By Marianne Lincoln

Act before, not just at, the meeting, Write to your councilmember; write to all of them. If you think it is a bad idea to tear down trees shading a large Federal wetland that feeds into Spanaway Lake, Coffee Creek, Spanaway Creek, Morey Creek, Clover Creek, Chambers Creek, Chambers Bay and then Puget Sound heed this story.

First of all, most of us really would like to help the thousands of homeless neighbors in our county. But, we resent using the bleeding heart stories to violate a Federally designated wetland. When the area was proposed for the Cross Base Highway, environmental groups turned out in force to stop it. There was an Environmental Impact State and a Supplemental EIS done on the project. The Environmentalists lobbied the County and State. We never got the highway through. But on this new proposal, suddenly the area is deemed DNS – that’s a “Determination of Non-Significance” in environmental lingo. Not even a State SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act) checklist and comment period was opened! If that puzzles you, good. It absolutely does not seem right.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD), may be unable to finance this wetland area and the County is planning on using Federal funds to create it, $23 million. Here is a quote from HUD’s site:

“An environmental review is the process of reviewing a project and its potential environmental impacts to determine whether it meets federal, state, and local environmental standards. The environmental review process is required for all HUD-assisted projects to ensure that the proposed project does not negatively impact the surrounding environment and that the property site itself will not have an adverse environmental or health effect on end users. Not every project is subject to a full environmental review (i.e., every project’s environmental impact must be examined, but the extent of this examination varies), but every project must be in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other related Federal and state environmental laws.”

Also the EPA has a lot to say about funding for wetlands, if you feel like digging further.

Other properties in the county have been identified where this Microhome Village could be sited. Much of the proposal and site plan of this particular one was created before the public was even aware of the project. County regulations require that the site be in the Urban Growth Area (UGA) which makes finding larger parcels more difficult. Many have already been built out. Swapping parcels in and out of the UGA is not beyond the ability of the County either. They are only required to make the net change zero.

The question is, will they do the right thing for our wetland or not? Large portions of Clover Creek are already dry during many months of the year due to the lack of ground water infiltration. That is because we are using up our sole source aquifer that is rainwater based with the current level of housing. The upper aquifer layers are drying out. Aquifer mixing is a special subject of its own in wetland laws of the State and Federal government. You cannot just pipe the Green River water into the South County.

In recent years, Spanaway Lake has had many issues with toxic algae blooms and other water quality problems. So much concern was generated that a Lake Management (taxing) District was formed. Then, just as that group and the Friends of Spanaway Lake are getting projects operating, this Micro Village comes along in the headwaters.

When a public meeting was held to inform residents about the project, Sprinker’s Rainier room was packed and overflowing. It was not a friendly crowd. Executive Dammeier was present, but left his associate, Steve O’Ban to answer the lively questions. The meeting ran long, a couple hours longer than originally planned. The crowd was riled and not willing to go home without answers.

So get prepared to attend March 21, 2023 in the County Council Chambers at 3 p.m. or by the Zoom link you will find at the top of the meeting agenda page. (at that link, the agenda is not yet there as of this writing)

There are three items impacting this decision:

2022-81s	An Ordinance of the Pierce County Council Levying an Additional Sales and Use Tax of One-Tenth of One Percent for Housing and Related Services as Authorized by RCW 82.14.530; and Amending Pierce County Code Chapter 4.28, “Sales and Use Tax,” and Section 4.48.020, “Special Revenue Funds.”
R2022-163	A Resolution of the Pierce County Council Authorizing Release of Funding for a Microhome Village Project Pursuant to Provisos to the 2022-2023 Pierce County Biennial Budget.
2023-5s	An Ordinance of the Pierce County Council Allowing for Shared Housing Villages in the Residential Resource Zone of the Frederickson Community Plan Area, Mid-County Community Plan Area, Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Communities Plan Area, and South Hill Community Plan Area of Unincorporated Pierce County by Amending Title 18A of the Pierce County Code, “Development Regulations – Zoning”; Adopting Findings of Fact; and Setting an Effective Date.

And remember to keep score of where the votes are. This information is useful when deciding if you ever want to vote for someone again. It is the people, not the special interests, that should control our County.

Contacts:
Steve O’Ban steve.oban@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-6134
Bruce Dammeier executive@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-7477
Jani Hitchen Jani.Hitchen@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-3308
Paul Herrera Paul.Herrera@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-2222
Robyn Denson Robyn.Denson@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-6654
Ryan Mello Ryan.Mello@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-7590
Amy Cruver amy.cruver@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-6626
Dave Morell dave.morell@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-3635
Marty Campbell marty.campbell@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-6653
Pierce County Council PCCOUNCIL@piercecountywa.gov 253-798-7777