SEQUIM — City leaders are looking to get a little more “Flow” in downtown Sequim after moving forward on a design choice for Centennial Park at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street.
City council members unanimously agreed on April 22 for JETT Landscape Architecture and Design to create a 30 percent design using the “Flow” concept and components from other designs to pursue grant opportunities to finish design work and help with construction.
City staff budgeted up to $100,000 from impact fees to finish the design work.
Staff wrote in city documents that a 30 percent concept design will help Sequim be more competitive for a Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) grant to finish design work.
Hannah Merrill, Sequim’s parks and facilities manager, said the city plans to have the design done by December to pursue grants in 2025.
In city documents, staff wrote that “Flow” could cost about $2.8 million.
In picking “Flow,” Merrill said JETT and city staff used input from city commissions, the city council, a January open house and a month-long online survey.
The selection includes “favorite bits and pieces” from other designs, too, she said.
At the open house, community members provided feedback on three designs: “Farm Yard,” “Flow” and “Woven.”
“Farm Yard” proposed a porch scene along Washington Street with a “Welcome to Sequim” sign, while “Woven” offered a stage area surrounded by large sculptures alongside a sunken lawn area.
Some of JETT and city staff’s recommendation for “Flow’s” 30 percent design includes:
• A sundial near the southwest portion of the property that can turn into a holiday/Christmas tree art piece with a commission competition for the structure.
• Centralized grass that stretches north-south through the property.
• “Sequim” letters that are up to 42 inches tall.
• A 2 percent sloped “viewing” lawn toward the boardwalk/stage.
• A rain garden and drought-resistant plantings, and to use reclaimed water with an ability to turn water on or off.
• The stage and seat covering concept from “Farm Yard” with a more rounded, timber-framed incorporating stone.
• Stamped concrete for surfacing in non-grass areas.
• A wooden boardwalk.
They also recommend the city seek permission to add swings near or as part of the adjacent structure overhang by Over the Fence.
Merrill said on April 22 the holiday tree is an important part of the design, particularly to downtown merchants.
The City of Sequim purchased Centennial Place, formerly known as the Gull lot, in 2013 and named after the city’s centennial year.
New park bridges
New bridges will come to Carrie Blake Community Park in 2025.
In their April 22 consent agenda, city council members approved a contract worth more than $295,000, plus a 10 percent contingency, with Bridge Brothers to construct and deliver three bridges to replace failing wood bridges between the park and the Water Reuse Demonstration Site/Albert Haller Playfields.
Staff report that crews must drive the mower on Blake Avenue to go between the two spaces.
According to city documents, Bridge Brothers was chosen because it was the only firm of three proposals to recommend steel bridges.
Their staff estimate it will take them about eight weeks to design the bridges and another 16-20 weeks to create and deliver the bridges.
The bridges are about 12 feet by 33 feet, 12 feet by 25 feet and 12 feet by 28 feet.
Once delivered, city staff said the bridges will stored at the city shop with plans to install them in 2025.
New park bridges were budgeted at $350,000 in the 2024 Capital Improvement Program.
Parks discussion
With more parks projects in the pipeline and a priority placed on them in a recent city survey by residents, Mayor Brandon Janisse asked, and fellow council members unanimously agreed, to district staff to draft a presentation on potential options for the city to create its own Metropolitan Parks District.
Janisse said he wanted pros and cons of different options, such as a parks district just in the city limits, Sequim School District area or some other scenario.
No timeline for the presentation was set.
