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Sequim commissioners review site-specific redesignations and future land use map ahead of September hearings
Summary
At their June 16 meeting commissioners reviewed ten site-specific redesignation requests (five withdrawn), staff-initiated changes including moving public parcels to a public designation, converting Economic Opportunity Areas to Opportunity Areas, and several parcels proposed to change to Community Mixed Use or Regional Commercial; staff recommended forwarding remaining requests for hearing.
Sequim Planning Commission members reviewed a draft future land use map and a set of site-specific redesignation requests during their June 16 meeting, and staff recommended forwarding the remaining requests to public hearing as part of the comprehensive plan adoption process.
Staff reported they received 10 site-specific redesignation requests; five applicants withdrew after staff discussions and five remain for commission consideration. Staff recommended redesignating several privately owned parcels to Community Mixed Use (CMU) to allow higher-density or mixed-use development where property owners requested it, and recommended keeping other parcels as Regional Commercial in response to council guidance about preserving regional commercial acreage.
Staff also proposed a set of staff-initiated changes: converting publicly owned parcels to a public designation (which would avoid repeated conditional-use hearings for routine public projects), and renaming Economic Opportunity Areas (EOAs) to Opportunity Areas (OAs) consistent with updated use tables in the Title 18 rewrite. One school-district parcel that currently houses the Boys and Girls Club was discussed at length: staff said the district preferred many parcels to keep their underlying designation, but staff recommended changing that particular parcel either to a public designation or to a 'lifestyle district' so the Boys and Girls Club becomes a conforming use.
On annexation and county-zoned parcels near the highway, staff said the city will not initiate annexations at this time and that those hatched county properties will remain county-zoned unless property owners request annexation. Staff noted that redesignation does not itself change zoning or land use rights until property owners pursue annexation and any required rezoning.
Why it matters: the future land use map and the package of redesignation requests will determine the broad pattern of allowable future uses across Sequim and will help guide zoning changes under Title 18. Staff said they will incorporate approved map changes into the draft package for the July 13 release and present the full set of recommendations at the Planning Commission hearing on Sept. 1.
