Water, water isn’t always everywhere, there’s nary a drop to drink

By Marianne Lincoln Land use planning meets sole source aquifer and the fight is on The Pierce County communities of Midland, Summit, Waller, Parkland Spanaway Frederickson, Graham, Elk Plain and South Hill along with Lakewood and University Place have one thing in common, they sit on a sole source aquifer. That means, their only supply…

Tiny Village in Residental Resource Zone?

The Pierce County Council is now considering the passage of the zoning change to South Hill, Parkland-Midland-Spanaway, Frederickson, and Mid-County Plan Areas to allow tiny home villages in the Residential Resource Zone. The current issue is whether a tiny home village is appropriate in the water resource are entering Spanaway Lake from the southwest. There…

Incorporation study, Frederickson to Parkland Jan. 23

It is not a filed incorporation request, it is a feasibility study paid for through state funds. State Representative Melanie Morgan put it in the budget in 2020. The Governor did a line item veto in it that year, but his pen missed it the next year. So the Washington State Department of Commerce is…

The wolf is wearing a sheep’s coat of helping the homeless

By Marianne Lincoln [Editor Note: This is my testimony to the Planning Commission for 1-3-2023. RR (Rural Resource) Zone is has a maximum density of three housing units per acre with a extenuating circumstances. Normally, two per acre. So with nearly 400 on 27 acres they’re over limit, even though they say they count four…

More bus service in Spanaway, Parkland & Midland

PIERCE TRANSIT — The Spanaway Runner provides on-demand transportation to the public, connecting students, workers, seniors and those with limited mobility to and from community resources, appointments, school, work and transit hubs within the Spanaway Runner zone (shown in the map below). Trips must have a starting point and destination in the specified Spanaway Runner…

SEPA – when it really matters, or does it?

By Marianne Lincoln [Podcast link] [Editor Update: [Editor Update: Wetland Variance, Tommy’s Carwash, Application Number: 979272Related Application Numbers: 958554 and 975551Tax Parcel Numbers: 0319121055, 0319121057 and 0319121058Examiner’s Hearing: March 30, 2022, at 9 A.M., at the Pierce County Public Services Building,South Entrance, Public Meeting Room, 2401 South 35th Street, Tacoma, WA 98409.] SEPA is an…

Godzilla is on the horizon or is that Baby Huey?

For those of you who love your quiet, safe, inexpensive little enclave of Spanaway, or Frederickson, or Parkland, guess what? Godzilla has reared her head again. $200,000 of state money has once again been placed in the Washington State budget by Rep. Melanie Morgan of the 29th District, for the purpose of an incorporation study…

Dire warnings on our watershed – dialogue

Several members of the Chambers Clover Watershed Council have been exchanging some very concerning emails recently. Based on their experience, credentials, and length of service in the stewardship capacity, these are worth your interest. (Cindy Beckett, Don Russell and Kurt Reidinger) Starting with a reply to Ms. Beckett’s email in the previous article, “Destruction of…

Destruction of this creek has always been illegal

A message from Cindy Beckett, EPA Watershed Manager, WSU Master Watershed Steward: I really do wish that everyone would finally understand this….. no elected “official” on the county or executive level, nor anyone on Pierce County staff, has any authority whatsoever over this creek system.  I really mean this! Authority falls onto both the State…

A disaster called Clover Creek

Since 1853, when Washington became a Territory, Clover Creek has been diverted, dammed, dug up, relocated, culverted, drilled back into the ground and had vast amounts of pollutants dumped into it. The creek was named by Christopher Mahon who settled a Donation Land Claim there, where the Brookdale Golf Course was later sited. Their home…

Rep. Morgan plants $200k for incorporation study in State budget again

Rep. Melanie Morgan of the 29th Legislative district is trying again. She had a proposal to get $200,000 incorporation study money from the Washington State budget for the area Pierce County just rezoned called “Centers and Corridors.” The idea is to make it one big city. (Larger than Tacoma I might add.) You will not…