Submitted by Claudia Riiff Finseth.
In March, the County Council amended the Residential Resource code for Parkland-Spanaway-Midland to allow “shared housing,” that is, high density micro-home villages on an important and fragile Spanaway wetland.
Once the tiny home village development was vested as a done deal, the County Council then repealed that amendment and reinstated Residential Resource zoning in PSM to begin in December of this year.
The community has the right to ask: what was this all about?
Before the vote, Chairperson Ryan Mello even said, “I wouldn’t vote to allow this kind of high density . . . on our fragile farmland or in the middle of a forest land. There are appropriate places for appropriate land uses, and I think we can be thoughtful about where we put what kind of land use . . . . I think this is the right decision moving forward for the Residential Resource zone.”
If he really thinks that, why didn’t he vote to protect the Spanaway wetland in the first place?
We are due some answers to these questions. Maybe William “Bud” Rehberg, longtime advocate for responsible land use planning, hit on one possible answer when, in his testimony at the meeting, he said, “It’s not unusual for councils to go to extraordinary measures to accommodate special interests . . . It doesn’t necessarily enhance the council’s relationship with their constituents, though.”
The Value of the Residential Resource Zone
The Washington State Growth Management Act of 1990 is a law that requires state and local governments to manage growth by, among other things, identifying and protecting critical areas and natural resource lands, and designating appropriate urban growth areas.[2]
To meet the requirements of the GMA, a committee of community members (myself included) created the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Communities Plan. [3] The county’s professional planners facilitated and guided us. In that Plan we built a vision for our area and put it into place with careful zoning and regulations. An important designation available to us for protecting critical areas was the Residential Resource zone.
As Spanaway Lake resident Scott Munson, who sits on the Citizen’s Advisory Board for the Lake Management District, testified to council, “Residential Resource is intended to provide for low density single family residential uses compatible with areas of unique open space, character, and/ or environmental sensitivity. Think wetlands.”
EPA Watershed Manager and Master Watershed Steward Cindy Beckett remembers that in creating the PSM Community Plan “we addressed wetlands based on participating residents’ first hand knowledge of the water in their areas”: what land floods, where toxic algae blooms occur, where eagles, herons and osprey nest, what fish—especially salmon— run where, and so on.
Pierce County developers were invited to help create the PSM Communities Plan committee, but none took part. Instead, they have picked away at the Plan over the years through other means. Siting dense housing on wetlands the Plan designated RR is only their latest move.
At the July 25th council meeting longtime community activist Roxy Giddings testified as to the importance of RR zones. “Residential Resource should be really the last resort to put in structures . . . there are endangered and threatened species . . . springs subject to drying up when you remove the tree cover above them . . . The RR zone should be off limits to this kind of proposal.”
Spanaway Lake resident Mel Oleson, who holds certification in storm water quality, echoed her. “That particular area is a natural resource area that has significant impact upon the downstream waters . . . and endangered species.”
Protecting our Water
Water comes so conveniently from our taps that it is easy to take it for granted. Yet water is essential for life. It is also a finite resource, and residents of Pierce County should be aware that our water resources are being depleted. We should all know the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland area sits on one of the important aquifers that provides our drinking water.
Ask your Pierce County Council member what actions they have taken to protect our water resources. They should be carefully stewarding both surface and ground water, not changing their zoning so denser building of any kind can be placed on them.
The PSM Communities Plan, which is the will of the people in one of the most democratic grassroots processes I have ever been a part of, should not be tampered with, and especially not to meet the wants of special interests at the degradation of the natural resources of the land.
As Scott Monsen said at the Council meeting, “The Pierce Co watershed must be protected. “Every marsh, every swamp leads to a creek or a stream or a lake or a river which goes into the Sound. We must be mindful of what we’re doing around these aquifer recharge areas.”
A US Geological Survey study which included the Chambers- Clover Creek Watersheds [4] states:“… the quantity of usable groundwater, the potential effects of future natural conditions and [human] activities on groundwater resources . . . are not well understood in the watershed. Additional information is required to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the area’s groundwater and surface-water resources.”
As Spanaway resident Yolanda Markel said in her comments to Council on July 25th, “If we keep this stuff up, put buildings in the wrong places, we’re not going to have any water.”
