Clallam County planning commission debates rezones, notice and housing targets in comp plan update

Planning commissioners on Dec. 3 continued work on a countywide update to Clallam County’s comprehensive plan, discussing proposed rezones that would increase residential density in several urban growth areas, how to notify affected property owners, and a set of policy edits covering housing, tourism and environmental protections.

Planning staff described the core map changes under review, including roughly 31.3 acres in the Sequim urban growth area proposed to move from SQM Urban Residential 2 (SR2) to SR3 — increasing potential density from 5 residences per acre to 10 — and changes in parts of the Clallam Bay UGA that would raise allowable density in some places to about 16 residences per acre. Staff said these edits respond to housing requirements under the Growth Management Act and are intended to help the county meet a target of 147 high-density residential units.

"The change will result in an increase in potential residential density from 5 residences per acre to 10 residences per acre," planning staff said, explaining the net-lot capacity calculations used to estimate how much new development those rezones…