Are 100+ townhomes the solution for troubled property near Tacoma park? Opinions differ
A proposed townhome development of more than 100 units near Charlotte’s Blueberry Park is set for public review with the hearing examiner this fall, nearly two years after the initial proposal was filed with the City of Tacoma.
The site is just south of the park and bounded by East 80th and East D streets. East B and East C streets for now come to a dead end at the empty property.
Some residents are worried about the extra traffic, loss of trees and housing that might not be as affordable as they’d like to see. Others are hopeful the project will save a long-troubled forested property from vandalism and/or wildfire.
The developers and the city have maintained in separate statements that trees remain in the plans. As for eventual cost for future home buyers, the project is marketed as “attainable” townhomes, though SoundBuilt has not set a starting price on either the units or homeowner association fees.
“There will be an HOA, but we will not know any fee amounts until the site development is completed and the plat is recorded,” Evan Mann, manager at SoundBuilt, told The News Tribune via email in response to questions Aug. 28.
As for trees, he wrote, “We are not proposing to clear-cut the site.”
“The overall project is 28 acres. Our proposed development area is approximately 10 acres. Clearing will take place in the development area,” he added.
Some residents remain skeptical, envisioning a vast concrete island replacing urban forested acreage in a part of the city trying to improve tree canopy coverage.
Rachel Wilkie, South End Neighborhood Council vice-chair, contended the area is struggling for shade with its tract-housing lots developed mid-20th century that might not have retained trees through the decades.
“All of those (lots) were plotted on that 1950s model of a little patch of grass and maybe one statement tree,” she told The News Tribune in a recent interview. “So the canopy cover is very low.”
She added, “We’re feeling the impacts of climate change already. It gets hot, and all of that paving makes it hotter. And then we have I-5 already wrapping around our neighborhood, so that adds a whole lot of pollution to mitigate.”
Sandra Ford, who lives near the proposed townhome site, told The News Tribune in late August, “Some of the neighbors aren’t happy, especially the ones that are going to live within the vicinity.”
As for the property and any past or present oversight, Ford added, “They just can’t keep up with the homeless people. They meander in there and just do whatever.”
Second version of The Preserve
SoundBuilt’s project is the second attempted development called The Preserve on property that at one time was owned by Tacoma Public Schools.
The district sold the property to Green Harbor Communities in 2018.
The site then was proposed for the first version of The Preserve, a “workforce housing” development of more than 70 homes that was committed to keeping buy-in costs down with a homeowners association leasehold on the land the houses would be built on.
For Green Harbor, the plan was to preserve 22 acres of wetlands and to concentrate sustainable “eco-friendly homes” on less critical areas along D Street in a 30-acre development, according to the developers at the time.
The project failed to take off amid escalating construction costs and lack of qualifying buyers, followed by a pandemic.
Soon, the developers were looking for a buyer.
Michael Pressnall, Green Harbor co-founder, in 2021 speculated it was an idea ahead of its time.
“We were early to the game,” Pressnall told The News Tribune at the time. “Literally, nobody would qualify for our homes. It didn’t pencil out because of those increases to material ... that was probably the thing that really kind of broke and was the final straw.”
The developers sold off the site in May 2022 to an LLC representing Puyallup-based SoundBuilt Homes, which proposed “attainable townhomes” in initial plans filed December of that year.
Mann of SoundBuilt, in his August email, noted that the townhomes would bring a “major improvement for the neighborhood.”
“The neighbors have been concerned with this property and the homeless issue for years,” he wrote. “This project will provide attainable housing and new neighbors to help in keeping the property clean and clear of those issues.”
Bridging the gap between the developers’ plans and what neighbors fear will take some work.
While neighborhood advocates hope for a good turnout for the development’s public hearing, Andrea Haug notes that many residents’ frustrations with the city run high, to the point of some just “giving up.” Haug serves as chair of the South End Neighborhood Council.
“Look at South Tacoma and the warehouse being built there,” she said, referencing the hotly contested Bridge Industrial mega-warehouse development now under construction.
“You know, a lot of decisions are made before public comment.”
Sidewalks an issue
City staff, in their review of the project, had written that “Additional pedestrian trips are expected to travel north of the site on East D Street as a result of the new residences proposed.”
A condition was placed on the project that stated “A sidewalk connection shall be constructed along East D Street from the northern end of the site to the paved path into Charlotte’s Blueberry Park near East 75th Street.”
Representatives from the project’s civil engineer/survey team wrote a response in June to the city regarding additional sidewalk connection. They stated “Sidewalk along the west side of East D is proposed from East 80th Street to the north boundary of the development. The development does not propose a sidewalk extension along Charlotte Blueberry Park.”
That response, made public as part of the documents attached to the public notice online, drew criticism in community social-media groups from some neighbors and from others who spoke to The News Tribune in response to questions about the plans.
“They should be required to make a safe route all the way to wherever transit is,” said Haug, who spoke with The News Tribune.
Concerns also were raised by residents online and by Haug about the influx of new kids walking to school and absence of sidewalks going south.
Mann explained to The News Tribune what SoundBuilt’s plans are regarding sidewalks.
“The plat is proposing significant sidewalk improvements throughout the area,” he said via email on Aug. 28.
