SEQUIM — A public hearing for the moratorium on master-planned overlays in Sequim that paused potential processing of the Westbay 600-lot development is set for tonight.
City council members will hear public testimony, both online and in person, at their regular meeting starting at 6 p.m. at the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St. More information is available at sequimwa.gov.
City staff note on the webpage that “this hearing is for the moratorium, not the Westbay Master Plan submittal.”
Council members unanimously voted July 28 to enact the six-month moratorium. The hearing is required within 60 days of the vote.
City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross wrote in an email that the city’s outside legal counsel, Bob Sterbank from Foster Garvey, did not recommend the moratorium, but “rather the concept was discussed internally with our outside counsel before a recommendation was made to the city council.”
The moratorium was necessary because “master-planned projects are larger-scale and have a bigger impact than most developments, which requires clear and consistent processes,” according to the city’s webpage.
“By clarifying the guidelines between the Comprehensive Plan and the Sequim Municipal Code, the city believes that current and future applicants, as well as the public, will benefit from these improvements,” staff wrote.
City planners released on July 21 their letter to Seabrook Holding Company for its Westbay application stating that it’s “technically incomplete” with requested corrections, and that documents and studies were still needed.
Staff said the “technically incomplete” status wasn’t a complete substantive review of Westbay, but a process to identify the minimum needed for city staff to see if a full technical review can continue.
In public comment prior to the moratorium being enacted, a few proponents spoke against it, including Jeff Gundersen, CFO/COO for Seabrook Holding Company, who said he and others were “surprised and deeply disappointed by the city of Sequim’s proposed emergency moratorium,” but he later said he’s hopeful the city won’t need the full six months.
Kristine Wilson, a lawyer with Perkins Cole of Bellevue representing John Wayne Enterprises, said in public comment that she understood the moratorium vote was not about Westbay’s application’s approval or disapproval, but she did not believe planning issues city staff are concerned with should wait for a full update to Sequim’s Comprehensive Plan.
In an email, Nelson-Gross wrote it’s to be determined if the moratorium will need a full six months. She previously declined to discuss any elements of the application, which has not been made available in full to the public due to its current status.
Council members can approve a moratorium extension, if needed, with another public hearing being required within 60 days of the extension vote.
Staff wrote on the city’s website that “Westbay applicants may continue to do the work required to achieve a technically complete application, and staff can assist in that process, but Westbay will not be able to achieve a technically complete application until the moratorium is lifted.”
On July 28, Nelson-Gross said the moratorium came about because the city hasn’t had a master-planned overlay application before, and it didn’t discover issues until staff started analyzing it.
“We intend to bring this forward to have the clearest, most defensible path for the city, for the applicant, and frankly, for the residents as well,” Nelson-Gross said.
For more about the moratorium, visit https://www.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.
