SEQUIM — Staff with the city of Sequim say they have a better picture of what residents hope to improve in the city in the years to come.
More than 170 people from inside and outside city limits attended the city’s Neighborhood Visioning Meeting on Saturday in the Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Park.
“It was a great turnout with a lot of really good discussions and honest dialogue,” said Assistant City Manager Joe Irvin.
Participants broke into eight groups based on geographical regions in the city, with one group for locals living outside of city limits.
Trained facilitators with the city, Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County and First Federal led discussions focused on brainstorming service projects for the regions, ways to better involve neighbors and name suggestions for each region.
Some of the more popular names for the regions among attendees included Downtown, The Foothills, Lavender Circle, Northwest Territory and Rockhollow.
Sequim City Council members approved designated regions in July, saying it would help city staffers better address needs in certain areas on a hyper-local level.
Irvin said he plans to debrief council members in the coming weeks about the event and propose names for the regions in late fall.
Residents in each region shared dozens of service project and community engagement ideas as well, but they weren’t asked to prioritize quite yet.
“We’re already looking forward to getting smaller groups and diving into issues in the coming months,” Irvin said.
Service projects ranged from large, expensive endeavors such as finishing the Simdars Overpass to concerns over criminal activity and code enforcement.
Some of the more popular ideas among the groups included improving infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks and trails.
Some residents also suggested starting an Adopt-a-Road program and adding more stations for picking up dog waste across city limits.
Larry Powell, who lives in the city’s southwest limits, said he thought the meeting was informative but felt the regions could have been broken down into even smaller areas.
His biggest concern is how, in his area, there are few options for traveling east to west because there are such large chunks of Clallam County within city limits. He hopes the city finds ways to bring more of the county’s land into city limits to improve road connections.
Residents such as Powell also gave several suggestions to bring neighbors together such as creating Neighborhood Watch and emergency preparedness teams, organizing block parties and potlucks, and creating specific region groups online through Facebook and/or Nextdoor.
Bill and Nancy Rasor said they just moved to Sequim near Carrie Blake Park from Portland, Ore., two months ago and they wanted to find ways to get connected through service opportunities.
Sharon Quesnell, who lives in downtown Sequim, said the event did “a good job of getting people involved.”
“What they’re doing is a good start,” she said.
Service Fest
Colleen Robinson, executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County, said she and other organizers met weekly for four months to flesh out the visioning meeting.
It stems from a 2015 partnership between the city and Habitat for Humanity to map downtown Sequim for Neighborhood Revitalization projects. The City Council also set a goal to holistically address residents’ needs.
Robinson said the visioning meeting served as a precursor to Service Fest, planned for the first two weeks in June 2018. Habitat volunteers, RV Care-A-Vanners, will come to the area to help local volunteers and service groups on projects in the different regions.
“We’re being aggressive with seeking funding,” Robinson said. “We envision seven teams going out every day to work.”
However, Robinson told the crowd that they won’t accomplish all the identified service projects at once.
Along with Habitat’s contributions to materials, city staff members propose $20,000 in next year’s budget to support Service Fest.
Irvin said First Federal, which provided the spaghetti dinner for the visioning meeting, will remain a partner agency.
For more information on Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County, visit www.habitatclallam.org or call 360-681-6780. Contact the city of Sequim by visiting www.sequimwa.gov or calling 360-683-4139.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Sequim Communications and Marketing Director Barbara Hanna leads a discussion with, from left, Kevin Regan, Joe Treece and Brandino Gibson at last Saturday’s Neighborhood Visioning Meeting. Hanna spoke with residents living outside of city limits about ways to generally improve the city and promote engagement among neighbors and professionals. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Shayne Gallauher, a First Federal employee and downtown Sequim resident, votes on her favorite name for her region. She and many others preferred calling their area “Downtown” at the Neighborhood Visioning Meeting last Saturday in the Guy Cole Convention Center. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Seven new regions in the city of Sequim will be used by residents and city staff to pinpoint issues for code enforcement, affordable housing and other issues. City staff plans to present names for the regions sometime in the late fall. (City of Sequim)
