Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A Tough Call in Tillicum
Those people who cry out for leadership heard an answer last night.
A Lakewood City Council best known for moving slowly and for squabbling voted unanimously to impose a moratorium on any new permits for major residential and commercial development in Tillicum. The request came from the city's planning department. You can read the report here either in Word version or as a PDF.
The way moratoriums work is that they take effect immediately, but the council will hold a hearing Aug. 20 to hear from the public about the move. The council shortly thereafter has to either confirm its decision or let the moratorium end.
This has traditionally been a council that does not mess with the private sector. Why a moratorium?
First, the quick background is that the Tillicum neighborhood, which now has a reputation for being underdeveloped, is going to be getting sewer service in 2009. Currently, most of the area is on septic systems, which limits how many homes and businesses can be there. The presence of sewers will open up a floodgate of development. Tillicum is located between Interstate 5 and American Lake. The potential is incredible. The private sector is already speculating on potential developments; rumors abound. The Tillicum of 10 years from now is going to be incredibly different than the Tillicum of today. Obviously, we all hope it will be for the better.
A local group of volunteers, based in a Tacoma architectural firm, interviewed people throughout the city and came up with a vision grounded in large part on what current Tillicum residents hope for.
The reason for the moratorium is that people are beginning to plan projects that would not be feasible under the community's vision and could also cause big problems. For example, the plan recommends undergrounding utilities along Union Avenue. Someone who filed a permit today might not have to underground utilities.
There are many other issues:
- Tillicum is a very old area. Staff have found old maps that show roads in different places. That raises huge questions about whether what we think are current boundaries of streets and properties are indeed the correct boundaries.
- At the recent meetings of the Tillicum neighborhood association, citizens have expressed concern that someone could build a 5,000-square-foot casino on Union Avenue. Is that possible? I'm not sure. But if a moratorium helps us preserve the neighborhood's right to address that issue, it's a good moratorium. Most people envision that area, so close to Fort Lewis, either anchored by major hotels or retail and office centers ... not a casino.
- Speaking of Union Avenue, the word "patchwork" comes to mind (if you drive there now, you know what I mean). There are no special rules for its buildout now; but if you don't do things right, you could end up like we are in Ponders, where property owners and businesses are similarly constrained by oddly shaped lots sandwiched between the railroad, the highway and the city road. Does Tillicum and does the rest of Lakewood want a new Union Avenue to look like present-day Ponders? There needs to be some planning before the permits start flooding in.
- And then there are the lots. Lots and lots of lots. In some ways, this is the most important - and the most unsettling - reason. Let me explain.
Tillicum has a number of small rectangular lots, mostly 25 by 100. These date back to shortly after the turn of the century, when what we now call Lakewood was a series of lakeside camping communities. It was common practice back then throughout the West for people to buy such rectangular lots sight unseen even from as far away as the East Coast. It was the way they did things then. But the challenge is that today, if you built on each and every such lot, Lakewood's population could explode in a patchwork basis.
This goes to the heart of a major concern. Right now, throughout Lakewood, there are all sorts of these turn of the century lots (particularly in Lake City). These lots are gradually being developed. For the years I have been on the council, I have met a number of people who are concerned about houses that go up next to them. The one neighbor I remember most vividly is in Lake City, while the most recent lives near Park Lodge School. Invariably, these folks begin the conversation by saying the new city failed to protect them from overdevelopment. Instead, the real cause has been those turn of the century lots.
Got your attention yet? No? OK.
There are 800 acres of these lots in Lakewood.
800 acres. None of us have any concept of what would happen if people suddenly built out everything they are entitled to build under the existing rules ... and that goes throughout the city.
What the Tillicum situation will do is force the city to make some extremely tough decisions that will have implications beyond Tillicum. If you own one house on a couple of these lots, you have under current property rules every right to develop the lots to a higher density and get the maximum value for your property. However, very few of your neighbors know of this potential. Those 800 acres are going to gradually get developed; and then more and more people will realize that somehow the Lakewood that they incorporated so it could take control of its destiny is losing control.
The council is going to have to task its staff to come up with alternatives to deal with the turn-of-the-century lots. The likely alternative, of course, is that there will be a battle. The battle will pit fundamental property rights against neighborhood concerns about overcrowding and development. But maybe those really are the concerns at stake.
You could make the case that this will be one of the toughest decisions that the people of Lakewood will have to grapple with in this decade. But we need to do so.
I believe strongly in fundamental property rights. But I get heartfelt notes and calls and have other encounters with citizens throughout Lakewood who don't understand why the city let their neighborhood change so much. These people don't know about the turn-of-the-century lots, and the potential for more change. We need to all start talking in the open about these things.
Problems never go away when you ignore them; they just get worse. And it is corrosive for houses to appear out of nowhere. It is corrosive for citizens to not know the real reason why. And it is corrosive for citizens, whether they are the potential builders or the recipients of more homes in their neighborhood, to be ignorant of the underlying situation and what they can do about it.
So that's my first take on the subject. The moratorium and underlying issues are extremely complex, but blog postings are supposed to be short. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to fill in what I missed.
But in the meantime ... So you want leadership? You got it. And now will come tough decisions. Stand by. We will have much more to discuss.
