Long-dormant 535-home development outside Orting stirs to life
A 535 single-family home development is moving ahead outside of Orting after nearly 15 years.
A hearing examiner ruled last month that another land-use permit extension would be granted, but it was the final extension allowed without another public hearing. The initial permit application was submitted in 2005.
The owners the 117-acre property at the corner of Howe Road and Orting-Kapowsin Highway are hopeful that construction begins on the Daybreak development within the next 12 months.
The development would include at least 535 single-family homes, according to the plans submitted to Pierce County. The average lot size would be 6,058 square feet. The development also would include include two parks, the designs show.
Property owners, siblings Mike and Jacqueline McMahon, said the property has been in the family for more than 70 years. The new homes would help fill the housing need in Pierce County, and a road extension would help mitigate traffic concerns.
“It was something that we thought would be beneficial to the community to have more available housing ...,” Jacqueline McMahon said.
She said the county has been supportive of the project, but it’s been a long road of permitting and getting things like a sewer extension.
Some neighbors have voiced concerns about the development.
The property backs up to the City of Orting.
Mayor Josh Penner said it would be prudent for the developers to engage with the public. Penner said constituents have had concerns, including longer commutes and a more crowded school district.
Penner said 25,000 daily commuters already drive through Orting on state Route 162, and that number will only increase as more development continues around the city. While Pierce County certainly needs more housing, Penner said, if it’s all one type of housing, it won’t help.
“If it’s all $450,000 single-family households, that’s more or less what Orting already has,” he said. “ We need something more entry level to help us address the affordability issue.”
In early March, a Dr. Seuss character arrived on the property. A sign featuring the Lorax, “who speaks for the trees,” was placed on the logged land, his arms on his hips.
The McMahons said that the trees had to be logged because there was root rot. The trees were dead, Mike McMahon said.
