City planning staff told the Sequim Planning Commission on Aug. 5 that the West Bay master-plan application submitted to the city is technically incomplete and that the City Council has adopted a limited moratorium to give staff time to update relevant code and procedures.

Carla (city staff member) said the technical-completeness review is a process under state statute (the Regulatory Reform Act and related RCW provisions) used to determine whether an application contains enough information to begin a jurisdiction’s technical review. “We determined that the application is technically incomplete, meaning that there is not enough substantive information in order for the city to adequately begin its technical review of the master plan,” Carla said. The city issued a letter on July 21 explaining the reasons; the letter is posted on the city’s West Bay Master Plan webpage.

Carla said staff also reviewed how the city’s comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance and its procedural ordinance would apply to any master-plan review and found inconsistencies that warranted a pause in processing master-plan applications. As a result, the council adopted a moratorium on master-plan overlays “to provide staff time to update certain sections of the Municipal Code,” Carla said, and staff said they had moved up work on the procedural ordinance (Chapter 20.01) in the city work plan.

Carla clarified the moratorium’s scope. It applies to master plans and master-plan overlays only; it does not affect other, already-approved developments. When a commissioner asked if Habitat for Humanity projects were affected, Carla said no: the moratorium “does not affect any other projects; it only is specific for master plans and master plan overlay.”

Carla said the city will coordinate with the applicant. Christina (not present) will arrange a meeting so the applicant can ask questions about the technical-incomplete letter and the elements staff identified as missing. Carla said the applicant has expressed a desire to work in parallel with the city so that when the city completes code and procedure updates the applicant can complete and resubmit materials.

How it matters: staff said the procedural and zoning updates are intended to provide clearer and more predictable review standards for future master-plan proposals. The moratorium is a temporary tool under state planning law; staff pointed to prior moratoriums the city has used (the mobile-home overlay moratorium) as an example of how a pause can produce a code change.

No commission action on West Bay was taken at the meeting. Staff said they will post updates to the West Bay project webpage and provide follow-up briefings to the commission as code work proceeds.