Forward this post
A Lakewood City Council best known for moving slowly and for squabbling voted unanimously to impose a moratorium on any new permits for major residential and commercial development in Tillicum. The request came from the city's planning department. You can read the report here either in Word version or as a PDF.
The way moratoriums work is that they take effect immediately, but the council will hold a hearing Aug. 20 to hear from the public about the move. The council shortly thereafter has to either confirm its decision or let the moratorium end.
This has traditionally been a council that does not mess with the private sector. Why a moratorium?
First, the quick background is that the Tillicum neighborhood, which now has a reputation for being underdeveloped, is going to be getting sewer service in 2009. Currently, most of the area is on septic systems, which limits how many homes and businesses can be there. The presence of sewers will open up a floodgate of development. Tillicum is located between Interstate 5 and American Lake. The potential is incredible. The private sector is already speculating on potential developments; rumors abound. The Tillicum of 10 years from now is going to be incredibly different than the Tillicum of today. Obviously, we all hope it will be for the better.
A local group of volunteers, based in a Tacoma architectural firm, interviewed people throughout the city and came up with a vision grounded in large part on what current Tillicum residents hope for.
The reason for the moratorium is that people are beginning to plan projects that would not be feasible under the community's vision and could also cause big problems. For example, the plan recommends undergrounding utilities along Union Avenue. Someone who filed a permit today might not have to underground utilities.
There are many other issues:
- Tillicum is a very old area. Staff have found old maps that show roads in different places. That raises huge questions about whether what we think are current boundaries of streets and properties are indeed the correct boundaries.
- At the recent meetings of the Tillicum neighborhood association, citizens have expressed concern that someone could build a 5,000-square-foot casino on Union Avenue. Is that possible? I'm not sure. But if a moratorium helps us preserve the neighborhood's right to address that issue, it's a good moratorium. Most people envision that area, so close to Fort Lewis, either anchored by major hotels or retail and office centers ... not a casino.
- Speaking of Union Avenue, the word "patchwork" comes to mind (if you drive there now, you know what I mean). There are no special rules for its buildout now; but if you don't do things right, you could end up like we are in Ponders, where property owners and businesses are similarly constrained by oddly shaped lots sandwiched between the railroad, the highway and the city road. Does Tillicum and does the rest of Lakewood want a new Union Avenue to look like present-day Ponders? There needs to be some planning before the permits start flooding in.
- And then there are the lots. Lots and lots of lots. In some ways, this is the most important - and the most unsettling - reason. Let me explain.
Tillicum has a number of small rectangular lots, mostly 25 by 100. These date back to shortly after the turn of the century, when what we now call Lakewood was a series of lakeside camping communities. It was common practice back then throughout the West for people to buy such rectangular lots sight unseen even from as far away as the East Coast. It was the way they did things then. But the challenge is that today, if you built on each and every such lot, Lakewood's population could explode in a patchwork basis.
This goes to the heart of a major concern. Right now, throughout Lakewood, there are all sorts of these turn of the century lots (particularly in Lake City). These lots are gradually being developed. For the years I have been on the council, I have met a number of people who are concerned about houses that go up next to them. The one neighbor I remember most vividly is in Lake City, while the most recent lives near Park Lodge School. Invariably, these folks begin the conversation by saying the new city failed to protect them from overdevelopment. Instead, the real cause has been those turn of the century lots.
Got your attention yet? No? OK.
There are 800 acres of these lots in Lakewood.
800 acres. None of us have any concept of what would happen if people suddenly built out everything they are entitled to build under the existing rules ... and that goes throughout the city.
What the Tillicum situation will do is force the city to make some extremely tough decisions that will have implications beyond Tillicum. If you own one house on a couple of these lots, you have under current property rules every right to develop the lots to a higher density and get the maximum value for your property. However, very few of your neighbors know of this potential. Those 800 acres are going to gradually get developed; and then more and more people will realize that somehow the Lakewood that they incorporated so it could take control of its destiny is losing control.
The council is going to have to task its staff to come up with alternatives to deal with the turn-of-the-century lots. The likely alternative, of course, is that there will be a battle. The battle will pit fundamental property rights against neighborhood concerns about overcrowding and development. But maybe those really are the concerns at stake.
You could make the case that this will be one of the toughest decisions that the people of Lakewood will have to grapple with in this decade. But we need to do so.
I believe strongly in fundamental property rights. But I get heartfelt notes and calls and have other encounters with citizens throughout Lakewood who don't understand why the city let their neighborhood change so much. These people don't know about the turn-of-the-century lots, and the potential for more change. We need to all start talking in the open about these things.
Problems never go away when you ignore them; they just get worse. And it is corrosive for houses to appear out of nowhere. It is corrosive for citizens to not know the real reason why. And it is corrosive for citizens, whether they are the potential builders or the recipients of more homes in their neighborhood, to be ignorant of the underlying situation and what they can do about it.
So that's my first take on the subject. The moratorium and underlying issues are extremely complex, but blog postings are supposed to be short. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to fill in what I missed.
But in the meantime ... So you want leadership? You got it. And now will come tough decisions. Stand by. We will have much more to discuss.
