[Editor Note: Contrast this with the County information about Frederickson, you can clearly see their bias toward growing Frederickson. Frederickson tripled (300%) P-S-M is noted to have grown 50% in that same timeframe. The Census of 2020 will tell us more soon.]

From the Pierce County Planning page for the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Plan

PIERCE COUNTY —  The communities of Parkland, Spanaway and Midland have grown rapidly over the past several decades.

Between 1990 and 2015, the population in this area grew by nearly 25,000 people—from 48,433 to 73,347. This growth has also included new businesses and housing developments.

Since the original Community Plan* was adopted in 2002, many changes have taken place in these communities, including a redevelopment at Garfield Street. This consisted of new commercial buildings, a large apartment complex with businesses on the ground floor and a streetscape revitalization in accordance with the vision of the original Community Plan.

Descriptions of the proposed changes to the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Community Plan are listed below by section. The proposed updates include other topics, such as the history of the plan area and information about demographics, development patterns and the environment.

The existing zoning along the Pacific Avenue, Mountain Highway, 112th Street East, and 176th Street East corridors is proposed to change under the proposed Centers & Corridors concept.

Three new Towne Centers are being proposed in the plan area:

• Garfield Towne Center: Between 120th Street South and 127th Street South and between Park Avenue South and A Street South (generally the area between Pacific Lutheran University and A Street South);
• Marymount Towne Center: Between 144th Street and Military Road and between C Street South and approximately 8th Avenue East (east of Sprinker Recreation Center and including the Marymount properties); and
• Mountain Highway Towne Center: Between approximately 200th Street East and 206th Street East and between approximately 4th Avenue East and 10th Avenue East (in the area surrounding the Walmart).

The new Towne Center zoning would plan for new development that would act as central gathering places for the community to access services and amenities. This proposed change would also allow additional housing options such as apartments and townhomes.

Areas at the Roy Y and along Mountain Highway adjacent to the Towne Center would be rezoned Employment Corridor, allowing office and industrial uses.

Generally, areas within one block of Pacific Avenue and the area along 112th Street East between Park Avenue South and Golden Given Road East are proposed to be zoned Urban Corridor, a mixed residential and commercial zone. Areas approximately one-to-two blocks off of Pacific Avenue and areas along 176th Street East between A Street South and 26th Avenue East are proposed to be zoned Neighborhood Corridor, a mixed residential zone.

The Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Advisory Commission has developed a new zoning concept for properties within one-to-two blocks of Portland Avenue East between 72nd Street East and 104th Street East.

The concept would zone more properties in the area for neighborhood-scale commercial uses, apartments, townhouses, and small lot single-family developments. The goal of this proposal is to encourage new development in the Midland area that may lead to additional infrastructure investments to serve the area, such as the addition of sidewalks.

• Properties between 80th Street East and 72nd Street East (see map for boundaries) will be rezoned to Mixed Use District (MUD). This existing zone allows a mix of commercial uses, apartments and townhomes and civic uses, like schools and churches. This zone allows 12–25 housing units per acre, and buildings can be up to 60 feet in height.
• A new Neighborhood Mixed Use (NMU) zone, which allows a mix of apartments and townhomes and neighborhood-scale commercial and civic uses, such as banks, restaurants and schools, is proposed for most properties between 80th Street East and 88th Street East (see map for boundaries). This new zone is also proposed for properties east of Portland Avenue East between 93rd Street East and 95th Street East, and along Portland Avenue East between 97th Street East and 99th Street East, east of the railroad tracks.
• A High Density Single Family (HSF) zone is proposed in the area between 82nd Street East and 100th Street East as a transitional zone between Portland Avenue East and single-family zones further from Portland Avenue East (see map for details). This existing zone has been changed to allow townhomes, small-lot single-family homes and neighborhood-scale commercial and civic uses.

Three small areas zoned Residential Resource (RR) are proposed to be rezoned to Single-Family (SF) and Moderate-Density Single-Family (MSF). They are located at Military Road South and Spanaway Loop Road South, 176th Street East and Spanaway Loop Road South, and 8th Avenue East and 136th Street East. (See map for details)

All three zones are generally single-family residential zones, however the Residential Resource zone allows 1–3 houses per acre and the Single-Family zone allows 4 houses per acre, while the Moderate-Density Single-Family zone allows 4–6 houses per acre. This change could result in more dense subdivisions in these areas.

Additional small-area rezones are proposed and can be found on the interactive map on our website.

Community Character and Design—Parkland-Spanaway-Midland
Standards for buildings and site design—such as architectural features and landscaping—will stay the same in the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland area. However, zones that fall within the Centers and Corridors area would be subject to new design standards.

Current design regulations include a special streetscape plan for the Garfield Street area. Proposed changes would update these standards and make them apply to new developments within all three of the proposed Towne Centers.

A program to incentivize landscaping along the SR-7 corridor is being removed, because most of the corridor has been planted. Instead, the proposed standard would allow some of the required landscaping to be planted within the SR-7 right-of-way to further beautify that area and encourage planting in the few areas that have not been planted.

Name	Location
Spanaway area	In the vicinity of 169th/170th and SR-7
Mayfair Playfield Expansion	Property between Mayfair Playfield and Brookdale Golf Course
Prairie House Museum vicinity	In the vicinity of 176th and B Street near Prairie House Museum
East Spanaway area	South of 152nd Street and east of SR-7
Midland area	Not specified
Surface Water Management properties	Explore opportunities for public access on Surface Water Management properties between 132nd and 136th east of SR-7
Properties connected to Clover Creek	Various properties for park or trail
Parkland Core Trail	Between Tacoma City Limits and Sprinker Recreation Center serving the Parkland area

Facilities and Services—Parkland-Spanaway-Midland
The facilities and services chapter includes discussion and policies related to those services desired by the community, such as schools, law enforcement and sewers. The most significant changes to the policies are related to parks.

The proposed updates related to facilities and services focus on a need for more park and recreation facilities in the Community Plan area and a need for additional law enforcement. The updates support continued maintenance and improvement to existing parks and development and identification of new neighborhood parks to serve the recreational needs of the community.

Acquisition of new park properties could be paid for by the newly-adopted Park Impact Fee. Potential future park sites have been identified at the locations in the table below.

Transportation—Parkland-Spanaway-Midland
The proposed updates to the Community Plan build on the transportation policies contained in Pierce County’s Transportation Plan. The Transportation Plan sets priorities for transportation improvements over the next 20 years. The proposed changes to the Community Plan include policies relating to road, transit and pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

These policies call on the County to:

• Invest in safe pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, especially where they connect people to schools, parks and proposed Towne Centers.
• Encourage development of bus rapid transit on State Route 7 and continued expansion of transit service in the Plan area.
• Invest in intersection improvements and complete streets (a street that includes facilities for cars, transit, bikes and pedestrians) that relieve traffic congestion and provide transportation facilities for all users, not just cars.

The updates also include a list of transportation project priorities. The highest priority projects are listed in the map.

 

 

*This is an error, in 2002, there were three (3) community plans and 3 LUACs, one each for Parkland, Spanaway and Midland. The county chose to blend them instead of recognizing any separate identity. The (failed) 2002 incorporation attempt for Gateway possibly helped to cause this.