18-month wait for Puyallup permits frustrates man who wants to develop food court
Two years ago, Shawn Manley told The Puyallup Herald he expected to finish an open-space food court on Pioneer Avenue within a year.
Today, rather than food vendors, a taproom and a fire pit, the property across the street from Anthem is a dirt lot with two food trucks, some benches and an excavator .
Property owner and developer Manley said he has been stuck in Puyallup’s pre-application and permitting process for 18 months.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Manley said. “At every turn, we’ve found challenges in communicating with the city.”
Manley is not alone in his complaints against Puyallup over its permitting process. Builders and stakeholders have asked the city for years to streamline its system. A report by The Herald revealed that their complaints in some cases were valid.
City manager Steve Kirkelie said he recognizes that the city could be better. The city budgeted $711,000 for a new online permit system and permit manager this year.
Records obtained by The Herald for 203 Pioneer Ave. show Manley has applied for eight permits, including demolition, utility and building.
Manley said he and a friend applied for permits around the same time. His friend requested a demolition from Bremerton and Manley from Puyallup. It took Manley 55 days. He said his friend got the permit approved in two days.
His utility and engineering plans were submitted to the city, and the city sent them back with comments and changes. When Manley re-submitted them, he said the city did not have a copy of their own adjustments.
“The city should know what they’ve told us to do, in order to know that we’ve done what they’ve asked,” he said.
Multiple times, Manley said he has missed communications from the permit office due to misspelled email addresses.
“We have to see that something happens or other small businesses or developers are going to choose to go elsewhere,” he said.
Some of the delays included Puyallup’s requests for additional information and revisions to meet code, according to a project time line summary provided by the city. The city and Manley continue to disagree on whether the building permit application is sufficient.
Construction costs have increased the project by $100,000, and there has been a 30 percent increase in material cost during the wait, Manley estimated.
The design
With a projected cost of $1.2 million, Manley hopes to turn what he once called the “ugliest building, the ugliest piece of property in the city” into a social space. The “Generous Corner” project would replace the former Pioneer Food & Gas Co. to bring people together around good food.
Designs for the 7,500-square-foot property include a two-story modern building. A taproom with beer, cider and wine would fill the first floor of the building, while the second-floor would become an indoor venue space for events like business parties or birthdays and additional seating if need-be.
The name is a nod to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, or spuyaləpabš (Spoy-all-up-obsh), which means “generous and welcoming behavior to all people (friends and strangers) who enter our lands.”
Because it is an unprecedented plan, Puyallup’s Economic Development Director Meredith Neal, said permitting for it can be complicated.
“It’s cool, and it’s great, but it can take more,” Neal said. “This is a little outside the box and stretches the capacity of permits and the ordinances.”
Manley has considered mothballing the project until the permitting process changes.
“We’re in it for the long haul, but we have to mitigate our risks,” he said.
Solution in the works
Puyallup has invested in a new $616,000 online permitting system and $125,000 for a full-time permit manager, which Manley hopes will speed up the process.
Kirkelie said it will take time to implement the program, but the city has begun to alter it’s mentality toward development.
“The attitude is gratitude,” he said.
Kirkelie believes the city needs to shift into a customer mindset when developers apply for a permit. He said even when the city denies a request, there should be an effort beforehand to overcome obstacles.
Speaking to some of the issues Manley ran into, Kirkelie said one thing the city continually hears about from developers is a lack of predictability.
“We want them to have confidence about what that road map looks like,” he said. “We will get better and we will need to be better at that.”
Manley hopes that the new approach will mean a building within the year.
