Submitted by Spanaway Concerned Citizens.
We still have a real chance to stop the “Good Neighbor Village” project—and we are not giving up! Spanaway Concerned Citizens has filed a motion in Thurston County Superior Court, asking the Honorable Judge Carol Murphy to reconsider her recent dismissal of our Land Use Petition Act (“LUPA”) challenge. This motion suggests that the court applied the wrong legal standard. Instead of conducting an independent review of key legal questions, as the law requires, the court deferred to the hearing examiner’s decision.
These are not minor technicalities—we are raising two critical legal flaws: First, TRM does not own the entire project site. Second, the proposed development contradicts the Pierce County Comprehensive Plan’s requirements for housing density. Court procedures require a fresh, de novo review of legal issues.
While the Tacoma Rescue Mission claims in press releases that it has secured three legal victories, the truth tells a different story. Two of those decisions came from short-term or temporary hearing examiners. In one of those proceedings, we prevailed, successfully protecting the tree conservation tract on the project site. This recent Superior Court ruling is not final, as our motion for reconsideration is pending.
Despite this uncertainty, TRM is forging ahead, spending local, state, and federal funding on the project. The Tacoma Rescue Mission is hinging its hopes on a $62.7 million bid proposal, yet serious questions remain about the plan’s financial integrity. Inconsistent figures, unreliable HUD vouchers, an unstable operating budget, and the threat of federal budget cuts all raise significant doubts about the project’s long-term viability. In short, this is a high-stakes gamble with our tax dollars — and the risks are too significant to ignore.
The “Good Neighbor Village” isn’t being a “Good Neighbor” at all! It is an extreme and costly response to homelessness—one that no other county in Washington has attempted. At more than $200,000 per resident, it is an unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars, especially when it is proven that cheaper solutions exist. Why should our community shoulder this risk?
Spanaway Concerned Citizens applaud the citizens of Parkland, Midland, and Spanaway for continuing to stand firm against county officials who have repeatedly ignored our concerns. The contrast is clear — only one individual, representing the Tacoma Rescue Mission, was present in the courtroom on March 28th. However, dozens of you — Spanaway Concerned Citizens — filled the courtroom and the Zoom session.
Thanks to our community’s commitment, we have made significant strides over the past two and a half years — and we are not stopping now! Every contribution, large or small, brings us one step closer to preserving what matters most: our community and the sustainability of its natural resources.
RAISE YOUR VOICE for our Community! RIGHT IDEA — WRONG LOCATION!
Please donate today. 100% of donations go toward legal fees.
Spanaway Concerned Citizens
P.O. Box 562
Spanaway, WA 98387
ONLINE: https://spanawayconcernedcitizens.com/
We are a 501-C4. Contributions are not tax-deductible.
“RIGHT IDEA — WRONG LOCATION!”?
Unfortunately it is “WRONG IDEA—WRONG LOCATION!”
The homeless problem has become a codependent relationship between politicians and homeless. The more they spend ($200K per) the worse the problem becomes. Ever watch a weight-loss program where a 600 pound person, who can’t move, is still gaining weight? Someone is supplying that individual with food in a mutually satisfying relationship, a codependent relationship, out of which both individuals are getting something. Politicians and the homeless share this relationship.
In logic, a false premise using perfect logic must of necessity result in a false conclusion. Unfortunately you are attacking the “logical” conclusion and not the false premise of this argument: “The homeless are homeless because they don’t have a roof over their head.” This “logical” conclusion follows and thus becomes difficult to attack.
Rather, for the majority of homeless the reason they are homeless is due to addiction, mental illness, and a desire to live outside the norms of society.
The problem is not what is over their heads but rather what is in their heads. Put $200K towards mental health and drug abuse programs to include involuntary commitment, coupled with law enforcement (vagrancy, public defecation, intoxication, drug trafficking, trespass, littering, etc.) and you won’t have to build the homeless homes.
Do this and the homeless with either “shape up” or move to somewhere else where a codependent relationship with politicians exists.
Spot on, John; until the State gets serious about addressing the mental health and drug addiction issues, the homeless problem will continue to exist. It is very sad to see all over Pierce County homeless persons pushing shopping carts full of their belongings.
Mental illness is the problem. Several years ago, a radio host took several weeks in Seattle talking to the homeless and asking them what they wanted. They wanted to stay where they were — on the street! They don’t want anyone telling them what to do. The biggest problem is mental health, but for some reason, in this country, that is never addressed for anyone, be it a homeless person, a young, angry person, or a former military individual with PTSD. It is truly the shame of this country. This Spanaway plan is very poor. Follow the money. Projects like this are always about the money.
