Edgewood leaders have a vision for a busy city core along Meridian Avenue East where people can walk from one storefront to the next. It is similar to what Lakewood and University Place, two other young suburbs, have built or are building.
But developers to this point have staked out a different reality for the semi-rural East Pierce County community of nearly 10,000 people: Hundreds of new residences and very little commercial development.
Tonight Edgewood officials, fearful that the face of their city will be lined with houses and condominiums, will consider halting all new development for six months in some spots along Meridian. They will use the time to rework the city’s comprehensive plan and master plan for the corridor.
“The concern is we are not going to have any land left for commercial development,” said City Manager Henry Lawrence.
The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight, and it is expected to adopt the moratorium after the hearing. The ban would cover areas along about a 11/2-mile stretch of Meridian roughly bordered by Jovita Boulevard and 36th Avenue.
In the middle of that stretch is a planned civic center where the city will break ground this year. Just to the north are two housing developments totaling about 350 units.
Edgewood Flower Farm will be plowed under and turned into a complex of 60 town houses and 82 condos. Two small commercial lots will hold a small restaurant and a gift shop.
To the north of it, developer Robert Knutsen plans a 205-house development. No commercial development is planned there.
Knutsen said Edgewood needs more houses before it can attract businesses.
He built a shopping center on the corner of Meridian Avenue East and Milton Way in 1982, which is in Milton across the street from Edgewood.
The shopping center has never been fully occupied. Knutsen sold it two years ago.
“The problem is that the residential growth needs to catch up,” he said. “It’s really hard to do business/retail in Edgewood.”
The city’s population grew 5.2 percent between 2000 and 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – from 9,089 to 9,560 people. That’s less than half the growth rate of neighboring Puyallup and Milton and of Pierce County as a whole.
In reviewing their comprehensive plan, Edgewood officials might offer incentives for businesses to locate there, such as reduced traffic impact fees in targeted areas. The traffic fees, along with school and park impact fees, are designed to make developers pay for the extra burden their projects place on local infrastructure.
The nearby city of Fife recently adopted a similar incentive. Fife Mayor Mike Kelley said his city has lowered traffic impact fees for businesses looking to locate along 20th Street East between 54th Avenue East and Freeman Road East.
“We are trying to turn that area into a walkable business center,” Kelley said.
It’s too soon to tell whether the incentive is working, he said.
In Edgewood, Lawrence said he expects more housing development applications will be submitted to the city before the six-month moratorium takes effect next month. He declined to speculate on the identity of those developers.
Meanwhile, Edgewood will try to figure out why the city’s plans and development regulations are failing to deliver on its vision.
Work to start on community center
Edgewood residents are invited to a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the new Mountain View Community Center.
At 10,660 square feet, the building will replace the existing food bank on the same site and include space for other social services, activities and classes.
The center is an outreach of Mountain View Lutheran Church and is expected to be completed by next May.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: In front of the Edgewood Community Food Bank, 3505
122nd Ave.
For more information: contact Sara June Sutton at (253) 863-5171 or ssutton@mtviewlutheran.org
How to get involved
WHO: Edgewood City Council
WHAT: A public hearing on a proposed development moratorium along Meridian Avenue East
WHERE: The basement of Mountain View Lutheran Chapel, 3503 112nd Ave. E.
WHEN: 7 tonight
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
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