Pierce County Executive vetoes council decision on controversial homeless village zoning
In another twist of controversy, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier on Wednesday vetoed the County Council’s July decision to repeal several zoning ordinances that authorized a 285-unit micro-home village for people experiencing chronic homelessness to be built near Spanaway.
The council voted unanimously, with six members in favor, on July 25 to repeal the ordinances in light of the Growth Management Hearings Board scheduling to make a decision in December on two petitions that argue the county should not have approved those zoning ordinances due to density and environmental concerns.
Even if the ordinances are repealed, Tacoma Rescue Mission would be able to build the village on the Spanaway site – pending approval of the appropriate permits – because its permit applications vested based on the law at the time they were applied for, according to Bryan Dominique, communications manager with the council.
In a letter to the council, Dammeier vetoed the council’s zoning decision. The council can now let the ordinances stand or hold a vote to overturn the veto, which would require a two-thirds majority.
“I veto very rarely. In my six-and-a-half years, this is my seventh veto,” Dammeier told The News Tribune in a Wednesday afternoon interview. “Most of the time, we can work things out. Most of the time we can find a path forward. On this time, I don’t think we did.”
Dammier said he thought the ordinance was conceived, proposed and acted upon “very quickly” by the council.
“I think they acted in haste,” he said. “I don’t think they thought it through as well, and I hope that my veto in this case will give them the chance to reconsider it more thoughtfully.”
In an email to The News Tribune, Council Chair Ryan Mello said in light of the litigation in front of the county and the many issues the council is trying to balance, he would need to see where the council wants to take the discussion.
“This Council has worked and will continue to work very hard on housing and homelessness,” he wrote. “Council does see the need to balance our need for facilitating more housing options, but not at the expense of our environment and that is what Council was trying to do in its unanimous vote of the ordinance the Executive vetoed.”
Dammier said in his Wednesday letter to the council, that after recommendations from the Planning Commission were reviewed to be consistent with the Growth Management Act, Vision 2050, County Comprehensive Plan and applicable community plans, the council voted in March to allow shared housing in areas previously limited to traditional residential development.
In the letter Dammeier said he has “serious concerns about the message this sends to our community,” given the need for “tens of thousands of new units” for low-income and extremely low-income residents. He said by adopting Ordinance 2023-24, “the Council reverses course and takes this affordable housing option away for future projects.”
“This will take political courage, and yes, will require at times we chart a different course than powerful interests like Futurewise prefer,” he wrote. “This is one of those times. The Council should stay the course in supporting more housing options.”
Futurewise is a Seattle-based nonprofit that advocates for “farmland, wildlife habitat and livable communities in Washington,” according to its promotional materials. It is one of the groups that challenged the March zoning changes to the Growth Management Hearings Board.
Dammeier told the News Tribune it’s “not uncommon” for ordinances to be challenged before the Growth Management Hearings Board.
“That is a part of the land use process,” he said. “This appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board, if they hear it and think that we need to make some adjustments, we could make those adjustments very easily. ... Our attorneys were perfectly comfortable going before the board and defending the policy as it originally passed. I was perfectly comfortable with that as well.”
Mello said the council has taken many steps to address affordable housing, including passing the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act in March, as well as other infill housing policy and amendments to the land use code to allow for cottage housing, shared housing and others.
“Enacting solutions to affordable housing and homelessness are top priority areas for this Council, and the Council has taken significant action on those fronts,” Mello told the News Tribune in an email. “We have more work we’re going to do on Accessory Dwelling Units. We’ve done lots of work on farm worker housing and employee housing. This is just some of the examples of our focus in this area and there is much more to come. The Council does not feel like we must choose between our environment and meaningfully addressing our affordable housing and homelessness crises. Those are false choices. “
Dammeier said in the letter he was encouraged by much of what the council has accomplished together in supporting low-income and historically disadvantaged residents.
“This ordinance repealing certain shared housing options is an unfortunate exception,” he wrote. “Had the Council chosen to assess the impact of its actions on these vulnerable populations prior to voting, I trust the inequitable consequences would have given members pause.”
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 3:36 PM.
