SEQUIM — Sequim’s contracted hearing examiner has approved two developments that total 128 residential lots in the southern part of city limits.

Peregrin Sorter, a hearing examiner with Laminar Law, provided two written decisions on March 13 approving the 104-lot Bell Creek Major Subdivision and 24-lot Bella Vista Estates. The decisions can be appealed until Wednesday.

Sorter heard testimony from applicants, residents and city staff on Feb. 27 in the Sequim Civic Center with concerns from neighbors about the projects’ impact on traffic safety and the environment.

City documents state that, if approved, Bell Creek Estates would be built in two phases between South Third Avenue and South Sequim Avenue with 37 lots on 8.27 acres east of Bell Creek in phase A, and 67 lots on 20.23 acres west of the creek with two access roads to South Sequim Avenue and four onto South Third Avenue.

Crystal Sasso, speaking for the applicant Bell Creek Investments, LLC, said site development could begin in the spring with homes coming online in fall 2026 for phase A, and sometime in winter 2027 for phase B.

Residents told Sorter that the development should not be built before West Brownfield Road is widened and improved as it has a blind corner, is narrow and has water pooling issues.

City staff acknowledged issues with the road and testified that they agreed with Bell Creek Estates’ representatives to a fee-in-lieu of development for frontage improvements to Brownfield Road.

Nick Dostie, Sequim’s deputy public works director and engineer, said at the hearing that they wanted to improve the whole road at once rather than half of it, and that led to an agreement with the developer to have its Transportation Impact Fee go toward the purchase of right-of-way, and fixing and realigning the road.

The fee amount will be determined at the building permit stage, Sorter wrote in his decision.

Dostie said at the hearing that city staff will re-prioritize Sequim’s capital improvement program to include Brownfield Road improvements before the funds sunset in five years and must be refunded to the developer.

The developer’s traffic impact analysis stated the development would generate an estimated 1,102 total average weekday daily trips to the area and that the area’s intersections would continue to operate at an “acceptable level-of-service” except for at the intersection at South Sequim Avenue and eastbound U.S. Highway 101. It would “operate at a deficient level-of-service with or without the proposed development,” according to city documents, but city staff have identified it for improvements in Sequim’s six-year transportation improvement plan.

Sorter acknowledged concerns about West Brownfield Road but noted that “community displeasure, alone, cannot be the basis of a permit denial.”

He said he shares their concerns and “agrees that it would be ideal to address these issues prior to approving a development that would add additional traffic demands to the roadway.”

Sorter made the fee-in-lieu one of his 18 conditions for the project and said that it’s the “only feasible and reasonable path forward to completing the needed realignment project,” whereas denying it “would prevent the very funding mechanism necessary to complete the improvements, thereby leaving the roadway in its current, substandard condition.”

He also responded to other community concerns, such as South Third Avenue’s safety and water and environmental impacts. He’s allowing the city and developer to continue working to identify appropriate frontage improvements along the avenue and that the proposed plan to include on-street parking must meet applicable concurrency requirements of city code.

City documents state a 10-foot path will be constructed on South Sequim Avenue, and street frontage improvements with a 6-foot-wide sidewalk and a 3.5-foot-wide landscape planter on South Third Avenue.

Dostie said city staff are pursuing a speed study in the area and talking to police about more speed enforcement there, too.

Environment

Neither development was determined under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS) review process to have an adverse impact on the environment, and neither review was appealed, according to city documents.

For Bell Creek Estates, city staff plan to use a buffer of 100 feet as it’s a Type 2 stream under city code, while incorporating top of slope setbacks that would be more than 150 feet at some points.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe staff recommended the larger buffer (150 feet) due to the area serving as “critical habitat” for the Puget Sound steelhead, a federally threatened species.

A wooden split-rail fence with critical area signs posted will be constructed along the stream buffer on both sides of the creek with openings only to existing trails, according to city documents.

The developer stated that stormwater will go to a stormwater detention pond at the northeast corner of the property and discharged through a pipe to the northeast corner of South Sequim Avenue and Brownfield Road, where runoff flows through a catch basin that directs it to continue to the northeast through a piped system.

Bell Creek Estates will have 13 percent (2.88 acres) of open space to fulfill a 10 percent city requirement. It also proposes adding pickleball and bocce ball courts.

City staff said they will not propose a 200-foot bridge span across the creek.

Bella Vista decision

For Bella Vista Estates’ 24 lots south of Miller Road and east of South Sequim Avenue, Sorter is requiring each home to have fire suppression systems due to a state fire code requirement when the property’s hill grade is more than 10 percent.

Jamestown S’Klallam staff also recommended a cultural resource survey due to the possible presence of cultural artifacts, before groundwork starts. City staff and Sorter agreed, requiring the developer to show proof of a completed cultural resource survey before receiving site construction permits. Once complete, the developer must follow the Inadvertent Archaeological and Historic Resources Discovery Plan for Sequim, according to city documents.

Bella Vista Estates would include an access road to Miller Road and a stub-out for future access to the adjacent property to the east.

According to city documents, the development would create about 282 new average weekday vehicle trips, and its nearby intersections would remain at an “acceptable level-of-service” except for the South Sequim Avenue/U.S. Highway 101 eastbound left-turn intersection identified for the other development. As stated, city staff said that would be addressed in the six-year transportation improvement plan.

Residents expressed concerns about stormwater management, but Dostie said there would be no increase in runoff from the development and it would improve water flow through the culvert as a new catch basin would pipe runoff upstream and east of the development.

According to Sorter’s report, the water “would be conveyed to stormwater cartridge systems to provide water quality control before entering a stormwater vault that would provide flow control before discharging to an existing stormwater ditch along Miller Road and eventually though an existing 12-inch concrete culvert under Miller Road and to offsite existing stormwater management systems.”

The project’s engineer, Brian Fields, told Sorter the stormwater system would ensure water leaving the site will mimic existing conditions as best as possible and that the development would not likely impact water pressure to existing area homes.

To address a concern about new lighting being installed, Dostie said they’ll use shielding to point lights down and away from homes.

For more information on these and other city projects, visitsequimwa.gov/471/Current-Projects.

Sequim first approved using a hearing examiner in February 2022 for all quasi-judicial land use permits, such as subdivisions and binding site plans.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.