SEQUIM – We want to come, but you’ve shut us out: So Royce Rotmark said to Sequim Monday night.
Rotmark, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County, has nearly 200 volunteers who would help build new homes in Sequim, if only land and utility hookups were within Habitat’s price range.
In a plea to the Sequim City Council during its Monday meeting, Rotmark explained that this city has become off-limits for a significant sector of the North Olympic Peninsula’s population.
Habitat, the nonprofit builder of affordable housing around the world, has helped construct six homes in Sequim since 2002.
Habitat builds houses for people who earn 25 to 50 percent of the area median income.
“These families are part of our work force,” Rotmark said.
Sequim’s last Habitat house was finished in March 2006. Since then, the city’s land costs and utility fees have prohibited volunteers from returning, Rotmark said.
Ten homes have been built in Port Angeles, with another three expected to be completed by the end of the year. Forks’ first Habitat house is expected to be finished in early 2008.
“We’re finishing our first in Forks, and we have eight more building sites there,” Rotmark said.
Habitat runs on donations and grants – and 2007 has been a good year for both, he said.
But those funds aren’t enough to build anything in Sequim unless the city does what others around the country are doing: Waive utility hookup fees and enact inclusionary zoning laws.
