Is this the end of the Tacoma aroma? City finalizes vision for the Tideflats
After eight years of work, the city of Tacoma has finalized a long-term vision for the Tideflats that includes the end of the paper mill.
The City Council voted 8-0 to approve the plan Dec. 2.
The plan creates a roadmap for land-use decisions on the Tideflats and is accompanied by zoning changes that mean a laundry list of new facilities could not be established on the Tideflats. Top of the list? A pulp and paper mill.
Called the Tideflats Subarea Plan, it’s part of a planning process that the city has conducted for places like the Tacoma Mall area and the Dome District. It was designed to establish the Tideflats as a “thriving job center of regional significance” by 2050, that “demonstrates how a world class port can succeed alongside growing and vibrant urban neighborhoods.”
“This plan represents a new era of collaboration and shared stewardship for the Tideflats,” Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards said in a statement after the plan’s approval.
Stephen Atkinson, a principal planner for the city, said the subarea plan doesn’t seek to evict existing businesses on the Tideflats. Rather it sets parameters for future development in the area, Atkinson said. In addition to pulp and paper mills, the document’s approval precludes adult entertainment, animal slaughter and husbandry, an auto wrecking yard, cannabis growing and processing and more from the Tideflats area starting Jan. 5, 2026.
“Adopting a new plan or new zoning does not mean an existing business needs to close or relocate so they can continue, as long as they are economically viable,” Atkinson told The News Tribune.
“The immediate effect is something that you will not see in the Tideflats,” he added.
The approval comes two years after the Westrock Co. paper mill closed, which was among the sources of the famed “Tacoma aroma.” The city of Tacoma first announced that it was embarking on such a plan as Northeast Tacoma residents were calling for the city to rezone parts of the Tideflats to create a buffer zone between the industrial and residential areas.
A new “phased” zoning plan outlined in the Tideflats Subarea Plan seeks to do that. It creates areas of transition between the Tideflats’ heavy industrial core area and the neighborhood that surrounds it, in places like the Foss peninsula and Marine View Drive in Northeast Tacoma.
“It’s not necessarily that something like a metal recycler would be prohibited completely in the Tideflats, but it might not be allowed to be located right next to a neighborhood or community or business district,” Atkinson said.
The city developed the plan in collaboration with the city of Fife, the Port of Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and Pierce County following an extensive public-comment process. City spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune that the city has spent $1.43 million on the plan’s development, a cost that was split between the city, the port, the Puyallup Tribe and a grant from the state Department of Ecology.
It features guiding principles under categories like environment and health and transportation and infrastructure, and lists specific goals and policies to implement to accomplish each principle. The list of goals is extensive, but they range from bolstering recreation and park access along the Foss Waterway to removing or disposing of abandoned or derelict vessels.
Atkinson said the city didn’t envision that it would take close to a decade to complete the plan.
He said partnering with the Port of Tacoma and the Puyallup Tribe for such a project was “unprecedented,” so the city needed to spend time on a clear work plan outlining each group’s commitments and expectations. The city also established an advisory group, steering committee and contracted with a consultant to work on the project – and once that happened, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which delayed things.
“I don’t think anyone at the time envisioned it was going to take this long, and I think beyond the groundwork, the process I’d say probably really started with the community around 2021,” he said. “From that standpoint, it’s been a long process, but not something that’s probably been unreasonably long given the amount of work that’s been accomplished, really, since the project launch and the visioning phase of this work.”
