Civic Center remodel on hold for city shop upgrades

Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, November 25, 2025

City of Sequim staff have paused a planned second floor remodel of the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St., to focus on bringing improvements to the city’s shop at 169 W. Hemlock St.

“Functionally, it’s not what we want in the 2020s,” said Sequim Public Works Director Paul Bucich during a recent tour of the shop site.

City staff have sought upwards of $35 million in recent years through the state to improve and expand the shop facilities and city-owned undeveloped area between the shop and Third Avenue.

All or some of the streets, water, sewer, stormwater, parks and the city mechanic work out of the shop facility. Proposed improvements sought include covered vehicle and road material storage areas, a fuel station, a greenhouse, and space for future buildings and storage.

The city received $500,000 for the fuel station from the state with Bucich saying a request for qualifications to design the project would tentatively go out in 2026.

He said it will be important for the community during outages because there are few places with functioning fuel pumps to ensure city crews, police, schools and other agencies continue operations.

Sequim has also used American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for both city shop design and utility improvements (approximately $1.1 million) and $67,000 for the Civic Center’s remodel, according to Sue Hagener, Sequim’s finance director, via email.

In the spring, utilities were expanded at the shop site over a few months to support future development/expansion.

Despite receiving some funds for the shop area and trying for many years, Bucich said he and other staffers determined the $35 million price tag was too much for a city of 8,500.

“We plan to have it significantly less than $35 million,” he said. “We’ll figure out our funding strategy, likely a phased approach. Ideally, we would do it all at once.”

He said there were a lot of components to the multi-million dollar project that were “nice to have but not needed.”

Shop changes

Bucich said prior to 2020, the approximate 25 street, water, sewer and road crew members were under one roof, referred to as the main shop. However, during COVID-19, they were forced to spread out to two neighboring buildings that were previously storage only where they’ve all remained.

“Crews do a good job with what we have,” Bucich said. “But we’d like to get all the (departments) under one roof and the vehicles under cover.”

The street team’s building has no sewer system, so they must walk to the main shop to use the restroom, he said, and the water storage building uses a portable toilet. Staff in both buildings have made work spaces, installed fridges, and recently added high speed internet.

“(The street and water teams’) buildings were not intended for long term,” Bucich said.

Some vehicles are also exposed to the elements due to the needed work space, he said.

Bucich said they’ve listened to staff the last nine months about what’s needed, and they’ll continue to form a better shop plan concept for the coming year. Some funds, he said, were earmarked in the 2026 budget for a covered area to go over road and sewer materials.

Civic upgrade

The city had sent out a request for construction bids on the second floor upgrades to the Civic Center in the fall, and extended the deadline before pausing the project in October.

Sequim city councilors unanimously approved year-end budget amendments in late October that roll forward $350,000 from the Civic Center remodel project for 2026 as a placeholder for shop improvements.

City councilors were slated to approve Sequim’s 2026 budget after the Gazette’s early holiday deadline.

Sue Hagener, Sequim’s finance director, said at the Oct. 27 meeting that the shop has become a bigger priority than the Civic Center remodel because they wanted shop staff to have proper shelter and storage.

She said they’d continue to investigate options for security issues at the Civic Center that were planned as part of the remodel.

Bucich said the remodel would create a new upstairs entrance and office area and that its focus was more about creating a better customer experience. The improvements would bring people to an area that would require a key card to gain access to meet with staff.

The approximate $15 million Sequim Civic Center and its plaza opened in May 2015 and houses city administrators, the police department and customer services, such as billing.

Another project at the Civic Center, the Spruce Parking Lot project, was recently finished. It was originally budgeted for $400,000 and came in at about $680,000 due to the addition of electrical services for the entrance gate and lighting, according to city documents.

The city purchased the three lots — 153, 161 and 169 W. Spruce St. — in June 2022 for $457,500 with its Rainy Day Funds to turn the properties into a parking lot.

For more about the City of Sequim, visit sequimwa.gov.