SEQUIM — The Foothills subdivision would have a lovely location: Beside the Cedarbrook lavender farm — the oldest herb farm in the state — and overlooking Sequim on the quiet southern leg of Sequim Avenue.

But on Monday night, the Sequim City Council spent more than two hours talking and listening to people with concerns about the project, conceived by local developer Steve Smith, who said it will be “a jewel.”

The public hearing will be continued on March 9, during the council’s meeting that begins at 6 p.m. in the Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.

Foothills

City Planning Director Dennis Lefevre opened Monday’s public hearing by describing Foothills: “The proposal is to carve that 28 acres into 87 lots,” he said, adding that its three homes per acre complies with the zoning of the parcel.

Then came the questions from council member Ken Hays. There was a barn on the site; it’s been torn down, Hays said. Why wasn’t there a study done to determine whether hazardous materials linger on the site?

“I don’t have an answer for that,” Lefevre said.

Hays also asked the planner why he hadn’t pressed Smith to be more “creative” when configuring the home sites, to allow for more open space.

“We don’t design it,” Lefevre said, adding that he only advises developers on what the municipal code allows.

Later Hays asked Josh Horky of ADA Engineering, Smith’s contractor, why modern storm water management methods aren’t part of the Foothills proposal.

“I don’t really have a good answer for that,” Horky replied.

Then came a discussion of a narrow lane between the Foothills property and the Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm and cafe next door. The city of Sequim owns the lane, having removed it from the Cedarbrook parcel in 2005.

Smith had planned to use it as an access street for a handful of the homes in his subdivision.

Gary Stachurski, co-owner of Cedarbrook, asked the council to reconsider.

Opening that lane to subdivision traffic will hurt his business, he said, adding that he plans to send a letter to City Attorney Craig Ritchie asking for the road to be returned to Cedarbrook.

In an interview at their cafe on Tuesday, Stachurski and his wife, Marcella, emphasized that they aren’t opposed to the Foothills development and will accept what comes to the field beside their farm.

But “it makes me nervous: people trying to get in [to the subdivision], people trying to come to the cafe. It was never intended for that much use,” Gary Stachurski said.

During Monday’s meeting, both Hays and council member Bill Huizinga urged Stachurski and Smith to work out a solution.

Mayor Laura Dubois, however, raised another question. “Can we require one-story buildings so as not to cut off the view of Cedarbrook?” she asked.

Ritchie said no, since the zoning of Smith’s property allows two-story structures.

He intends to build them. Smith told the council he wants to erect “houses of all different sizes and shapes,” to avoid a cookie-cutter covering of the hillside.

He acknowledged that the taller homes will affect his neighbor, but “we’re trying to make a profit. That may be an ugly word,” but developments such as this “drive the economy and put people to work.”

Spinks welcomed

Also during Monday’s meeting, Dubois read a proclamation honoring Sequim Police Chief Bob Spinks, who “has unselfishly served his community” as interim city manager since May 5.

Spinks returned to work as police chief on Monday after nine weeks of medical leave recovering from the removal of a benign tumor near his brain.

He’d served as interim manager from May through November last year after the City Council fired manager Bill Elliott.

During Spinks’ absence, Linda Herzog was selected to be Sequim’s interim city manager until September.

Waldron & Co., a Seattle human resources firm, will begin the search for a permanent manager this spring

Lt. Sheri Crain served as acting chief in her boss’ absence, after she recovered from knee surgery.

________

Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.