Puyallup council expands city limits by approving controversial annexation
The Puyallup City Council has voted to move forward with a controversial annexation.
The City Council voted April 27 to approve the rezoning and annexation of a 134-acre, rectangle-shaped agricultural and industrial area bordered by Valley Avenue Northwest, Freeman Road North, Levee Road and 86th Avenue East.
Effective May 15, the area will be absorbed into Puyallup, city spokesperson Eric Johnson.
The city is moving 43 addresses in unincorporated Pierce County to Puyallup properties, he said.
City Council will vote May 18 on which voting district the annexed land will join. The area likely will become part of District 1, Johnson said.
City project planner Kendall Wals described the Freeman Road area in July 2019 as an “island” surrounded by three cities, making it difficult for county sheriff’s deputies to respond to calls. The annexation process started after more than 60 percent of property owners signed a petition to become Puyallup residents. Wals said Pierce County and Puyallup worked together through the process.
Wals told The Herald that the Freeman Road area would be a natural fit for the city.
“They would have faster police response, they would have access to city services like libraries, have a more local form of government, and development regulation more closely defined,” she said.
While many in the area support the annexation, some residents fought its rezoning. The 134 acres was zoned as residential in unincorporated Pierce County. Puyallup voted to rezone the land into light industrial and manufacturing in December.
Vector Development was an advocate for the rezone and has shown interest in building a warehouse in the area.
Most property owners have signed documents saying they will sell their property to Vector Development if the area were re-zoned for light manufacturing and warehousing.
A handful of residents and neighboring local governments take issue with the future of the land.
Steve Asbjornsen, whose family has been on the land for generations, said he wants his mother to have the ability to live the rest of her life in the home she was born in.
“I want to let my mom live out the rest of her life here in an area she’s known her whole life, not surrounded by warehouses,” he told The Puyallup Herald in December.
The City of Fife and the Puyallup Tribe sent letters to the Puyallup City Council opposing the rezoning. Puyallup’s Planning Commission sent its recommendation to the council that the residential zoning remain.
Tyler Litzenberger, president of Vector Development Co. told The Puyallup Herald in December that the company will work with households that want to remain, and create as many improvements as possible.
Vector Development estimates that it will spend $3-5 million on improvements, like adding sidewalks, street lamps, repairing the road, water and sewer lines and adding “buffers” between the warehouse and the homes, like shrubbery.
Land north of the area is owned by the Washington Department of Transportation. The state plans for the land to become the link between Meridian Road and I-5. The state Route 167 project is anticipated to be completed within the next 10 years, city staff told council in a Nov. 10 council meeting.
Litzenberger said warehouses would be more appropriate near the state Route 167 extension, and the project would help “bolster local economic development.”
In the coming months, the city has to conduct a census of the residences annexed into the city, Johnson said.
