Spanaway homeless village violates federal wetland rules but staves off appeal
A Tacoma Rescue Mission project that promises to house nearly 300 chronically homeless people near Spanaway Lake has cleared another hurdle after an appeal filed against the development was denied by a Pierce County land examiner.
Neighbors of the project filed an appeal with Pierce County on Oct. 30 following a hearing examiner’s decision to approve the project in June 2024, alleging unpermitted development in violation of federal wetland protections.
During a hearing on Jan. 22, Paul Lubbesmeyer, who lives close to the project and has organized protests against it, alleged Tacoma Rescue Mission re-graveled a road which passes through a wetland to the site of the development and did work on a fish culvert under the road without a permit and in violation of federal regulations.
According to Lubbesmeyer’s testimony, the county was notified of the violations on Oct. 24 and issued permits to allow the work two days later. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also was notified of the violation.
Duke Paulson, the executive director of Tacoma Rescue Mission, told The News Tribune that his organization and the contractors were unaware they were violating development regulations by re-graveling the road and working on the fish culvert.
Paulson said the Rescue Mission reached a resolution with the governmental agencies where TRM would request and pay for the proper permits and would not be issued any fines.
“It’s allowed to do we just didn’t understand and get the permit first,” he told The News Tribune.
The work on the road was intended to make the site more accessible for heavy machinery.
The appellants, a group known as Spanaway Concerned Citizens, alleged the county violated its own codes based on the issuance of permits and a lack of inspections.
According to the hearing examiner’s decision on the appeal released Feb. 7, Spanaway Concerned Citizens had not “satisfied its burden” of showing that Pierce County was “erroneous” by issuing or refusing to withdraw a previously issued permit to do temporary work on the road due to existing violations.
The hearing examiner pointed to the county’s code enforcement, which does not mandate that the county reverse approved permitting in the instance of a violation.
The appellants also argued the existence of a federally protected eagle’s nest on the property required the property owners to request development approval from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.
The hearing examiner’s determination pointed out that Spanaway Concerned Citizens raised “significant concerns” about other protected species during the initial land-use hearing. The existence of eagles nest was never argued, thus the initial hearing examiner’s decision is “final” even if “erroneous,” according to the determination.
From the beginning, Tacoma Rescue Missions’ plans for the Good Neighbor Village have been met with resistance from neighbors, who have raised concerns regarding the project’s proximity to and potential impact on multiple adjacent wetlands.
Spanaway Concerned Citizens, which represents the neighbors to the project, has protested the project at every turn and in spring 2024 hired environmental lawyers to make a case against the development in a land-use hearing that lasted multiple weeks.
During that hearing, lawyers representing Spanaway Concerned Citizens made the case the homeless village would impact water quality in local wetlands and local protected species, and that the project was outside what county code would allow.
Pierce County hearing examiner Alex Sidles decided to approve Tacoma Rescue Mission’s project in June 2024.
In November, Tacoma Rescue Mission and Pierce County officials celebrated the groundbreaking of the project, which is planned to offer permanent community housing to elderly individuals who have been chronically unhoused.
Members of Spanaway Concerned Citizens protested the groundbreaking, and the group filed an appeal to the hearing examiner’s decision in Thurston County Court on Sept. 16. The case is undergoing pre-trial hearings with the next hearing scheduled for March 28.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
