Neary-Sighted

Last Monday's council meeting was a little funny, because several of us council members sounded like kids who had just came out of the Harry Potter movie. There was really only one thing some of us wanted to talk about.

The 127-page goodie showed up last Friday in our council packets, like an early Christmas present.

The Woodbrook Business Park Development Report

That won't mean much to folks outside Lakewood, and it may not mean much within Lakewood. If you don't know the potential of these 117 acres next to Interstate 5, then you should consider reading the document. This area has the potential to become a huge economic driver .... as opposed to, and yeah, its most recent note in history the place where AdrAnne Jackson was found.

There are good people living there - a majority of them living in poverty there - modeling the life of good citizens for their children. We need to remember and care for these people too as redevelopment of the area progresses. The astonishing potential for jobs in this area is ... well, astonishing. But it is also going to take a ton of work, cooperation, work, sensible public policy, work wise private investment and work.

It is also going to take a lot of work.

The document was prepared by six commercial consultants listed on page 3. But the big delight on page 3, are some names you don't usually see on city of Lakewood documents: the names of the commissioners of the Port of Tacoma. This economic powerhouse has interests that far transcend just us in Lakewood. The Port, which is charged with managing overall industrial interests throughout Pierce County, paid for the report because the port recognizes the investment potential of this area. Our council will have a joint study session with the commissioners on Aug. 24. I'm counting the days.

Like the Tillicum project described below, Woodbrook is a big darn deal and potential game-changer for Lakewood.

It's also going to be a lot of work.

What the report says, in essence, is don't get overconfident because you've got 117 acres next to a highway. Someone can easily go start a business in DuPont, where no one is living and where you can build from scratch. Woodbrook has a massive presence of historical land uses and especially housing: there are real people living there. The roads and other infrastructure need work. There are very detailed and potentially controversial and costly things we as a community can invest in that might create a lot of jobs in Woodbrook, or few jobs there, or maybe even no jobs there.

The report makes some tough recommendations; it says, for example, that it's going to be tough to develop that area industrially if Woodbrook Middle School stays where it is.

A lot of different citizen advisory groups and others are going to be going through this report and talking about the contents and especially about the area itself. This is going to be a long conversation. Look at the PDF you will find at the link above, then you'll be at the front of the dialogue.

It's going to be a lot of work.
Forward this post