Puyallup Valley Industrial Warehouse Development Proposal

A number of private development proposals are currently pending in the vicinity of Shaw Road and East Pioneer, both within and immediately outside of the city of Puyallup’s corporate limits.

Of particular interest to those who live in Puyallup is the proposed development of a 187-acre site which, although outside of Puyallup’s city limits, is within its Urban Growth Area (UGA). According to the State’s Growth Management Act, property located within a jurisdiction’s UGA is anticipated to someday be annexed into that jurisdiction. However, Pierce County, and not the City of Puyallup, has jurisdiction over this development.
Knutson Farms Industrial Development rendering
(Note: This rendering is based on the preliminary site plan submitted by the applicant. It was not provided by the applicant and may or may not accurately depict how the finished development might look.)

Pierce County has zoned this site as “Employment Center (EC).” In the recent and distant pasts, the property was utilized for farming.

Originally submitted in late 2014, the proposed development underwent little permit action until it was resubmitted to Pierce County earlier this year. The preliminary site plan shows more than 3 million square feet of industrial (i.e. warehouse distribution and freight movement) space in seven separate buildings.

The project assumes the construction of a new 5th Avenue SE road segment off of the Shaw Road overpass and the widening of 134th Avenue East.

In addition to several different applications—Short Plat, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), Shoreline, and Administrative Design Review—the applicant has submitted a preliminary landscaping plan and preliminary flood plain grading and compensation plan.

The city has commented multiple times on this proposed development, first in December of 2014 and again in October of 2015. In these letters, the city communicated numerous questions and concerns relating to traffic impacts and mitigation, needed utility extensions (water and sewer), floodplain and stormwater management, and the long-anticipated connection of the Riverwalk Trail in this area. The city is additionally interested to determine how the proposed development would affect surrounding properties, including the land which was recently acquired for the future Van Lierop Park.

Additional comment letters were submitted in June of 2016 and July of 2016 by the City's consultant on this matter. The July letter referred to and transmitted, as an attachment, information on possible traffic impacts of the proposed project. In addition, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe has recommended the development be modified in the interest of protecting salmon habitat and to reduce flooding risks.

Development staff at the County are reviewing the proposed plan and its various applications. Contact information for pertinent legislative and administrative officials at Pierce County is as follows:

Pierce County Council

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, 253-798-7477, pcexecutive@co.pierce.wa.us

Marcia Lucero, Project Manager, 253-798-2789, mlucero@co.pierce.wa.us

Dennis Hanberg, Pierce County Director of Planning and Land Services,
253-798-2754, dhanber@co.pierce.wa.us

Sean Gaffney, Planning Manager for Pierce County, 253-798-2724, sgaffne@co.pierce.wa.us