Neither Council member Morell nor Executive Dammeier, both developers, nor the county planner for this project, Rob Jenkins, nor Duke Paulson of the Tacoma Rescue Mission have spoken to our water concerns. Instead, in public meetings both Morell and Paulson have accused us of NIMBY-ism in an attempt to mute growing countywide concern.
Scott Monsen corrected this in the July 25th council meeting, “We are not confused, we are not afraid, we are not uncaring to the plight of the homeless and we are NOT going away.”
Steve O’Ban, counsel to Dammeier, told the Tacoma News Tribune [5] that to reinstate Residential Resource zoning “sends a real mixed message” and “certainly has a dampening effect on projects . . . for low-income people like the chronically homeless.”
That is simply not true. This is not a protest against helping the homeless, it’s a cry to save an important, fragile, substantial natural resource.
This is about water. Our water. Yours and mine.
A Lot of Money is Being Spent to Force this Village on the Wetlands, Despite the Community’s Objections
In an attempt to protect the Spanaway wetlands, the group Spanaway Concerned Citizens [6] has hired a land use lawyer and is accepting donations for legal fees on their website. The organization Friends of Spanaway Lake [7] is also deeply concerned because those wetlands feed immediately into Spanaway Lake. FOSL is still considering what action to take.
Council member Robyn Denson, one of two council members who voted no on changing the Rural Resource designation in the first place, told the Tacoma News Tribune that the original zoning should be honored, as the site is environmentally sensitive and wasn’t designed for use as a homeless village.
The county is spending tax dollars to fight their own constituents. Denson called this an “inappropriate” use of public money. “A lot of money is being spent by the County Executive to force this village on the wetlands despite the community’s objections,” Denson said.
The question remains: is the Council going to sacrifice Parkland-Spanaway-Midland to special interests? Because that really does not have to happen. We can have housing for the homeless and protect our wetlands.
Just not on the same piece of land.
Footnotes
- Council meetings are recorded. The July 25 meeting can be found here.
- Washington State Growth Management Act
- Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Communities Plan, Ordinance No. 2002-21s, adopted June 11, 2002.
- US Geological Survey study, “The Southeast Sound (Puyallup River and Chambers- Clover Creek Watersheds) Groundwater Flow Model.”
- “More controversy over big Pierce County homeless village as zoning decision challenged” by Becca Most, July 14, 2023, Tacoma News Tribune
- Spanaway Concerned Citizens
- Friends of Spanaway Lake
This is terribly unfortunate, but it is the plight in every area around Pierce, King, and Thurston counties of late.
We do not have many natural hábitats and resources left. I do not understand how decisions get made without considering the consequences for the wildlife habitats slated for demolition, and I guess I never will.
Follow the money…
Voters should remember these concerns and the electeds who ignored them when filling out ballots. When it comes to jeopardizing our beautiful and fragile wetlands, all of us should be saying NIMBY. Thanks for this thoughtful column.
Replacing a natural habitat in an established neighborhood, with a field of democrat voters, who will be harvested every election cycle.
You know, the kind of village it takes to raise your child.
Sounds like ruthless politics to me.
A sort of genocide just shy of the blood-letting.
The Bolsheviks have been working on this sort of thing for a hundred years.
The County Executive is only interested in protecting the interests of the unwise decisions of the Tacoma Rescue Mission Director and the developers who will construct the village on a site that is subject to episodic and extensive groundwater flooding, flooding that will occur more frequently as a result of global warming.
It seems to me there are two issues; saving natural areas and helping homeless.
Helping the homeless is easy. Make jobs available that will allow ALL people to afford housing with enough money to rent or buy.
Corporate Presidents don’t need their $20+ million. Puget Sound Energy does not need a CEO paid over $4million and then ask ratepayers for more money. And congress needs to pass laws that prevent the scavenger process of Investment Corporations buying up single homes for cash and then selling them for more.
Take care of this and there won’t be homelessness; at least not as bad as now.
