PIERCE COUNTY — 3-24-23 Pierce County is partnering with watershed councils, local nonprofits and agencies to fund a small grants program supporting community projects that improve habitat and water quality across the county. The 2023 cycle will award more than $70,000 total to projects in four watersheds: Key Peninsula-Gig Harbor-Islands, Chambers-Clover Creek, Puyallup-White River, and…
Category: Waterfront
Crisis for critical Spanaway watershed
By Marianne Lincoln The chatter in environmental circles is intense. The concern is removal of a large number of huge trees and the ensuing ground heat on the watershed entering Spanaway Lake from the marsh and streams to the southwest of it. Impervious surface and water system pollution are the concerns. The Tiny Home Village…
Jan. 9, 7pm, Environmental Compliance Webinar for Tiny Home Village
From newsletter of Councilmember Jani Hitchen, Jan. 5, 2023: ***Pierce County Village Update*** Many of you have reached out to my office about the proposed Pierce County Village currently sited in Spanaway. There have been a lot of questions, many of which I had myself. I share a link to a resolution below that I think may…
Tiny Home Village location proposed in Spanaway has controversial wetlands and zoning
First, please look at the link to the proposal in the Pierce County website. That way you will better understand what is happening. The proposed site has had a significant amount of planning, but little public input. It was unveiled on October 18, 2022 by the Pierce County Executive’s office, with a great deal of…
Common Enemy Doctrine, Water law
Anyone who lives along a lake, river creek or stream needs to be aware of these laws regarding waterways. Currens v. Sleek,, September 9, 1999, Case No. 66830-2, Washington State Supreme Court determined that liability exists for anyone who causes damage to another’s property by increasing surface water flow onto that other property without exercising…
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…
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…
Friends of Spanaway Lake Annual Meeting Feb. 24
The Friends of Spanaway Lake is holding their annual meeting on February 24, 2022, at 7 p.m. at Sprinker Recreation Center and virtually over Zoom. They have posted the event on Facebook if you are looking for the connection link. This past year, the property owners with front footage on the lake voted to create…
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…
Spanaway Lakefront owners petition County for special assessment district
By Marianne Lincoln, 5-3-2021 The Friends of Spanaway Lake (FOSL) , a 501(c)(3) non-profit association of lakefront property owners, has drawn up a petition to the County Council to create a special Lake Management District (LMD). This Special taxing area would charge each lake lot owner between $4 to $8 per lakefront foot to help…
What is the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department?
With the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department’s existence in the balance this week, you may have a lot of questions about who they are, what they do, and how much it all costs. Unless you have needed their services, you may not be aware of all the things your local Health Department does in Pierce…
Pierce Prairie Post 