The Sequim Planning Commission reviewed a draft Parks and Open Space chapter of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan on Aug. 5, focusing on policy wording, trails coordination and service-area mapping.

Carla (city staff member) introduced the chapter and said the draft starts from the 2022 Parks and Open Space Plan and reflects fine-tuning done with the Parks, Arbor and Recreation Board (PARB). “We started with those goals and policies, and I then went to the parks manager and asked if the PARB might want to look at them,” Carla said. She told commissioners the PARB met three times and made refinements rather than wholesale rewrites.

Why it matters: commissioners pressed staff to clarify policy language that could read as mandatory (for example, phrasing that currently says “conduct joint meetings”) and to add specific references to trail partners and maintenance responsibilities. Commissioners also pressed staff for maps and data that will show where parks and open space are lacking.

Most of the discussion centered on several recurring issues. Commissioners asked staff to soften mandatory-sounding verbs in policies that are meant to be conditional or “as needed.” On joint meetings, one commissioner suggested revising the text to read something like “conduct periodic joint sessions when determined necessary” to avoid implying a standing requirement. Staff agreed to soften language where appropriate.

Commissioners also discussed the Discovery Trail, known in the discussion as the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT), and the role of the Peninsula Trails Coalition. Will (staff member) explained that within Sequim city limits the city is responsible for constructing and maintaining the section of the ODT, and that maintenance budgets and state/local grants frequently support that work. Commissioners asked staff to explicitly reference the Trails Coalition in the chapter’s trails policies because the coalition promotes the ODT regionally and can help with promotion and gap maintenance.

Staff showed a new walkshed map during the meeting, explaining the chapter’s proposed level-of-service metrics: a half-mile walkshed for passive and informal open space and a quarter-mile walkshed for more active facilities. The map indicates a concentration of gaps on the east side of the city and a lack of street or trail connections to Park 14 (McChord Park) on its north side. Carla said the map will be included in the next version of the chapter.

Other topics raised included:
- Private parcels and future parks: commissioners asked whether the Gary Oak Forest parcel would become a park; staff said it is on private property and has been proposed as a park in conceptual plans, though whether it would be dedicated to the city would be determined during development review.
- Maintenance and pesticide use: commissioners asked about limiting hazardous pesticide or chemical use near creeks and parks. Staff agreed to research best-practice language that could be included in the chapter.
- Funding and incentives: the chapter’s incentives for developers to provide pocket parks and plazas drew questions about whether incentives have been used recently; staff said they have not been widely used in recent years and that policy language can help frame future incentives.

Staff said the chapter will be revised to clarify wording, add explicit references to the Peninsula Trails Coalition and the ODT, include the walkshed map in the packet, and refine language on maintenance and costs. The Parks, Arbor and Recreation Board’s markup version of the chapter is available on request.

The commission did not take formal legislative action on the chapter at the meeting; staff will return a revised draft at a future meeting.