A housing development proposed in the spring of 2008 along Fifth Avenue has resurfaced as a 48-lot major subdivision.
The new City Walk development has some similarities to the defunct Oak Grove project but the layout has changed and the houses have been redesigned, said Larry Freedman, a business partner with developer Allen Grant of Grant Realty on the project.
Freedman also is the planning commission chairman.
"These are going to be affordable townhouses, all 48 will be well under the $200,000 target price. They’ll be starting at $150,000," he said.
The project will be the subject of a public meeting before the planning commission at 6 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2009, in the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
Then a public hearing before the city council is set for 6 p.m. on Jan. 26 in the Sequim Transit Center.
The project will be located on 2.41 acres north of the Boys & Girls Club and east of North Fifth Avenue, just south of the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center. A new road, Oak Street, will be built from the project to Fifth Avenue.
The 48 townhouses will be built on 16 lots of 1,460 square feet and 32 lots of 1,022 square feet. The project will require
a variance to the city’s
minimum lot size and setback requirements.
Freedman said the project was changed from the original six-lot binding site plan, which is used for condominium or apartment developments, to a 48-lot major subdivision.
The difference is the townhouse owners now will own the land and not pay condominium dues, he said.
The property, which is owned by the school district, hasn’t changed hands yet because the sale depends upon the city’s approval of the project, Freedman said.
The school district declared the property surplus in July 2005 and plans to use the sale proceeds for a new bus garage. The property was rezoned in 2007 from "public facilities" to "R-IV," or "urban residential," which allows medium to high density residential development.
Freedman said the development will provide "workforce housing" for those people in the "no man’s land," usually 80-120 percent of the county’s median income.
They don’t make enough money to afford a house but make too much money to qualify for subsidized housing, he said.
"So that’s what we are targeting here, workforce housing," Freedman said.
