SEQUIM — City leaders grappled this week with how to allocate land for future development and how to best encourage affordable housing.
While no conclusions were reached, they did agree that the two issues are inextricably linked.
The conversation started at the Sequim Planning Commission meeting Tuesday. It spilled over into a joint meeting between the commission and the City Council on Wednesday.
The Planning Commission was discussing a conflict between Sequim’s comprehensive plan, which provides general planning guidance, and the city code, which sets out what rules must be followed.
Consistency sought
The comprehensive plan was amended in 2002 to prevent residential uses in some areas zoned for commercial and mixed use.
The city code wasn’t amended, however, so residential uses are still allowed, and commission members have been discussing which version of the rules to follow.
“We need to make those consistent,” said Dennis Lefevre, director of the Planning Department.
“I’m not comfortable how the ordinance in 2002 . . . strikes out residential uses.”
Some commission members, however, were not crazy about allowing commercially zoned land to be shifted to residential development.
One solution is to set limits on how much residential development can occur on commercial land. Allowing that flexibility leaves room for buildings such as those downtown that have businesses on the first floor and apartments upstairs.
It would also allow, for example, apartments to be built as transitional development between a shopping center and a subdivision of single-family homes.
The limits would have to be determined, Lefevre said.
“We don’t have any set parameters in code . . . that give us a mix we have to follow,” he said.