Opinions are in collision with data and agenda is politicized. There are multiple reasons behind circumstance of people without shelter, and there is an underlying responsibility of society to assist with provision. How all that moves toward practical response is more complex that a “one-size” fix. Regardless, the TRM “Good Neighbor Village” is a classic demonstration of the Spanaway Concerned Citizens’ argument, precisely.
The immediate issue before regional public interest is to stop making a mess of this site and to come back to the broader and difficult social problem it seeks to address. THAT COURSE, at best, means “Citizens” success to force Pierce County and TRM toward reconsideration of the “good” they attempt with the comprehensive attention and assistance siting that long-term public interests require.
Financial support for Spanaway Concerned Citizens is the front line of this battle “with ourselves” to cause redress through sensible, legal regional governance (Pierce County).
“BAD Neighbor Village” is what we’re expecting. There’s already been a large fish kill in Spanaway Lake, most likely due to the land clearing where the silt fencing was NOT in place as required, until much of the clearing had already been done. Our wetlands and waterways will be impacted in a major way. No doubt, with drugs allowed in the village, there will be needles, chemicals, garbage, waste, etc. entering the wetlands and the creeks on the property, and flowing directly into Spanaway Lake and beyond. Chronically homeless are homeless because they choose to be. They don’t want to follow any rules. The mentally ill need help, yet we no longer have the facilities to house them.
This will be a nightmare for the police and fire service.
Property values will tank in the area and crime will increase even more.
Great use of our tax dollars, huh? How long will TRM be able to fund this project?
Why couldn’t we have used McNeil Island. You’re hiding them away back in the woods anyway, with no easy access to medical facilities or stores. This is a bad location when it affects our water supply and our neighborhoods. We will continue to fight this!
The location of this homeless village only encourages the spread of theft, violence, drugs to another neighborhood that doesn’t deserve it. Much of the area around them is undeveloped and these garbage these folks leave is horrendous. Pierce county is doing a disservice to the spanaway community. Shame on you.
Spanaway is the wrong location for this. We, Spanaway residents vehemently oppose this plan. The current environment of rampant theft, drugs, destruction of lives and property will only escalate a thousand fold if this happens.
Spanaway need help, not dumped additional problems in this neighborhood!
WRONG IDEA — FOR PEOPLE, NATURE, AND THE TRUTH!
As an environmental advocate, I stand with Spanaway Concerned Citizens in protecting our wetlands, forests, and neighborhoods from short-sighted development. However, I do not support fear-driven narratives that dehumanize unhoused people or misrepresent the complexity of homelessness.
Environmental preservation, compassion, and adequate housing policies are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are inextricably linked. When elected officials fail to provide adequate services, people take shelter in encampments—often in sensitive ecosystems—polluting waterways, disturbing wildlife habitat, and overburdening an already stressed landscape. That is not a failure of the unhoused—it is a failure of leadership.
The answer lies in thoughtfully planned housing in appropriate places that integrate support services, minimize ecological harm, and prevent the displacement of people and wildlife.
What is dangerous is not just where this commercial project is being built—but how some are weaponizing homelessness—dividing our community while undermining legitimate environmental concerns. The false narrative that most homeless individuals choose this life or are beyond help distracts from the real work of addressing root causes—mental health, addiction, unaffordable housing, and, critically, the environmental damage that results when these issues go unaddressed. While solutions are urgently needed, placing a low-barrier community intended to house nearly 300 chronically homeless individuals within an environmentally sensitive wetland complex that supplies over half the water to our watershed is “not” a responsible or sustainable answer.
Environmental protection means protecting both ecosystems and the people who live in them. If we care about our natural heritage, we must advocate responsible land use, sustainable infrastructure, and humane solutions to housing instability.
We, as tax-paying citizens, need to demand more innovative planning! Let’s demand that Pierce County follow its comprehensive plan! Let’s not demonize the most vulnerable among us by housing them out of sight in the middle of a swamp! Our community, our environment, and our most vulnerable deserve better!
Factually correct and well stated Kim!
Ditto Kim Sherwood! Well said
The problem is also one of semantics. Language has meaning. The terms “homeless” “un-housed” are descriptors of the result of causative behavior which ultimately results in in “non-solutions”. Imagine if we used descriptors “addicted indigent” or “mentally ill indigent”. Would housing be the first consideration? For those not addicted or mentally ill, the term “indigent” would suffice.
Politicians and the homeless lobby would probably recoil at such direct language but if we’re going to be honest and tackle this problem we need to “call a spade a spade”! A softer kinder expression (homeless) does nothing but ease the conscience and virtue signal for those on one side and remove personal responsibility from the other: both sides of a codependent relationship.