SEQUIM — The proposed Westbay development near John Wayne Marina from Seabrook developers is under review for being “technically complete” by the Sequim city planning staff.
The developer applied for a Master Plan review in June to build 600 lots with up to 650 residential units built over a number of years.
City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said a determination on the application being “technically complete” was expected to be posted by Monday, but that won’t mean the permit is approved.
“(Technically complete) means that it is ready for continued city review and the public review process,” she wrote in an email.
“Projects of this size typically involve several opportunities for public input, such as through the notice periods, SEPA (environmental review) and other processes. This project will be no different. Each public notice and comment opportunity will be posted on the city’s website.”
Seabrook staff had a pre-application conference with the city on Dec. 23, 2024, and they were determined to be “counter complete” on June 23, meaning that developers had their required forms and applications filled out, she said.
City staff have 28 days to determine if the application was technically complete from June 23, but that timeline included a time stoppage when Seabrook staff responded to requests for more information from city staff, Nelson-Gross said.
Seabrook also paid $49,711 in permit fees.
Nelson-Gross declined to comment on specifics of the project.
“Until we’ve determined it’s technically complete, it’s premature to comment on next steps and associated timelines,” she said.
“The city is aware of the public’s interest in this project, and we will be creating a dedicated webpage on the city’s website where documents will be posted on or before the July 21 deadline.”
According to the city’s Municipal Code 18.30.030, the application will follow a C-2 process with “the city hearing examiner, or city council in the absence of a hearing examiner, being the review authority” of the completed application.
City code requires various studies to be done, and for the developer to hold a public meeting to identify potential community impacts and concerns. Seabrook staff met multiple times last year with the community at various locations and online.
Amenities
According to the developer’s description on a city planning page, the project would develop 90 of 160 acres between Sequim Bay Road and U.S. Highway 101 along Whitefeather Way.
The property had long been considered by the family of John Wayne as a planned resort, but Casey Roloff, CEO of Seabrook, said he was approached by Ethan Wayne more than 10 years ago to purchase and build a community similar to Seabrook, an approximate 600-home development on the Washington coast.
Developers wrote via the city’s project description page that the “application proposes a mixed-use, walkable, waterfront community with a range of home types and prices, and abundant parks and open spaces available to the larger Sequim community.”
That would include up to 300 multifamily units, some mixed-use commercial buildings and between 350-550 single-family detached lots, according to the developer’s description.
They report that the gross residential density of the project would be about 9.5 dwelling units per acre.
In a public meeting in April 2024, Roloff said it wouldn’t need the same amenities as Seabrook due to the proposed development’s proximity to Sequim, and it would be considered more of a village.
He said it would feature a mix of apartments, condominiums, cottages and townhouses, with homes on top of shops while following Seabrook’s pattern of developing about 30 homes per year over 20 years.
According to Seabrook’s website, current available homes and lots available to purchase in Seabrook range from $517,000 for a home to $2.6 million for a lot.
Water, traffic
Seabrook’s application has not yet been made available to the public.
Available documentation from the developer and the city does not mention water usage, but Roloff said during a May 2024 “Coffee with Colleen” interview that a “Water Availability Study” from 2024 states the city has enough water capacity.
A fact sheet on the city’s website states that, in 2031, with an estimated population of 11,341, the city would be using about 33 percent of its water rights with an existing reservoir capacity of 2.9 million gallons. In 2041, with an estimated population of 15,206, the city would be at 44 percent of its annual water rights usage, according to the document.
A group called Clallam Freedom Alliance, led by Rose Marschall of Port Angeles, had 1,228 verified signatures on Change.org by Monday asking the city council or the hearing examiner to deny Seabrook’s application for multiple reasons, including water availability.
Marschall wrote on the website that Seabrook’s development would exacerbate water scarcity and added that the development would increase highway congestion and that Sequim already has substantial development in the pipeline.
Marschall is a former Save Our Sequim board member, an organization that opposed the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s medication-assisted treatment facility for treating opioid use disorder.
Roloff said during “Coffee with Colleen” that they seek a safe solution for entering U.S. Highway 101 from Whitefeather Way. He said they wouldn’t seek a roundabout due to local opposition, and that their development would create 60 percent to 70 percent fewer daily trips than other suburban developments because of their emphasis on walkable/bikeable communities.
They also would work with the city to seek solutions to slow down traffic on West Sequim Bay Road, the other access point to Westbay, he said.
The Port of Port Angeles would continue to operate the John Wayne Marina, Roloff said, and the John Wayne Rustic Waterfront Resort eventually would be phased out to become Westbay’s village center.
They also would encourage homeowners to share or rent boats at the marina, he said.
Rentals, housing
Of the concerns Roloff said he’s heard, short-term rentals were one he highlighted at different meetings.
In May 2024, he said Seabrook’s rental program is about 55 percent of the homes, but they’ve built in short-term rentals that they manage in their developments with 24-hour security in the community.
He anticipates about 70 percent of the homeowners to be full-time residents in Sequim due to dry weather.
At multiple meetings, he said workforce housing is built into their developments, such as in an apartment above a garage.
In May 2024, he said he couldn’t provide costs for rentals in Sequim, as he hadn’t talked to contractors about costs, but added that “our design philosophy accommodates (workforce housing).”
At a meeting last November at 7 Cedars Resort, Roloff said families who live in Seabrook tend to walk or ride their bikes to work.
He said a one-bedroom apartment can cost about $900 to $1,300 a month, while a two-bedroom, two-bath cottage is about $1,800.
“These are homeowners that either rent out the house, or they rent out the little apartments above their garage (carriage houses),” Roloff said.
Utilities
Westbay would connect to Sequim’s water and sewer services, Roloff has said.
City staff were exploring a plan earlier this year through the state to potentially fund sewer and water lift stations on West Sequim Bay Road by creating a 363-acre Tax Increment Area (TIA) by Sequim Bay using new developments’ property taxes to create Tax Increment Financing (TIF). It would have required city staff proving to the state that developments wouldn’t happen in that area without the stations.
The funding concept drew concerns from Clallam County Fire District 3 leaders about a shift in new developments’ tax revenues away from emergency services despite more people moving to Sequim.
However, Nelson-Gross said the city is no longer pursuing the Tax Increment Area.
City Manager Matt Huish shared an email he wrote to junior taxing districts that “after conducting thorough research, working with multiple consultants and the Office of the State Treasurer, we have decided, for a myriad of reasons, not to move forward with TIF as a potential funding mechanism for Sequim at this time.”
The city has received a Department of Ecology loan to cover construction of a lift station/extension at Forrest Road and West Sequim Bay Road worth $14,726,274 at a 1.6 percent interest rate starting a year after construction finishes. The city previously received a loan through state Clean Water State Revolving Fund for design of the station for just more than $1 million with forgivable principal.
Sequim Public Works Director Paul Bucich wrote via email that the lift station is on pause for up to a year as they receive “greater certainty on when a couple of development activities will occur.”
“Once we are confident in the timing of those developments, we will go out to bid for the water and sewer lift station,” he said.
The water portion of the project is primarily funded by PNNL-Sequim, also along West Sequim Bay Road, he said.
For updates on city developments, visit sequimwa.gov.
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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.
