SEQUIM — Downtown is in danger. The big-box stores, the Sequim Comprehensive Plan and a lack of vision could become factors in its demise if business owners don’t get busy.
So went the warnings exchanged by downtown business owners at Tuesday night’s forum hosted by the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce at Pioneer Memorial Park.
“When I looked at the latest version of the Comprehensive Plan, I did grow a little concerned,” said Laurel Bentsen, owner of Northwest Home Décor, 145 E. Washington St.
The City Council is expected to adopt the updated plan at its June 26 meeting.
The comp plan, as it is familiarly known, supports commercial development all over Sequim with no special protection of the downtown core.
The draft plan is available at www.ci.sequim.wa.us, at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., and at City Hall, 152 W. Cedar St.
Doughnut-hole effect
Chain stores and strip malls on the outskirts of town, Bentsen said, can create the doughnut-hole effect.
The discount warehouses pull shoppers away from downtown, leaving the city with a dead center.
“The time is right for us to come together and have our own identity,” said Bentsen, sparking applause from some in the audience.
“We need to have a voice as a collective.”
About 30 business people attended the forum.
Among them was Mayor Walt Schubert, who identified himself only as owner of Action Property Management and a member of the City Council. He said almost nothing during the two-hour discussion, and left before it ended.
But Kathy Charlton of Olympic Cellars, the winery on U.S. Highway 101 miles west of downtown Sequim, was a passionate advocate for solidarity among business owners inside and outside the downtown core.
The shopping and dining around Sequim Avenue and Washington Street — and their popularity or lack of it — make a difference in the region’s appeal, she said.
“If people don’t want to come [downtown], they’re not going to want to come to my winery,” she said.
