Sequim council extends emergency moratorium on master-plan overlays for six months

Sequim City Council on Jan. 26 voted 6–0 to extend an emergency moratorium on accepting, processing and approving Master Plan overlay applications for six months, giving staff until July 26, 2026, to finish the city's comprehensive plan and development regulations updates.

Carla Bowden, interim director of the Department of Community Economic Development, told the council the current moratorium expires Jan. 28, 2026, and staff recommended a six-month extension to allow completion of the 2025 comprehensive-plan and development-regulations update. Bowden said the extension incorporates prior findings from the original moratorium ordinance and adds supplemental findings and a work plan. She reminded the council that state law limits emergency extensions and that approval requires a "majority plus one," which Bowden said corresponded to five affirmative votes in the council's rules.

The moratorium was the subject of a public hearing at which resident Tony Corrado spoke in support of extending the emergency ordinance but also pressed the city for better public information about specific projects, including the proposed West Bay development. Corrado said he was not taking a position on the West Bay project itself but asked for a public forum and a "continuously updated fact sheet" so citizens could follow status and data; he raised specific environmental concerns for the Pitchlip Estuary, saying the estuary is "critical to salmon reproduction, bird migration, and the localized wildlife." Corrado also told the council he felt the city had "failed to provide adequate responses" to some questions raised by citizens.

After the hearing closed, a council member moved to adopt the proposed ordinance continuing the emergency moratorium while the comprehensive-plan update proceeds; the motion was seconded and the clerk recorded a roll-call vote. The motion passed 6–0. The ordinance continues the moratorium through July 26, 2026, but Bowden said the moratorium "may be lifted earlier if the City completes and adopts the necessary plan and code amendment updates before the six-month extension concludes." No amendments to the extension were made during the council action.

What happens next: staff will proceed with the timeline identified in the work plan that accompanied the ordinance; the public may expect further public hearings and Planning Commission review tied to the broader comprehensive-plan and code-updates schedule.