Fire district to raze home next to Sequim station

Published 1:30 am Monday, July 6, 2026

SEQUIM — Clallam County Fire District 3 will raze the home formerly known for hosting a large agave plant along North Fifth Avenue in Sequim.

Fire commissioners unanimously agreed last month to have district staff demolish the two-bedroom house at 305 S. Fifth Ave., and remove its debris.

Costs will not exceed $110,000.

Fire Chief Justin Grider said the costs will include materials, permit fees, asbestos abatement, debris removal and backfilling the property.

Commissioners expressed their desire to minimize costs. Jeff Nicholas said he didn’t want it to be “the most expensive parking lot ever created.”

Staff originally recommended razing it for a parking lot as renovations and permits would have been too costly, Grider previously said.

A majority of commissioners voted to sell the property to support the construction of a new Carlsborg fire station by the Operations and Training Center at 255 Carlsborg Road. Other properties have been sold in recent years to support that effort.

The Fifth Avenue property built in 1946 was appraised at $309,408.

Community pushback in January from former and current staff and fire commissioners led current commissioners to reconsider selling it.

In April, Grider brought back more options for the property, and that led him to recommend demolition.

Its future use is to be determined.

“A land bank in downtown Sequim is not a bad investment,” fire commissioner Mike Mingee said.

Grider said the property could be used as a training opportunity prior to demolition. By razing it, it will remove the burden of maintaining a vacant property and aging home, according to fire district documents.

He said once the structures are removed, including the 900-square-foot home and garage on 0.18 acres, the excavation will be properly backfilled, topped with a base course, and the south yard fenced.

Grider also recommended keeping the parcel separate from the footprint at Station 34 so the district can be flexible with its future use related to long-range planning.

District staff previously planned for the property to be used for use.

Clallam County Fire District 3 purchased the property in August 2015 from William and Isobel Johnston for $142,000 with an agreement that they couple would live there until their deaths.

The Johnstons have since passed away. Isobel lived at the home through early 2025 until she died at 96.

The Johnstons’ home was known for its Agave Americana, which grew a 22-foot flower stock from summer to fall of 2023. After the plant died, master gardeners helped remove the plant in November 2024 at Isobel’s request. They sold some of the plant’s offshoots at the master gardeners’ annual sale earlier this year.

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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.