The City of Sumner’s controversial Orton Junction proposal will move on to the full Pierce County Council for a hearing later this month, several weeks after the county Planning Commission appeared to kill it.
The proposal calls for designating 182 acres south of Sumner as urban growth area, which would open the door for a development with everything from retail to medical buildings to a YMCA. The land is now zoned for rural and agriculture uses.
The council’s five-member Community Development Committee revived it at a Monday meeting that drew dozens of supporters and opponents and attracted roughly two hours of public comment.
Sumner leaders, officials from the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties and other proponents said the committee made the right decision.
“One more hurdle has cleared,” said Cindi Hochstatter, a Sumner city councilwoman.
But it was a blow to opponents, who say irreplaceable agriculture land will be lost if the proposal is approved.
About 3,200 acres of farmland in the county has been annexed into cities since 1995, said Marian Berejikian, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Pierce County environmental group.
“We’ve already lost a lot. We don’t need to lose more,” she said.
Sumner officials say the project would create an estimated 3,500 construction jobs over its full build-out, and more than 2,000 permanent jobs.
“There are people out there who want to open businesses in Orton Junction,” said Bob Ecklund, president and CEO of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties. “The time is now.”
But opponents say there already is room within city limits and the existing urban growth area for a Y and other components of the proposal.
“In Pierce County, we increasingly realize that we no longer have the luxury of having an infinite amount of farmland and natural resource areas available. Where will the pressures for development over farmlands end?” Marian Betzer of Bonney Lake wrote in remarks she prepared for the committee.
The Planning Commission turned down the proposal in a 4-3 vote in July, which means it wasn’t in the package of proposed comprehensive plan amendments on the committee’s agenda Monday. It was reintroduced via an amendment sponsored by Council members Dan Roach, Joyce McDonald and Dick Muri.
The committee voted to forward the proposal to the full council. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.
Cascade, a Seattle-based conservation group, recently became involved and has talked with representatives of Michael Corliss, the Sumner developer who owns a majority of the land.
Corliss said the talks have included offsetting development by increasing the amount of farmland that is given permanent protection.
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