“The one connection we opposed was a significant offsite extension of sidewalk on the west side of East D Street that is redundant as there is already sidewalk on the east side of East D Street that provides pedestrian connection north to 72nd.“
Mann added, “We are also providing pedestrian connections through the plat into the Blueberry Park to ensure connectivity to the park.”
He said the development would include “a robust network of walkways through the plat that will connect East C Street and East B Street and include ramps at all intersections.”
Maria Lee, media representative for the city, did not offer details of how disputes over sidewalk extensions would be handled, but wrote, “Sidewalk, curb ramp, pedestrian safety-oriented requirements are required under Tacoma’s code.”
As for increased traffic, “Traffic improvements will be addressed in future permitting and will comply with Tacoma’s code requirements,” she wrote.
What will happen to the trees?
Ford told The News Tribune that she can see the still-standing trees from her house.
“I can understand,” she said, of neighbors’ concerns. “I’m looking out my back window, and I see all those big, beautiful trees that are sitting out there, and they’ll be gone, and I’ll be looking at townhomes.”
Ford knows the area well. She has been involved through the years in different neighborhood cleanup/Safe Streets programs and led The News Tribune through the site in 2019.
“It’s a problem area,” she stated simply. “They’ve had problems. Even Green Harbor Communities, when they had it. They had problems with homeless people, encampments and fires.”
Fires continue to break out, Ford noted.
“So many fires,” Ford said, sharing a photo via text from the aftermath of a recent blaze showing Central Pierce Fire & Rescue on the scene.
Mann told The News Tribune, “We have been responsive to all requests by the neighbors to help alleviate problems at the site related to homeless camping and other nuisances.”
Meanwhile, Ford and others are keenly aware of their “other” neighbors in the area: Creatures that call the wooded habitat home.
“You can hear the coyotes and lots of frogs,” Ford said.
There are rabbits, hawks, “and we have a friendly little owl that flies around. We’ve taken pictures of it when we’ve done our cleanups and stuff,” she said.
Ford later texted to The News Tribune a closeup of the owl perched in a tree. “I got a good picture of the owl,” she wrote. “I walked right up to it. Just looked at me,” she added.
“There was a point where we were like, surely that permitting is not going to go through and maybe it would go up for sale again,” Wilkie of the neighborhood council said. “We kind of had it in the back of our mind to look for any way to write a grant and get some funding to preserve that for the community.
“But it would be expensive at this point,” Wilkie added.
She made clear that she understood the need for housing, but said it needed to be met with regard to the overall health of the community and the city’s goals in its Climate Action Plan.
“We want places for people to live so that people can stay here,” she added.
Mann, in his responses about the project, reiterated that not all trees would be removed.
“The area we are utilizing for the development has already been significantly cleared,” he wrote. “We will be removing additional trees as needed but the vast majority of the 28-acre property will be preserved perpetually as open space.”
He added, “Clearing is limited to the area of site development activity.”
Lee with the city told The News Tribune via email in late August, “Approximately 50 percent of this site is wetland/critical area and, under Tacoma’s code, that area will be protected from removal of trees and vegetation. Once the process moves beyond preliminary plat, and subsequent site development permits, more information will be available.”
Lengthy process
For all the critics, SoundBuilt officials have contended to The News Tribune that they have encountered a lengthy, difficult and slow process.
“The city had already spent years reviewing this property ...,” Kurt Wilson, SoundBuilt chief operations officer, told The News Tribune in July in response to questions. “It’s not like it was a new piece of property that had a bunch of unknowns to the city.“
Larry Harala is principal planner with the city. He told The News Tribune in an interview in early August that previous review didn’t necessarily apply for the current project, which is described as a more-than 100 lot preliminary full plat and Planned Residential District (Rezoning).
The previous project’s initial plans called for less density on essentially three lots.
“The original proposal was very, very different from this,” he said, comparing the Green Harbor project. “We have to follow our code in terms of this is a major modification ... like a little mini master plan,” he said. “And so we have to navigate essentially a full rezoning.”
He noted other differences.
“There’s a lot more impervious surface on site. A lot more rooftop, a lot more driveway, and a lot more roadway between the two projects.
“That gets more complicated with stormwater and critical area,” he added.
The site “is broken basically in half,” he explained. “Half of the site is really just a big wetland, and they would be discharging stormwater periodically. That wetland and the volumes and amount of all that — it gets really complicated.”
“It was a lot of back and forth between the review of all that and the applicant,” he added.
Mann in July cited the challenge of “actual implementation due to the myriad cross-competing codes and standards,” particularly with stormwater and wetland regulations.
Lee noted in a separate email that “Staff has enough information to recommend approval, with likely need for the applicant to do some major modifications, up to and including loss of lots and substantial stormwater improvements.”
What’s next
In addition to comments submitted to the city, neighbors can attend October’s public hearing.
The public hearing is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 10 in City Council Chambers, 747 Market St.; public comments on the project will be accepted through 5 p.m. Sept. 11.
Lee said via email on Wednesday that a hearing examiner decision “will be issued approximately 30 days after the October 10 public hearing.”
Mann told The News Tribune that as for SoundBuilt, “We are available for questions anytime and if requested can be available to meet prior to the hearing.”
The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
