SEQUIM — While accelerated development has for the past year focused on two large retail developments on the city’s west side, a residential and commercial complex proposed for the opposite end may bring even more change to Sequim’s landscape.
A pair of developers have received preliminary approval on a project that would build 314 dwelling units of varying types on a 130-acre parcel near the U.S. Highway 101 interchange and Simdars Road.
After hearing recommendations from city Planning Director Dennis Lefevre — and only a handful of comments from the public — the Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to recommend approval for the village-themed development, to be called The Highlands at Sequim.
If the council approves Lefevre’s preliminary permitting at its June 28 meeting, developers John Cannon and Jerry Hann say they would like to start with placing utilities and infrastructure by this fall and possibly begin construction by next spring.
‘Nice entrance point’
“With the grades on this property, and the way it sits right next to the highway, we think this will make a nice entrance point to Sequim,” Hann said.
The three-phased project includes 130 detached homes the developers call “cottages,” which share a common area but are designed to limit the need for extensive landscaping maintenance.
The cottages will be designated as reserved for residents ages 55 and older.
That designation allows developers to exclude children 17 years of age or younger as permanent residents without violating the federal Fair Housing Act.
Also planned for the first phase are 84 single-family homes on estate lots similar to those on adjacent Bell Hill.
Two future phases would see 100 multiple-family units such as apartments, and a retail or commercial “village center” which might include a gas station, restaurants or office complexes, Hann said.