Latest decision on Tacoma shared youth housing project is unlikely to please anyone
A controversial proposal to convert a historic Proctor church into shared youth housing hit another development hurdle Tuesday after the city reaffirmed its previous land-use decision to limit the number of occupants who could stay there.
In June, Tacoma approved a conditional-use permit that would allow building owner Warner Street Amici House LLC to move forward with a project to renovate the former church, but that decision didn’t sit well with the owners or neighbors, who both oppose the 29-resident occupancy cap.
Warner Street Amici House LLC argues it should be allowed to house up to 51 people at the 13,154-square-foot site, and neighbors think they should be allowed to house only six under the site’s current zoning for single-family use. Both the owner and nonprofit North Tacoma Neighbors United submitted requests for reconsideration to the director of Planning and Development Services in Tacoma last month.
On Tuesday, director Peter Huffman rejected both requests and affirmed his original ruling. Both groups have seven days to appeal the decision to the city’s hearing examiner.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, North Tacoma Neighbors United hadn’t decided if it would appeal the ruling, said neighbor Tim Pavolka, who spoke to The News Tribune on behalf of the group. Pavolka said neighbors would be meeting this week to discuss the issue.
In an email to The News Tribune around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, building owner Julie Cain said, “We just received the information as well and need time to think about our next steps for the project.”
Warner Street Amici House LLC said in its July request for reconsideration that limiting the number of residents to 29 “would render the Project as proposed economically infeasible as the resulting reduction in Project budget would not support the extensive building, site and off-site improvements currently proposed or required.”
In February while giving The News Tribune a tour of the space, Cain painted a vision of communal living at 2213 N. Warner St. where tenants ages 18-26 could rent shared or single rooms and enjoy shared bathrooms, a large kitchen, common areas, fitness room and recreation room in the building after they complete renovations.
According to the Amici House proposal there would be construction of a new 11-vehicle parking lot, eight angled parking stalls, 10 bedrooms, seven bathrooms, one apartment for a residential director and a laundry room. Each bedroom is proposed to contain three to seven beds. In February Cain told The News Tribune preliminary rents would range from $500-$900 or more a month.
Neighbors have raised concerns about many aspects of the project, including traffic, parking and noise, in addition to affordability and living conditions.
What did the planning director say?
In an order denying the requests for reconsideration Tuesday, Huffman said he understood both the neighbors’ and developers’ perspectives but affirmed his original decision to limit occupancy to 29 people with certain conditions met.
Although Huffman said the zoning capacity is likely to increase in the coming year as part of the city’s affordable housing action and growth strategy plan, Home in Tacoma, the proposal is being reviewed under the policies and codes in place at the time the application was completed.
The building remains a commercial building despite the use changing to residential, hence the need for a conditional-use permit, Huffman said. Because the structure was not originally designed for dwelling units, the city can also limit occupancy, he said.
Even though there has been opposition to the project, “neighbor opposition alone cannot be the basis for rendering a land use decision,” he added, and the fact that the city approved the project with conditions to minimize neighborhood impacts “is proof that the decision was not rendered solely on neighbor opposition.”
To meet the conditions of the permit Warner Street Amici House LLC would need to install landscaping buffers, increase street lighting, keep 20% of the site as open yard space and commence work within five years, Huffman said in his original decision.
Although there were many comments provided that detailed a history of poor site management by the building owners, Huffman said Tuesday “this is a new use on the site, and the previous issues have been taken care of through active building permits.”
