South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan
The City’s Neighborhood Planning Program (NPP) provides enhanced planning and development support to help communities create strong, vibrant, and diverse neighborhoods. The City Council identified the South Tacoma Neighborhood as the location of the third Neighborhood Plan, which launched in 2024.
Program Goals
Through the planning process the community identified the following goals:
- Transportation, Mobility, and Connectivity:
- SAFE STREETS – Increase safety on South Tacoma streets by reducing dangerous vehicle activity impacting drivers, pedestrians, and property.
- WALKABILITY & CONNECTIVITY – Safely and comfortably connect South Tacoma residents to amenities and the rest of the city by improving infrastructure for people walking, biking, and rolling (i.e., wheelchair, stroller), and transit network and service.
- Health and Environment:
- HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT – Create a sustainable, healthy, resilient, thriving community with clean air and water, a healthy tree canopy, and access to health and wellness facilities.
- Economic Opportunity and Development:
- ACTIVE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER – Further activate the neighborhood center, reduce barriers for small and diverse businesses and strengthen community capacity to support daily needs, new amenities, and community events for all ages.
- SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT – Increase density while preserving historic buildings and expanding open space; increase equitable investment and opportunity; and add new infrastructure to support new growth.
- GREEN ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY – Encourage development of green industry and living-wage jobs while limiting community impacts of industrial development.
- Sense of Place and Community:
- INVITING, ACCESSIBLE, BEAUTIFUL – Enhance and showcase South Tacoma to create an inviting, safe, accessible, beautiful neighborhood for all to enjoy.
- CELEBRATING HISTORY & IDENTITIES – Celebrate the neighborhood’s many histories and community identities; ensure broad, equitable participation in neighborhood decisions.
- SENSE OF COMMUNITY & GATHERING – Foster a safe public realm by creating a healthy, clean, well-cared for spaces for all ages to gather, reflect, connect, and enjoy.
- Affordability:
- AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY – Ensure access to affordable and diverse housing, including for renters, a mix of incomes, support for people experiencing homelessness, and opportunities to build generational wealth through home ownership.
What’s Happening Now
After over 1,300 community “engagements” via interviews, surveys, events, and focus groups since January 2024, the City Council will adopt the South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan in June 2025. You can read the plan actions, recommendations, and summaries of our engagement and outreach below.
The process is now in the implementation phase where the City, community members, and partners will support key neighborhood actions.
South Tacoma Booster Project
South Tacoma community members voted on how to spend the $50,000 South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan Booster Grant, which is intended as a mini-participatory budgeting opportunity to kick-start implementation of the South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan.
The votes are in and the community selected:
- Tree Planting, and
- Signature community events/programs for youth and seniors
More information soon as those projects roll out with our implementation partners!
South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan
South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan Executive Summary
South Tacoma Neighborhood: Location and Profile
The South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan will focus our recommendations on the core commercial areas and the surrounding residential neighborhoods. This area includes the South Tacoma Business District and Mixed-Use Center (roughly South Tacoma Way, South Washington Street, and South Puget Sound Avenue between South 47th Street and South 58th Street), and we will work closely with residents in the wider surrounding neighborhood to address how people access key neighborhood amenities and destinations. View the map (PDF).
The Call: Get Involved, Stay Engaged! Neighborhood stakeholders, led by a Steering Group worked closely with City staff and a consultant team, to determine the goals of the plan and assist with creating a roadmap for implementation. Ways to get involved include:
- Share your feedback on our online engagement platform
- Participate in events and take surveys to share your feedback
- Volunteer to assist with surveys, leading outreach, hosting an event, or helping build connections with community members who prefer Spanish, Russian, Khmer, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, ASL or other languages.
South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan: Timeline
We launched the program in January 2024 and finalized the plan in June 2025.The city and partners will continue to work with the community on implementation in 2025 and beyond.
- Winter 2024: Neighborhood profile, existing conditions, and outreach
- Spring 2024: Collect project ideas and hear priorities from the community
- Summer – Fall 2024: Develop draft plan and collect community feedback
- June 2025: Council adoption; begin implementation
South Tacoma Neighborhood: Project Funding
The Neighborhood Planning Program will provide funding for technical support by a consultant team and $50,000 for initial implementation, as determined by the community. Major projects will be accomplished through partnerships between the City and our partners.
Past Community Events
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Date Topic Materials January 25, 2024 Spotlight on South Tacoma: Community Conversation Project web page February 29, 2024 Neighborhood Plan-A-Thon Audio
Presentation
Event SummaryMarch 21, 2024 Spotlight on South Tacoma: Open House Event Summary April 13, 2024 South Tacoma Way Walking Tour Event Summary May 30, 2024 To date engagement summaries were shared with the South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan Steering Group. South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan Community Interview Summary
South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan Community Survey SummaryAugust to September 2024 Star Center Summer Bash
The Fernseed Pop-Up during the Haunted Farmers’ Market
Edison Elementary School Back-to-School Open House
The Hive Co. Pop-Up during the Haunted Farmers’ MarketSummer Events Summary July to October 2024 Project Ideas Survey
Interactive MapSurvey Summary
Interactive Map SummarySeptember to October 2024 Interviews with Spanish-speaking businesses
Slavic Language Focus Group
Ludwig Apartments Focus Group
Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean OutreachIn-Language Engagement and Focus Groups Summary -
Date Topic Materials March 28, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #1 Agenda
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AudioApril 25, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #2 Agenda
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AudioMay 30, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #3 Agenda
Workshop NotesJune 27, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #4 Agenda
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AudioJuly 25, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #5 Agenda
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AudioAugust 22, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #6 Agenda
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AudioSeptember 26, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #7 Agenda
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AudioOctober 24, 2024 Steering Group Meeting #8 Agenda
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Workshop SummaryFebruary 27, 2025 Steering Group Meeting #9 Agenda
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AudioApril 24, 2025 Steering Group #10 Agenda
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