TACOMA – The Council’s Community Development and Environment Committee (CDEC) will hold its first public hearing on the 2024 proposed Comprehensive Plan update on Monday, Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m. in the Pierce County Council Chambers. What: Public Hearing on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan UpdateWhen: Monday, Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m.Where: Pierce County Council Chambers, 930 Tacoma…
Category: Planning Zoning
Sept 7 protest and bake sale, Zoning changes
Spanaway Concerned Citizens will be having a protest sign waving and fundraising bake sale at 176th Street and Spanaway Loop Road on Saturday, September 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is not yet a decision on the appealed items from the Hearings Examiner’s office. That decision is expected very soon. A group of…
Alert! County changing zoning in sub plan areas
Sliding in a bit under the radar for the average land use change is a state mandated Comprehensive Plan Review. The reason is, state law changes and Comp. Plans need to stay current. This review and resulting changes don’t come with public notice or yellow signs posted on a neighbor’s property. No, this is only…
Biennial Comprehensive Plan Amendments will not be initiated in 2024
[Editor note: in case this is confusing, this means no changes are being made to the comprehensive plan through this process in this cycle. The next cycle for review is in 2 years. Citizens rarely submit comp plan amendments, it is usually developers. Citizens just have to spend time watching, commenting and trying not to…
Stop building cul-de-sacs in unincorporated county
EDITORIAL OPINION Years ago, when the Spanaway Community Association was starting and the Growth Management Act was in its infancy, Pierce County explained to us that the housing developments with cul-de-sacs were useful to slow crime. The county was allowing, mostly even, asking developers to build all these little pocket communities on large parcels. Each…
Hearing Examiner allows the Village to proceed
The decision has arrived. The Hearings Examiner is allowing the tiny home village in the Spanaway Marsh area to proceed. His decision is at the link here: https://pals.piercecountywa.gov/public/documentView?docSysId=2135634 The document is 79 pages long. The findings and conclusions begin on page 20. Page 49 is the end of the report. The remaining pages are documentation,…
A Tale of Two Wetland Specialists
by Claudia Finseth27 March, 2024 Last week the Tacoma News Tribune carried some interesting articles related to the Hearing Examiner meetings that had just wrapped up on the proposed use of the Spanaway Marsh for a high-density development. The plan is for a tiny home village for people experiencing chronic homelessness at the end of…
Please, protect the water – a poem
TO THE HEARING EXAMINER Please, protect the water at the heart of our community—The Spanaway Marsh may mean little to some, but not to us. It is our arterial blood,our breath, our home. We are done with the hundred-year destructionof filled-in wetlands, re-routed streams,toxic human pollution and buildings too closeto these arteries of life. We are done with…
Saturday walk at Spanaway Marsh
By Marianne Lincoln Spanaway Concerned Citizens is raising money to fight a Pierce County Executive’s project to build a village of tiny homes to house homeless individuals with drug, alcohol and mental health problems. These are the hardest people to bring into a stable housing situation. There is a plan. (You can see it at…
Historical road from Nisqually to Spanueh Station
Historical information on Spanaway, Spanueh Station of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and native uses of the area Testimony for the Hearings Examiner on Pierce County Village, April 29, 2024 To local Indians, the area was referred to as “spáduwe” – “where [camas or fern] roots are plentiful”.[1] Multiple tribes used the area for hunting…
Village deadline for written comments April 22
Regarding the April 29 hearings on the Tiny Home Village, Pierce County Village, or whatever they are calling it this week…. All written comments & concerns should be submitted in writing to the Hearings Examiner by Monday April 22nd, for his review to: pchearingexaminer@piercecountywa.gov If you have no idea what I am talking about, read…
Advanced Air Mobility for new eVTOL craft
The era of George Jetson is beginning to arrive. The Federal Aviation Administration is starting discussion with states and local communities about how to safely bring these vehicles, Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) to our communities. We need to consider where they will land, a new invention called the Vertiport will need locations. Advance…
Planning your county – hearings April 2, 9, 11
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Draft Comprehensive Plan and Draft Capital Facilities Plan and Council Initiated Amendments over the course of three days. The hearing will be opened on April 2 at 9:30 a.m. it will be continued to April 9 at 9:30 a.m. and then to April 11 at 6:00 p.m. See below for ways to…