This move to allow high density Shared Housing Villages* in the so-called Residential Resource (RR) Zone sets a bad precedent. The RR Zone “… is intended to accommodate and allow for low-density, single-family residential uses in a manner that is compatible with areas of unique open space character and/or environmental sensitivity.” (see County Code at https://pierce.county.codes/PCC/18A.10.080). That means zoning that allows a limited number of residences in environmentally sensitive “resource” areas near streams, ponds, and wetlands in an effort to offer some protections for these areas that might otherwise overwhelmed and degraded by human activity. Once the RR Zoning is abrogated by this exception, it’s conceivable that officials and proponents of this concept will go on to propose similar projects in other RR Zones. Do you really think they would stop at just one?
*The arbitrary density spelled out in Chapter 18A.45 under Shared Housing Villages as noted in Exhibit B, p. 136 to Ordinance 2022-49s notes that “… For the Shared Housing Use Type, sleeping units which lack private provisions for cooking, eating, or sanitation shall be equivalent to 0.25 dwelling units for purposes of calculating density”. See also https://pierce.county.codes/PCC/18A.45
Just look at these pictures of the incredible wildlife that live in our waterway! We must do all we can to protect them!
This “Tiny Homes on the Swamp” project was ill-conceived from the start — both from an environmental and social point of view. Moreover, environmentally, it is clearly illegal and should have never even been contemplated, much less approved. This is a national wetland, a critical area and wholly unsuitable for any such development. It is outrageous that the project has come as far as it has.
This plan is, however, perfectly in keeping with the vision that former president Trump laid out during a rally last summer, when he said what needed to be done was to “open up large parcels of inexpensive land on the outer reaches of the cities”, erect thousands of “high quality” tents and “move people out”. Just like in Spanaway.
(1:34:35 https://www.c-span.org/video/?521940-1/president-trump-speaks-america-policy-institute-summit)
While hundreds of people do need urgent help in our region, it is inhumane to exile almost 300 of them to a site unsuitable for human habitation, on the very edge of a suburban area, without easy access to transportation, services or jobs. We need to deal with these people in a humane way, on a human scale.
By vetoing the repeal of the ordinance that rezoned the parcel in Spanaway to make the so-called tiny home village possible, Mr. Dammeier has shown his determination to facilitate the destruction of yet more of our environment and quality of life in the name of such developments.
Mr. Dammeier’s veto clearly demonstrates, in the face of such intense public outcry in response to what is clearly a horrific project, that he is not interested in what is best for the people of Pierce County, or its environment, but in what is best for those who are behind this and similar future projects.
His veto also shows unequivocally that he is unfit to hold office and should step down.
Protection of the environment needs to be prioritized in Pierce County, like everywhere, more today than ever before.
But wait – there’s more! The Rescue Mission is a WA 401c3 non profit organization. They are not allowed to break Federal therefore State therefore county LAW to achieve their goals. This could in fact affect their non profit status. I intend to make a number of phone calls to the Federal agencies and then to the State agencies about this issue. From what I have learned so far, they do in fact stand to lose their WA non profit if they break these laws. Added to this is that I have tracked the water leaving Spanaway Lake – it ultimately enters Budd Inlet at Chambers Bay. Orca waters! Budd Inlet is now ranked as contaminated enough to cause the highest level of Federal protection of our beloved Orcas under the “Marine Mammal Protection Act”, yet I have seen or heard no reference to this in any of the county government minutes or at any public meetings. It is wrong of the elected leaders to not disclose this to the taxpaying public, who in fact pay all wages of all electeds and staff in this county! The offices and “agencies” who have approved this action in fact are not qualified to approve it, especially local electeds including the Executive and his staff. Not a one of them has the qualifications to make these approvals while disregarding this most powerful Act aimed at stopping the extinction of these Orcas!. And certainly no non-profit organization has that authority. I think it’s outrageous that the lead for the rescue mission actually says he plans to proceed regardless. What kind of message is he sending here? I don’t care what is forever lost as long as I get my way? Or, I don’t care about future generations, only about what I want? Yes, the homeless need housing. Yes, they need help. But at what cost? Had the “Act” that rules this State not been written solely for development and for no other reason, we may still have had our aquifers and lakes, ponds, streams, creeks, trees and water! It was never a law that can be enforced in any court that every foot of land MUST be built on no matter what is forever lost. It is however, Federal therefore State therefore county law to protect the water resources of the people! It seems no one is actually in charge in this State or all of this loss would not have happened. That does not mean we are to just look the other way while they destroy the last of our resources now solely for private profit and for no other reason.