Moratorium the right move for soon-to-boom Tillicum

Here’s a concept: Planning and infrastructure before development explodes and overwhelms a community.

If more of that had happened in Pierce County in years past, the City of Lakewood might not need to impose an emergency six-month moratorium on new home and commercial development in the Tillicum neighborhood.

Small businesses and mostly low-income residences sprouted in the Tillicum area despite its lack of sewers. Development was always kept in check, though, due to the limited capacity of septic fields.

But now that Lakewood plans to have sewers installed by 2009, what has been considered a shabby, undesirable part of the city is suddenly prime real estate along Interstate 5. Developers are circling, sniffing opportunity.

Tillicum is expected to take off in a big way once the sewers are in. That’s good for property owners and for Lakewood’s tax base – but not if development is done in a slapdash, uncoordinated way.

Without a moratorium, the city could be swamped with permit applications by developers who would not have to comply with a community land-use plan – because such a plan hasn’t been adopted yet. A moratorium gives the city some breathing room.

City Manager Andrew Neiditz says Lakewood needs three or four months to develop the plan for Tillicum. The city has received valuable help from BCRA Design, whose president, Jeff Brown, is a Lakewood resident. BCRA created a community redevelopment plan for Tillicum that Neiditz expects will give the city a roadmap for the official plan the City Council will adopt.

BCRA envisions a future Tillicum with mixed-density commercial corridors along Union Avenue and Maple Street. The plan capitalizes on Tillicum’s proximity to American Lake and Harry Todd Park and creates a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly circulation pattern.

The Lakewood City Council wisely and unanimously approved the moratorium on an emergency basis, but will take public comment on Aug. 20. First reports are that Tillicum residents understand the reasons for the moratorium – which does not affect their ability to remodel or repair property – and support the city’s efforts to improve their community.

All of Lakewood is paying for Tillicum to become a better area through a citywide utility surcharge to fund sewer construction. It is in residents’ best interests for the improvements to be done right. This moratorium will help that happen.