SEQUIM — Planning Commission members recommended a zoning change for 133.6 acres Tuesday, but the meeting ended up being about more than how much housing could be built on a piece of land.
In a unanimous vote, commissioners OK’d a request from the Irving Boyd Family Partnership to upgrade the zoning on most of the property to allow residential construction of up to four to five dwelling units per acre.
The request is scheduled to go before the Sequim City Council on Oct. 24. The property is located between Silberhorn and Happy Valley roads and west of Seventh Avenue.
No development plan has been submitted for the land.
Contentious discussion
City leaders described the matter as straightforward, almost a formality.
The property had been zoned for a low residential density until utilities were provided, at which point it could be upgraded to the higher-density classification.
It set off a freewheeling and occasionally contentious discussion, however, in which Sequim residents used the proposed zoning change as a springboard to voice concerns about growth, traffic, safety, the environment and their ability to enjoy the place they call home.
Barbara Filigno, who lives next to the property, said allowing denser development on the property doesn’t fit with the rest of the area, where people generally have 1 acre lots.
People purchased property in the area to get away from large subdivisions, Filigno said.
“It’s very distressing to those of us who bought our property to be surrounded by an acre of land,” she said.
‘Change the character’
Bill Carter, who also lives near the Boyd land, wondered about the criteria commissioners use to make decisions.
“This is going to change the character of that entire neighborhood,” Carter said.
“Does that enter into the decision at all?”
As was noted several times at the meeting, commissioners aren’t supposed to respond to comments individually — they receive comments and then direct questions to the applicant or city staff.
Commissioner Dick Foster, however, decided to take on this query.
“Character is constantly changed,” he said, noting that the growth around his own property has increased traffic and closed an irrigation ditch, but also resulted in a paved alley.
“I’ve lost some character, and gained some character,” he said.