Sequim extends ban on overlays

Published 1:30 am Monday, July 6, 2026

SEQUIM — Sequim City Council members have agreed to extend the six-month emergency moratorium on master-planned overlays through late January or until the city’s Comprehensive Plan is completed.

City staff have scheduled the plan to be approved by the council this fall.

The moratorium pauses accepting, processing or approving developments, such as the proposed 600-lot Westbay project by John Wayne Marina, from proceeding through city permitting. It’s the only known project impacted by the moratorium so far.

The moratorium was extended until Jan. 26 with council members voting 6-0 on June 22. Pete Tjemsland was excused.

Karla Boughton, Sequim’s director of community and economic development, said the extension will allow staff more time to ensure future applications comply with the city’s Comprehensive Plan update. She said the city has made substantial progress on the update, but more time is needed to include elements, such as an environmental review, public release of the plan, public hearings and adoption.

City documents show that the work plan includes a July 13 public release of drafts for the Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Map and Development Regulations.

An online open house is set for July 13-Aug. 13, and drop-in community houses are scheduled for July 21 and Aug. 4 prior to Sequim Planning Commission meetings and a developers forum on July 30.

The planning commission will hold a public hearing tentatively on Sept. 1 and make a recommendation to the city council, which will hold a public hearing on Sept. 28.

The council might make a decision that night or deliberate again on Oct. 12, city staff said.

Council members can vote to rescind the moratorium prior to Jan. 26 if the Comprehensive Plan and accompanying development regulations are adopted, Boughton wrote in city documents.

The application for Westbay, proposed by Seabrook Holding Company, was deemed technically incomplete last July 21. City staff said Westbay wasn’t a complete substantive review but a process to identify the minimum needed to see if a full technical review can continue.

An emergency moratorium on master-planned overlay applications was proposed by city staff and voted in by city council members last July 28. At the time, City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said the moratorium wasn’t about Westbay’s application but ensuring Sequim’s regulations, plans and regulatory documents are consistent for a defined process.

She also said this is the city’s first master-planned overlay application and they didn’t discover issues in city processes until Westbay was proposed.

Stakeholders with Westbay and John Wayne Enterprises, which owns the site, threatened legal action and said they may pull out of the project over the moratorium.

Residents also have opposed it publicly at council meetings and online out of concerns for water availability, traffic, the development’s lack of affordable housing and other issues.

Jeff Gundersen, CFO/COO for Seabrook Land Company, wrote in an email that they remain in a holding pattern while the city works through the Comprehensive Plan and corresponding code language updates.

“We are following those items closely and providing feedback on each item as they come up through public/development forums as well as public comment periods,” he said. “The city is making good progress on this and cleaning up a lot of code questions that will make future development proposals more straightforward.”

Gundersen said Seabrook’s staff are “still working on aspects of our proposal, but the biggest items to address will be better known after the city’s next big release of Comprehensive Plan code language on July 13.”

“At that point we will be able to dig into the draft new rules we will need to follow and can provide comments and update our application,” he said.

“We are still optimistic that this will be a great neighborhood for the city and surrounding community and we are excited about the clarity the city is providing in updating their comprehensive plan and codes.”

City council members kept comments minimal on June 22 about the moratorium. Dan Butler said he appreciates the updated timeline and work plan, and Mayor Rachel Anderson echoed the statement.

For more information about the moratorium, visit sequimwa.gov/1319/Emergency-Master-Plan-Overlay-Moratorium.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.