Pierce County to repeal zoning for controversial homeless village but not until December
The Pierce County Council voted Tuesday to repeal two zoning ordinances that allowed for a controversial 285-unit micro-home village for people experiencing chronic homelessness to be built near Spanaway. The vote was unanimous with six members in favor. Council member Marty Campbell was not present.
In addition, the council approved an amendment that would make the repeals effective Dec. 15. That is after the Growth Management Hearing Board is scheduled to make a decision Dec. 6 on petitions filed that argue the county should not have approved those zoning ordinances in March, due to density and environmental concerns.
The amendment was brought forth by council member Dave Morell, who said the choice to extend the date until after the Growth Management Board’s decision was “so everything was clear and stood on its own two feet moving forward. So no one could use the appeal as ammunition against any of the challenges.”
“It’s on the appellant to prove that we overstepped our bounds,” Morell told the News Tribune. “The odds of that happening are slim.“
Both petitioners, Futurewise and Spanaway Concerned Citizens, recently indicated to the county they would dismiss their appeal if the county agreed to repeal the amendment that permitted shared housing villages to be built in the residential resource zone in the Parkland, Spanaway, Midland Communities Plan area, according to the county agenda.
Efforts by The News Tribune to reach representatives from Futurewise and Spanaway Concerned Citizens to discuss Tuesday’s council action were unsuccessful.
Despite the ordinance repeals, Tacoma Rescue Mission will still be able to build the village on the Spanaway site – pending approval of the appropriate permits – because its permit applications are vested based on the law at the time they were applied for, according to Bryan Dominique, communications manager with the council.
Repealing the prior zoning ordinances could have a dampening effect on similar development in the future, Steve O’Ban, senior counsel to the Pierce County Executive’s Office, told the News Tribune earlier this month. O’Ban said it “sends a real mixed message” that the county doesn’t want to build shared housing villages and “certainly has a dampening effect on other projects that could be well-suited for low-income people like the chronically homeless.”
Council member Robyn Denson, who co-authored the motion to repeal the March ordinances with council member Amy Cruver, voted against the amendment scheduling the effective date to Dec. 15.
Denson said she was concerned fighting legal challenges before the Growth Management Hearing Board are an “inappropriate” use of public money and that the ordinance passed in March doesn’t follow the comprehensive growth plan.
Prior to the vote, Tacoma Rescue Mission executive director Duke Paulson spoke in the public comment period asking the council to wait until December or January to let the legal process play out with the Growth Management Hearing Board. Paulson told the News Tribune earlier in the month that the mission’s lawyers think “there’s a very low likelihood of the case having any merits that we need to be concerned about.”
“A vote to repeal this appears to the community as a vote of no-confidence in the project and the county’s commitment,” Paulson said. “It affects the Rescue Mission, which we have a two-thirds burden of fundraising with the state and private individuals. And the appearance of this – both to the outside community that’s watching this, and the large community throughout the county – is having a negative impact on our project, even though our zoning and our ability to move forward and permit is OK.”
Several other residents spoke in favor of addressing homelessness but said they were opposed to building on the Spanaway site.
Denson said she was “not thrilled” with the decision to delay the repeal until Dec. 15 but said she would continue to vote yes on the repeal to send the message that high-density and high-impact development in environmentally sensitive residential resource zones “is not OK.”
“I know we’ve had a lot of comments about the village as designed and put forward by the Tacoma Rescue Mission, but as has been stated, quite clearly, that project has been deemed vested. They have a complete application and it’s moving through the development process,” said Council Chair Ryan Mello prior to the vote. “This council has worked and will continue to work incredibly hard on housing and homelessness. But just because this council won’t allow every use everywhere does not mean we’re not pro-housing or anti-homeless. It means we’re thoughtful about our land use decisions to put the right use in the right place. And I think this is the right decision moving forward for the residential resources zone.”
