Sequim planning staff sets July 13 public release for draft 2025 comprehensive plan, schedules September hearings

Sequim planning staff told the Planning Commission on June 16 that the draft 2025 Comprehensive Plan package will be released to the public on July 13 and posted on the city website to begin public review and comment. The package will include the policy document, a capital facilities plan, a supplemental environmental impact statement prepared with two alternatives, a full rewrite of Title 18 (the city zoning code), and a future land use map.

"We are working towards a July 13th public release of everything. So that will be our draft 2025 comprehensive plan," planning staffer Carla said during the status update, summarizing a timeline that places a Planning Commission public hearing on Sept. 1 and transmittal to the City Council with a Sept. 28 council public hearing. Staff said the supplemental EIS will be presented as a companion document and that it is not expected to require difficult policy choices for Sequim because the city has sufficient land capacity for its growth allocation.

Carla and staff described outreach plans tied to the release: drop-in community open houses scheduled in advance of commission meetings so staff and commissioners can meet residents, and a project website that will go live July 13 as the repository for draft documents and public comment. "We will be primarily the main people staffing those online or those open houses," Carla said, asking commissioners to consider arriving early to meet residents who come by.

Planning staff said they are finalizing the transportation master plan, a sewer capacity technical memo and a capital facilities appendix before release. The Title 18 code rewrite will be published with full code language for the public to review; staff said the rewrite is the item of greatest interest because it will define permitted uses and procedures under the new plan. Staff member Travis urged commissioners that the work is in its final stages: "We're ready for it to be done," he said.

Why it matters: the package includes code and map changes that could alter land-use allowances across the city and affect how development proposals are reviewed. Staff emphasized that some implementation steps (for example, annexations tied to particular parcel redesignations) would require separate actions later and that the Planning Commission's Sept. 1 hearing is the next formal opportunity for public testimony.

Staff also said they will present a clean (non-redline) policy document on release and keep the redline record of prior Planning Commission edits online as a historical reference. The commission did not take formal action on the package at the meeting; staff said two motions would likely be made at a later point to transmit the plan and adopt Title 18 as separate documents.