitamins for downtown.

Or perhaps a fountain of youth.

The Sequim City Council waded deep into the Town Center Sub-Area Plan on Monday, devoting the study session to the blueprint for — as architect and Councilman Ken Hays put it — “a more beautiful, evolved city.”

The sub-area plan is only a draft at this point, and the city will probably hire an urban-planning consultant to refine it and add visual aids.

But the council members heard Monday about what could take shape downtown:

  • A central plaza where concerts and other community celebrations would happen.

  • Bike and pedestrian paths forming a nonmotorized network.

  • A hop-on and hop-off shuttle bus.

  • Wider sidewalks.

    Then there are the more controversial elements:

  • Buildings up to five stories tall.

  • Proposed high-density residential “nodes.”

  • And affordable housing.

    Sequim’s vision statement, given in the 2006 Comprehensive Plan update, complicates the downtown-planning process, said Capital Projects Manager Frank Needham.

    He called the comma-laden statement a “contradiction.”

    Others might call it an oxymoron.

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