SEQUIM — As this city’s elected leaders peer into the future, they’re seeing a lot of big, expensive structures: a $6 million Police Department, a $1.67 million concert hall-conference center, a $9.8 million City Hall.
Those and 165 other projects are on the city of Sequim’s capital facilities gross costs list, approved last week by the City Council’s unanimous vote.
Among other items on the list: a police shooting range to cost an estimated $100,000, a $5 million stormwater collection system, $150,000 worth of bicycle lanes and $375,000 in amenities for Keeler Memorial Park, the city’s 45-acre wildlife refuge that has yet to open to human visitors.
The council approved the list during its meeting Tuesday night — giving its blessing to a wide variety of projects planned between now and 2014 — but doing so did not provide funding for anything, emphasized Frank Needham, the city’s capital facilities manager.
Every last project will come before the council again, he said, before it’s included in the city’s budget.
The list itself constitutes a Sequim Comprehensive Plan amendment. Needham explained that the amendment must be adopted by the council before Sequim can seek government grants or loans to foot those steep bills.
The state will funnel no funding toward a new City Hall or other building, unless they’re part of the city’s comprehensive plan.
Council member Paul McHugh, calling the list “very pricey,” wondered aloud how much the various projects will cost the people who move into Sequim in the coming years.
Fee considered
The roster includes $50,000 to study a “facilities/police and public safety impact fee.”
This fee, among others the council is considering, would be a charge developers would pay and then ostensibly pass on to home buyers.
For many months, McHugh has questioned the wisdom of adding to the fees builders already face. He worries that Sequim will become too expensive and exclusive a town.
At the same time, he has endorsed construction of the Olympic Discovery Trail’s “missing link” into downtown Sequim.
Earlier this year, after a decade of debate, the council chose East Spruce Street as the route to connect the trail from Carrie Blake Park to Sequim Avenue.
That section of trail will cost an estimated $560,000 spread out among 2010, 2011 and 2012, according to the project list.
Mayor Laura Dubois and city planners have emphasized that the city will seek grant funding to cover that.
Collaborative projects
Also on the roster are $380,000 for a new Senior Activity Center, as well as $520,000 for tennis courts and $250,000 for soccer fields, possibly located alongside Carrie Blake Park.
The city won’t necessarily spend its own funds on those projects, Needham emphasized.
They’re listed because Sequim will collaborate with other entities, he said, such as the senior center and Sequim Family Advocates, a parents’ group seeking grant money for city soccer fields.
Most of the projects on the list forecast spending spread out over the next few years following recession-ridden 2009.
The addition of an auditorium to the the James Center for the Performing Arts, for example, has no expenditures this year, $305,000 spent in 2010, $1.293 million spent in 2011 and $73,000 in 2012.
A few relatively low-priced items are coming up this year.
Both are payments to consultants: $21,000 to finish the Town Center Sub-Area Plan and $50,000 for the police impact fee study.
Looking over the long list of “gross costs,” council member Ken Hays spoke with optimism.
“I believe in thinking big,” he said. “Great things don’t happen unless you do.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
