Category: Zoning
Jan 22 – SB6181 Hearing in Olympia 1pm on forced city incorporation vote
Got that? Pierce County would be able to trigger a vote on incorporation inside the urban growth boundary, without a petition, without the Boundary Review Board, etc. if this bill is passed. It looks like South Hill is their first likely target. It has the highest potential revenue for a city. But the south county…
Community Development and Environment Committee hearings on Proposal No. O2025-516
An Ordinance of the Pierce County Council Adopting Amendments to Pierce County Code Title 4A, “Impact Fees,” Chapter 17C.30, “International Residential Code,” Title 18, “Development Regulations – General Provisions,” Title 18A, “Development Regulations – Zoning,” Title 18B, “Development Regulations – Signs,” Title 18G, “Development Regulations – Conservation Programs,” Title 18J, “Development Regulations – Design Standards…
Why is the cost of environmental justice so high?
by Kirk Kirkland and Claudia Finseth Two neighborhood groups in unincorporated Pierce County have recently paid very high prices to attempt to protect their communities because the county is not doing it. Both were to try to stop two different kinds of large projects from dramatically changing their valued open space. Both proposed projects were…
Is the “Good Neighbor Village” being a good neighbor?
By Spanaway Concerned Citizens As concerned citizens, we rely on our elected officials to make decisions regarding topics that significantly impact the well-being of our communities — addressing critical issues such as providing housing for our chemically dependent, chronically homeless individuals is undoubtedly important. However, does this effort justify compromising regional environmental integrity and public…
Jan 22 Spanaway Court Appeal to be heard
[Updated with corrections.] At 9 a.m. on January 22, 2025, the Spanaway Concerned Citizens administrative appeal to the Pierce County Hearing Examiner decision regarding the permitting of the Good Neighbor Village will be heard at the Pierce County Annex. The event will be available on Zoom if the public wants to watch. The meeting room…
Groundbreaking for Good Neighbor Village draws supporters and protestors
By Marianne Lincoln Good Neighbor Village, the village of tiny homes that the Tacoma Rescue Mission and the Pierce County Executive’s office are trying to build in Spanaway, had a groundbreaking today, November 21, 2024. The event was an invitation only event at the farm site near the intersection of 176th and Spanaway Loop Road….
CDEC to Hold Public Hearing on Comprehensive Plan Update Proposal
The Council’s Community Development and Environment Committee (CDEC) will hold its first public hearing on the proposed 2024 Comprehensive Plan update on Monday, Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m. in the Pierce County Council Chambers. The CDEC will likely continue its deliberations on the Comprehensive Plan update to its Monday, Nov. 18 meeting to allow time…
Nov 4 Council Committee Comp Plan Hearing
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…
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…
No state enforcement
“As Washington state implements its “nation-leading environmental policies”, I don’t know who wrote that, but please correct your statement – it is untrue and can absolutely be proven to be untrue!Wordsmithing can be very misleading sometimes, so it is with your above false statement. There can be no “nation-leading environmental policies” when you have no…
Report an environmental issue
[This is information taken directly from the Washington State Department of Ecology. If you see something, you can report it. I am hoping that includes homeless living in the bed of Clover Creek directly on our groundwater resources. – Editor] Department of Ecology: We respond to incidents that pollute and damage land, air, and water….
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…
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…
Zoning, comprehensive plan updates
PIERCE COUNTY — Pierce County released the Draft Comprehensive Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement for public review and comment by February 26. Members of the public are invited to provide input on how to plan for the next 20 years of growth in unincorporated Pierce County. The Comprehensive Plan provides a framework that guides…
Mistakes were made, a water battle looms
By Marianne Lincoln In 1931, Pierce County Drainage District 20 built a ditch. This ditch drained the farms to the west of 47th Avenue between 128th Street and 112th Street. At the time, the really wasn’t a 47th Avenue, but the LaForge Farm was there since 1915 along with the Andre Farm to the North…
The Role of Public Comment in County Hearings Is Deliberately Being Violated
OPINION: By Claudia Finseth At their public meeting on November 15th, the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Land Use Advisory Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the Hearing Examiner to deny the placement of the county executive’s priority project tiny home village on the Spanaway Wetlands. They ultimately felt, as the greater community feels, that high density development on…
The Parkland-Spanaway Flood Plain
By Claudia Riiff Finseth Every fall I get a big postcard from Pierce County reminding me I live in an area known to flood, the Spanaway-Parkland flood plain. And I know it’s true because twice in twenty-five years we have had hundred year floods here where I live along Spanaway Creek near 138th Street South…
PSM-LUAC Nov. 15, 6:30pm, Sprinker !!
By Cindy Beckett This will be heard at the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Advisory Commission public meeting date is November 15, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at Sprinker Recreation Center. (Remember, you will hike a distance to get in from parking due to construction right now.) The Land Use Advisory Commission will be reviewing the homeless village project now labeled…