The Sequim Planning Commission on Oct. 21 completed detailed review of the land-use chapter of the citys 2025 comprehensive plan and approved a number of editorial and policy clarifications while scheduling follow-up work on mapping and rezoning options.

At the start of the meeting the Chair read a land acknowledgement noting Sequims location on S'Klallam ancestral lands and the three tribal governments (Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam and Port Gamble S'Klallam). Later in the agenda Carla, the Department of Community Development director, summarized the status of the overall plan and the consultants market analysis, saying the city expects to release the Leland Consulting report and related graphs at least a week before the Nov. 17 joint meeting with the City Council.

The bulk of the session was a page-by-page review of the land-use chapter. Commissioners identified editorial fixes (for example, consistent use of "North Olympic Peninsula" rather than "Northern Olympic Peninsula"), requested verification of a local employer listing that may have transitioned from Battelle to PNNL, and suggested word-choice edits to avoid loaded terms (replacing "transient" with "other visitors" or "travelers" in highway-commercial text).

Commissioners also questioned how the plan treats higher-density housing. Carla said the plan does not add a new "high-density residential" label but allows higher density in designated mixed-use districts through height and parking standards and noted that any rezoning to create explicit high-density districts would require a separate public-engagement process. On the question of increasing density beyond nine dwelling units per acre, Carla said any increase intended to enable deeply affordable housing would be considered on a case-by-case basis by the City Council under state statutory authority and would target projects that preserve long-term affordability at deeper AMI levels.

The meeting clarified several technical items that affect capacity calculations. When asked how the plan defines gross acreage, Carla explained that gross acreage is the total land within property lines while net acreage removes right-of-way, required stormwater facilities and critical areas; the plan uses both gross- and net-density calculations for subdivisions and development review.

The Commission also discussed the composition of the future land-use map and whether to show tribal trust lands distinctly. Commissioners suggested indicating federally approved tribal trust parcels on the map; Carla said tribal lands that remain tribal trust would not be subject to city land-use regulations and confirmed that staff had excluded tribal acreage from the city's land-capacity analysis. She recommended consulting the Jamestown Tribe planning director about preferred map labeling.

Other topics included a brief review of stormwater policy (the city follows the Department of Ecology stormwater manual and is not currently an NPDES jurisdiction), corrections to a description of an agricultural conservancy parcel (private, not public), and confirmation that the "planned resort community" designation will require master planning criteria in the development regulations to address an outstanding moratorium-related cure.

Two minute-approval motions carried earlier in the meeting: the Commission approved the Sept. 16 minutes and approved the Oct. 7 minutes as amended to add the director's report text. The Commission and staff agreed to cancel the Nov. 4 meeting because of election night and to meet jointly with the City Council on Nov. 17; staff said it will bring housing goals and policies to the Commission on Nov. 18 if available.

Carla closed the meeting with a staff update: FEMA has approved the countys multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan and the County Commissioners have approved it; staff will bring it to the Sequim City Council for formal city adoption so Sequim retains eligibility for hazard-mitigation grant programs. She also announced that the Department of Community Development has launched online appointment bookings for public and developer meetings to improve customer service.

The meeting adjourned at nearly 7:00 p.m.