Pierce County plans down-zone of areas around Gig Harbor

Pierce County is considering removing parts of unincorporated Gig Harbor, on the east side of the bay, from the county’s urban growth area.

That means those areas would take on rural zoning, limiting the number of homes a landowner could build on a lot.

The county began discussing the idea after it was proposed by the city of Gig Harbor. Pierce County Councilman Derek Young attended Monday night’s city council meeting to discuss the proposal with city council.

During Monday night’s meeting, Gig Harbor senior planner Lindsey Sehmel presented Resolution No. 1124, which would be the first step in a long process for the county to potentially remove the area from the urban growth area.

“Executive Dammeier said the timing was ideal,” Sehmel said. “Pierce County has a two-year comprehensive plan amendment package … Pierce County will be leading outreach, informal meetings with community groups and more.”

The county would take the lead on any final decision and future work on the comprehensive plan.

Urban growth areas are intended to provide “urban level” services to residents within 20 years, including in areas like Gig Harbor North and the commercial development on Point Fosdick Drive.

“This is just the initiation of the process,” Young said. “You are not voting to remove anything. This just basically says that it would be difficult for the council to serve the area with urban services.”

Young said it may not be appropriate for the area to be zoned urban because of the lack of services and the area’s natural landscape.

“This is a two-year process, so the next opportunity to discuss this would be a full two-years from now,” Young said. “We have already seen development in this area. As you are aware, housing prices are extremely high now, so for the first time it’s become economically viable to develop these very difficult properties.”

Some of the steep, wet slopes where developers would like to build houses come with extra engineering challenges, and there is a potential of dense growth on land that could be potentially unstable if not engineered correctly.

“The point is, it’s becoming economical to spend a lot of money to develop these lots,” Young said. “... to be clear, Pierce County zoning would allow anywhere from four units per acre to six units per acre. There is a process where we will see a number of hearings.”

Young said he remembers denying many requests to extend sewer and other city services to the east side of the bay when he was a Gig Harbor City Council member. He said he didn’t see the city having the ability to extend urban services to the area in another 20 years.

Some council members took issue with the county’s lack of outreach to the community before Monday’s meeting and the lack of time given to the council to review the proposal.

“It seems as though tonight is the council’s last opportunity to pass it to you,” City Councilman Michael Perrow said. “Tonight it our last chance to comment, and then it’s totally up to you.”

Young said the county did not need the council’s resolution, but he wants to make sure the city is on-board with the proposal.

“You can weigh in along the process as citizens and as the council at any point,” Young said.

Perrow bluntly explained he did not trust the County Council to listen to the wants of the city, saying they have regularly been ignored by the county.

“Since you all can just take what you want, would you only take what we offer here or would you want to take (other areas),” Perrow said. “(The Pierce County Council) work together for things in their areas because they abut each other but don’t give a damn about what goes on over here .. So to pass this off … I have a lot of reservations.”

Young said he wanted to make a showing to bridge the gap across the Narrows and make sure the city is involved with the process.

Young said if the resolution is passed and the county initiates the proposal, all 288 residents in the area would be notified and multiple meetings would be held to receive public input.

Councilwoman Jeni Woock said she was in support of the resolution and removing the area from the urban growth area because she feared the area would become overdeveloped and clear-cutting of trees would ensue.

The council discussed the issue to length with Young who said they would not initiate the proposal without the resolution. The proposal could be initiated by the County Council, which would exclude the city from making an official stance.

The council voted unanimously on the resolution, with a caveat stating the council could come back at a later date and change its stance, depending on public input.

No Gig Harbor residents commented on the issue during Monday night’s meeting.

In other news

The council voted unanimously to approve Ordinance No. 1393, Group 2 city code amendments in regards to the city’s residential development moratorium. The amendments include:

• Removing streams and other critical area buffers from the city’s net buildable area calculations.
  
  
• Removing minimum density requirements in R-2, RB-1, WR, WC and WM zoning districts.
  
  
• Lowering maximum density requirements from four units per acre to three units per acre in the RB-1, WR, WM and WC zoning districts.
  
  
• Requiring 15 percent of “significant trees” to be retained in short plats.
  
  
• Requiring residential developments with 10 units or more to provide one guest parking spot per four units.
  
  

At the beginning of the meeting, the council went into a 15-minute executive session to discuss potential litigation. After the session, the council voted unanimously to give the city attorney authority to move forward with the “Northwest Commons litigation as discussed in executive session.” There was no further discussion on the issue after the vote.

Gig Harbor Mayor Kit Kuhn also proclaimed Aug. 3 as Military Appreciation Day and Aug. 7 as Gig Harbor’s National Night Out.

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 10:10 AM.