SEQUIM — A lawsuit challenging a rezone granted by the City Council on land earmarked for a regional shopping center has been dismissed on appeal in Clallam County Superior Court.

Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser, acting as a visiting judge in Clallam County, ruled Monday in favor of the city of Sequim and McConkey Development Inc. of Kirkland in a motion to dismiss the suit, filed in August by Stephen Clapp of Sequim.

The rezone would allow landowner Mark Burrowes and developer Fred McConkey to build a regional shopping center southeast of the Sequim Avenue interchange with U.S. Highway 101.

A Fred Meyer department store has been touted as the most likely lead tenant at the site, initially named Bell Farm Center.

Linked to lavender farm

Clapp alleged the construction of a shopping center would harm his lavender farm operation several miles north of the site by adding wastewater contamination to Bell Creek, which runs through the Burrowes parcel.

But he failed to file a formal appeal to the City Council under the state Environmental Protection Act, and City Attorney Craig Ritchie argued that the absence limited Clapp’s ability to seek remedy in Superior Court.

Ritchie filed a motion to dismiss the suit in mid-September.

Verser granted the request, citing in part Clapp’s failure to “exhaust administrative remedies” by challenging the City Council’s approval of Planning Director Dennis Lefevre’s initial permitting on the project.

Bell Farm Center would be the third regional shopping center built in the vicinity of the U.S. Highway 101 bypass, opened in 1999.

Sequim Village Marketplace, anchored by a Home Depot home improvement warehouse store, is under construction between Washington Street and U.S. 101 on the city’s west side.

Across the street is a Wal-Mart store, which opened last week about a half-mile north of U.S. 101 at River Road, also on the west side.

Expansion of the Wal-Mart plus more satellite stores are in the mega-retailer’s plans.