At age 50, Fife already is getting bigger. Now it wants to grow taller.
The city wants to allow buildings up to eight stories tall along all of Pacific Highway East. It’s aiming to attract businesses – including those from the nearby Port of Tacoma – to add midrise buildings, city leaders say.
Because there isn’t enough vacant land to develop in the city, the solution is to build up, said Mayor Mike Kelley.
“We need to start allowing people to go up higher,” Kelley said. “Our land’s getting too valuable to keep going out.”
The long-term goal is to redevelop Pacific Highway into an urban village that would include a Sound Transit light rail station, said City Manager Steve Worthington.
A Fife stop 10 years or so down the road is part of the light rail measure on the ballot in November. That station could bring a boom in demand for housing and office space to Pacific Highway, Worthington said.
The City Council will have a public hearing on raising the height limit Tuesday night. After the hearing, the council could vote to give preliminary approval to taller buildings along Pacific Highway East, which is also Highway 99.
So far, there’s only one project in the works that would be affected. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is building the foundation supports for two four-story parking garages at its Emerald Queen Casino & Hotel at Fife. The site for the garages are not on tribal trust lands and are subject to Fife’s regulations.
The increased height limit would speed up and streamline the process for approving the garages and other projects up to eight stories tall.
John Weymer, spokesman for the Puyallup Tribe, said he welcomes the proposed change.
“It would certainly make our current project easier in the permitting process,” he said. The garages would be 46 feet tall – just 6 feet taller than the maximum height allowed now.
Fife currently allows buildings up to three stories or 35 to 40 feet tall along the city’s main thoroughfare, except at the far west end of Pacific Highway East where buildings up to 90 feet tall already are permitted. The change would extend the 90-foot height limit along Pacific Highway East to the east city limits.
One of the main reasons for making the change would be to attract offices for business generated by the Port of Tacoma, said city planner Chris Pasinetti.
“The port’s expanding,” Pasinetti said. “Fife is a part of that area.”
“We’re just hoping to do a little economic revitalization for Pacific Highway,” Pasinetti said. “We figure if we allow building heights to go a little higher, it might encourage that.”
Fife is not the only South Sound city that is looking skyward.
Neighboring Federal Way is negotiating with a Canadian developer to build three 22-story skyscrapers and one 15-story tower. They would be the tallest structures in the city. And Puyallup is working on a City Hall that would be the tallest building downtown, despite the misgivings of its planning commission.
Worthington said he’s received several inquiries in the last six months for office space in Fife. They range from professional services, such as medical and engineering firms, to regional business headquarters.
The code change would eliminate the requirement for a conditional use permit from a hearings examiner, Pasinetti said. The City Council still would need to approve the projects, he said.
Fife, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of incorporation this year, is a fast-growing city with a mixture of warehouses, housing subdivisions and luxury car dealerships.
The city grew by 50 percent from 2000 to 2007. The population expanded from 4,784 to 7,180, according to state population estimates released in June.
Fife’s tallest building is the Trans-Pacific Trade Center, 3700 Pacific Highway East. It’s four stories and 60 feet tall.
The Emerald Queen Casino hotel also is four stories tall, but slightly shorter.
The city sent out 348 letters to property owners within 300 feet of the areas affected by the proposed change.
Just one property owner objected: the state Department of Transportation.
The state wants to buy land for a proposed Highway 167 interchange at the city’s east end. It is asking the city for that land to be excluded from the area where height limits would be raised, Worthington said. The City Council will decide on the state’s request.
Kelley said the council has been working toward raising the height limit for several years.
“We can’t stay stagnant or we start going downhill,” Kelley said. “It’s something we feel is necessary for the future of Fife.”
WHAT: Public hearing on raising Fife’s height limit
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE: City Hall Council Chambers, 5411 23rd St. E., Fife
WHAT’S PROPOSED: Raising the height limit along Pacific Highway East from three to eight stories
MORE INFORMATION: www.cityoffife.org or 253-922-2489
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