Should neighbors buy a public access point on this Pierce County lake? City weighs in
A firestorm has been raging about whether the city of Lakewood should allow two neighbors to buy a public access point on Lake Steilacoom. Last week, the City Council rejected the neighbors’ petition asking the city to vacate the land after the city received an onslaught of comments from people concerned it would set a precedent to limit public access elsewhere.
The ordinance would have approved vacation of a street end on 100th Street Southwest west of Dekoven Drive, one of seven public access points to Lake Steilacoom, if adjacent property owners paid the city the full appraised value of the 12,100-square-foot property within 120 days.
The neighbors argued they support public lake access but said crime and blight has been an issue at the site due to the city not maintaining it. One of the family’s home and garden encroaches on city right-of-way, so selling the property would have addressed the private encroachments too, they told The News Tribune in August.
Although the council considered postponing a decision until mid-October so the property owner could submit a complete appraisal, most council members present Sept. 16 said receiving the appraisal wouldn’t change their minds.
Council members Mike Brandstetter, Ryan Pearson and Patti Belle voted against the ordinance. Mayor Jason Whalen and council member Paul Bocchi abstained from the vote. Council member J. Trestin Lauricella and deputy mayor Mary Moss were excused from the meeting and not in attendance.
Brandstetter said although the neighbors were in their rights to submit an application to vacate the street end, the value of public access trumped in this case. Pearson said he heard a lot of good arguments for and against vacation of the street end and said he’d be supportive of a different kind of vacation that addressed encroachment issues but wasn’t in favor of vacating the public street end.
Whalen said he abstained from the vote because, “I don’t think that the issue is ripe for determination tonight, based upon the recent comment we received about whether or not there’s some ownership or title issues.”
Property owners said they’ve received threats
At the public hearing Sept. 16, property owners Clint Johnson and Sharlynn Gates said people have threatened their home and safety online and in person since they submitted their petition to vacate the street end.
Gates said people have threatened to enter their house and take their garden.
“We have been vilified in letters, public comments and social media. We have been accused of corruption, favoritism, a heavy-handed land grab by wealthy landowners and using my position as a Superior Court judicial officer to gain special privileges,” Johnson said. “We never intended any of this to be an adversarial process. We thought we were simply responding to the city’s recommendation to sell this land and use the proceeds to enhance other public locations on the lake. We have no plan to develop the land or to deprive our neighbors of access.”
Pearson and Whalen expressed concern about the way Gates and Johnson were treated and encouraged the public to treat each other with more grace.
Although “public access is critical … there are issues of resource prioritization” in terms of how street-end improvements would be funded and maintained by the city, Whalen said.
Lakewood has been examining the feasibility of developing street ends into small lakeside parks and ranked the 100th Street Southwest site as fifth out of 13 in terms of priority for improvements. It ranked higher on the development-cost scale, with an estimated $257,000 of improvements needed, according to a city report from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
“I hope we can work with the residents and the homeowners to make lemonade out of lemons on this particular project,” Whalen said after the vote. “I hope we can come back with something that makes sense.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
