A yacht club said its waters were polluted. It blamed University Place, Tacoma
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- A University Place yacht club claimed stormwater polluted its tidelands and marina.
- University Place and Tacoma were sued and accused of failing to maintain a nearby pond.
- Both cities, which denied allegations, agreed to pay a combined $350K to settle the lawsuit.
The cities of University Place and Tacoma have agreed to pay a combined $350,000 to settle an environmental lawsuit that alleges an unmaintained stormwater pond discharged pollutants into nearby saltwater tidelands owned by a yacht club.
The Day Island Yacht Club, which says it offers family-oriented boating for roughly 375 members and facilities for members to dock and moor boats, sued University Place in federal court in 2023.
It accused the city of “repeated and ongoing failure to maintain a sediment detention pond” and allowing silt-laden city surface water to be discharged into club-owned tidelands located in the Day Island Lagoon, according to an amended complaint filed last year.
Sediment from the pond, about a mile south of the Tacoma Narrows, interfered with moorage at the yacht club’s marina, boat navigation within the tidelands and safe use of a pedestrian floating walkway, the complaint said.
Tacoma was added as a defendant last year after University Place said that at least part of the pond was within Tacoma’s jurisdiction, court records show.
In late August, a settlement was reached between all parties, according to court records in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. University Place has agreed to pay $220,000, a city spokesperson said, while the Tacoma City Council on Sept. 30 unanimously authorized paying $130,000.
The proposed agreement, which is not finalized, also includes a plan for University Place to install a hydro-dynamic separator in the area of the subject pond “to serve as a stormwater treatment facility to remove sediment from stormwater before it is discharged to Puget Sound as a replacement of the pond,” according to a copy of the proposal.
Under the agreement, which is called a consent decree, neither University Place nor Tacoma admits to any allegations. It will be presented to the court for consideration after a 45-day review and comment period by federal and state agencies, according to Tacoma spokesperson Maria Lee.
The two cities declined to comment on the resolution, and an attorney representing the Day Island Yacht Club didn’t return an inquiry from The News Tribune. A message sent to the yacht club wasn’t immediately answered Tuesday.
In court filings in May, both cities denied wrongdoing.
University Place rejected that the pond was a “storm pond.” The city said it was a culvert in a woodland creek, not part of any regulated storm system, and noted that the yacht club had filed similar claims in the 1990s against both cities that resulted in an unspecified judgment, court records show. Tacoma said it had no obligation to maintain the pond because its stormwater permit prohibited stormwater treatment facilities within natural wetlands.
By allegedly allowing sediment to travel into the yacht club’s tidelands through 36-inch twin outfall pipes, the cities violated their environmental permits and the Clean Water Act, according to the amended complaint.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
