SEQUIM — It’s not how big this town grows. It’s how high that worries Susan Strand.
Strand, a recently view-deprived resident of Dominion Terrace, hopes to save the rest of Sequim from panoramic pollution.
She and about 10 neighbors have crafted a petition calling for the City Council to codify a citywide maximum building height of 35 feet, measured from the ground to the highest point of the roof.
Strand and her compatriots will be gathering signatures on their petition from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday at three locations: QFC, 990 E. Washington St.; Safeway, 680 W. Washington St.; and downtown around the intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street.
“I’m not stopping people from coming here,” said Strand, 65.
Growth is going to happen, she added. “It’s how we do it.”
If high-rise buildings are permitted, she said, the quality of life will fall.
“We’ve got to try to put a lid on it,” she said.
Townhouse view blocked
Strand, who moved to Sequim five years ago, has firsthand experience with view erosion.
From her Terrace townhouse, she used to look out at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Mount Baker.
Then, last year, construction began on the Maple Ridge duplexes across the lawn from her living-room window.
Now she has a view of the duplexes’ interiors.
Maple Ridge’s units are just one story tall, but their high-profile roofs had a high impact on the view from the nearest Dominion Terrace units, Strand said.
Another development is proposed for the land northwest of the Terrace.
Avamere Health Services, owner of the Olympic Care and Rehabilitation Center in Sequim, plans to build Olympic Meadows, a care center with that would include 46 assisted living apartments, 95 independent living apartments and 24 cottages.
Part of the complex would be 35 feet high, while another portion of it would be four stories and 50 feet high.
Since the latter is on a parcel zoned R-4, its height is within code requirements.