City, school leaders talk housing at joint meeting

Affordable and workforce housing, or the lack of it, emerged as the most popular topic in a joint meeting between City of Sequim councilors, Sequim School Board directors and their respective administrators.

The city’s seven-member council and the schools’ five-member board, along with city manager Matt Huish and schools superintendent Regan Nickels, shared their respective plans and goals for the coming years at the city council chambers on June 25.

The bulk of the group’s conversation, however, centered on new developments and potential impact that growth may have on the municipality and local schools.

Huish gave a quick overview of the 698 lots and 84 multi-family units across 13 developments being built or are in the application process across city limits, from the 215-unit Rolling Hills development to the 104-lot Bell Creek development.

Those projects, as well as a proposed large development on the Wayne family property near John Wayne Marina that isn’t yet in the pre-application process, amounts to about 1,200 residences being added within city limits in the next couple of years.

“All inventory [of housing] is good right now,” Huish said.

“We don’t even know how much housing we need,” councilor Vicki Lowe said.

Eric Pickens, Sequim School Board’s president, said the district and city officials have mutual interest in getting more housing options.

The issue that councilors and board directors alike discussed was how many of Sequim’s homes are either affordable — defined as 30-50% of the area median income, Sequim mayor Brandon Janisse pointed out — or for workforce housing, defined as 80% of the area median income.

“If someone can get a developer to build a $300,000 house instead of a $700,000 house, I’ll pay you myself. We just can’t make people do that,” said city councilor Kathy Downer.

She noted the Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County’s development off of South Sequim Avenue will help, but that’s just 55 total units. “We need more housing like that,” she said. “I don’t know what to do to get people to do that [kind of project].”

Janisse said he can see with promise with tax rebates offered for multi-family unit construction, but that “it’s still getting those developers to come in.”

The large number of developments comes at a time when the school district is recovering from a drop in overall enrollment. Sequim schools’ enrollment dropped significantly in the Covid-19 pandemic. After a high-water mark of 2,700 students in June of 2019, student enrollment dropped to 2,618 in June 2020, 2,406 in June 2021 and 2,408 in June 2022, rising slightly to 2,447 in June 2023 and 2,470 by June 2024.

In a recent draft for the 2024-25 district budget, Sequim school leaders anticipate a slight uptick in enrollment in 2024-25 to 2,511 and in 2025-26 to 2,533, followed by drops to 2,482 and 2,447 in the two ensuing academic years.

School board director Patrice Johnston asked whether there has been any interest in accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

“ADUs seem like such a great idea; there are lots of advantages to their use],” she said.

However, Downer said despite the city loosening its policy toward ADUs in 2023 — “we try to do everything we can,” she said — there has been very little uptick in ADUs, a reality confirmed by Lindsey Sehmel, the city’s community and economic development director.

Downer also noted the city has excused park impact fees for new build if they are providing workforce housing, though, similarly, that has spurred few projects.

“Nothing has happened since then,” Downer said. “We could build a whole other [apartment] building like Elk Creek [Apartments] … and still have a waiting list for housing.”

School leaders asked whether city officials can put requirements on developers to offer affordable housing or put stipulations on a 55-and-old requirement, but Sehmel and Huish said the city has not codified anything that would restrict what developers put in their covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs).

Meeting attendees also lamented the lack of workforce to construct the housing Sequim needs. However, Johnston pointed out the school district is moving forward with construction of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center of Excellence after receiving about $5 million in the state 2023-25 supplemental budget in March.

The funding would pay for a 10,000-square-foot structure with two large bays and two or three classrooms that would serve the district’s automotive and construction classes, according to Ned Floeter, director of Sequim School District’s CTE program.

“Hopefully we’ll be graduating people to fill in those jobs,” Johnston said.

Nickels said the school district is seeking tradespeople to offer short-term lessons to students in the to-be-built CTE center.

School officials are in the midst of updating the district’s strategic plan, while City of Sequim leaders are hosting public meetings as they look to update the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a 20-year plan due to state officials by 2025.

For more about the City of Sequim, see sequimwa.gov. For more about the Sequim School District, visit sequimschools.org.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim city councilors and Sequim School District board directors meet at the city council chambers on June 25.