SEQUIM — The latest struggle between the “new council” and the “old” members played out in the Transit Center on Friday afternoon, with a 45-acre piece of parkland as the bone of contention.
The Sequim City Council approved the purchase last year of the Keeler property, a swath of open space along U.S. Highway 101, east of Simdars Road.
When it approved the purchase contract in March, the council agreed to create Keeler Park, a place to be preserved forever as a wildlife refuge.
The park would be a tribute to the late Joseph L. Keeler, a Kansan who fell in love with Sequim’s open spaces when he arrived here in 1897.
Joseph Keeler’s grandson, Joe Keeler, and his granddaughter, Carol Bolduc, agreed to sell their land to the city for $806,610 — about half its appraised value.
