SEQUIM –– New eggplant-colored bicycle racks have popped up on the streets of Sequim as partial evidence of a $50,000 makeover of downtown decor.
With revenue from hotel-motel lodging taxes, the city is placing the bike racks, new benches, garbage cans and wayfinding signs around its commercial core.
The bicycle racks followed the installation of a $2,500 full-color vinyl decal of the city’s logo, which was melted onto the asphalt in the middle of the city’s main intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street on July 1.
Sequim City Manager Steve Burkett said at Monday night’s City Council meeting he has heard “it’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be” from citizens about the 9-foot-diameter decal.
“On the street, it doesn’t look so big,” Burkett said.
July 24 week’s work
The benches, garbage cans and wayfinding signs are expected to be installed during the week of July 24, Burkett said, just after Sequim Lavender Weekend, which brings tourists to town for the Lavender Festival, put on by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, and the Lavender Farm Faire, organized by the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association.
Plans for the makeover of the city’s downtown were made with members of the Sequim Chamber Merchants Group, a subcommittee of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Among the panel’s top requests were more furniture — benches, for instance — in the downtown core and a makeover of Seal Street Park in the middle of West Washington’s 100 block.
Also Monday, Burkett told the council the city is negotiating a lease with a potential tenant for a building at the old Gull service station at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street.
The city purchased the lot June 14 from Gull Industries for $215,000 with the idea of controlling development at the city’s busiest intersection.
The Gull station closed in the 1980s.
Burkett said the potential tenant is “a people place” that would fit into the city’s vision for the corner.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
