Project Updates - Plan Adopted

On May 15, 2018, the City Council adopted the Tacoma Mall Neighborhood Subarea Plan, along with a package of amendments to the Tacoma Municipal Code to implement the Subarea Plan.  The Plan and associated actions became effective on May 27, 2018.

City Council Public Hearing

Prior to the final adoption of the subarea plan, the City Council held a public hearing on April 24, 2018.  Posted below for documentation purposes is a complete package of information associated with the public hearing: 

The FEIS Addendum posted above provides a summary of the modifications suggested by the IPS Committee.  

Planning Commission Recommendations - October 18, 2017

On October 18, the Planning Commission took final action to recommend and forward the Tacoma Mall Neighborhood Subarea Plan package to the City Council.  The package consists of four documents as posted below:

Planning Commission Public Hearing - September 6, 2017

The Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on the draft subarea plan and EIS on September 6, 2017 and kept the hearing record open through September 15 to accept written comments. 

Poste below are the public comments received:

Posted below for background information are materials that were released for public review prior to the September 6 public hearing:

Background

The Tacoma Mall Subarea is important to people who live, work and shop in the area, and also in multiple ways to the City of Tacoma and the Puget Sound region as a whole.  This effort seeks to develop and promote a vision for positive growth and change within the Subarea.  The project is being funded by a $250,000 National Estuaries Program Watershed Protection Grant. This effort will build upon the three subarea plans for Downtown Tacoma and will fulfill Tacoma’s obligation to plan for our designated Regional Centers.

The Tacoma Mall Center is designated by the Puget Sound Regional Council as a Regional Growth Center and a focal point for future jobs/housing concentration.  To accommodate growth sustainably, the Tacoma Mall Center must function well on many levels. Infrastructure, services, transportation choices and neighborhood amenities must be adequate to support growth and make the area a desirable place to live, work and shop. At the outset, the City is aware of certain key issues:

• The Center is located within two sensitive stormwater basins. The Flett Creek, an EPA Target Watershed which influences Chambers Creek, a salmon-bearing stream and the Thea Foss Waterway, a superfund site that has been remediated at a cost of $105 million dollars.
• The area includes some congested intersections, gaps in/barriers to bicycle and pedestrian connectivity, the lack of some neighborhood amenities, and a relatively low income and transient residential population.

The Subarea Plan and EIS will be a community forum to collaboratively develop a vision, goals and strategies to guide growth and development, identify environmental impacts up-front on an area-wide basis and target mitigation measures and other implementation steps.  The objectives for this Subarea Plan are to:

• Develop a vision for the area;
• Promote sustainable growth within the Tacoma Mall Regional Growth Center;
• Set the stage for a transition from an auto-centric regional shopping area into a compact, complete community;
• Promote development consistent with Vision 2040, the Puget Sound Action Agenda, and Tacoma’s Comprehensive Plan; and
• Leverage public and private partnerships and investments to stimulate large-scale population and employment growth within the Center.

Elliott Barnett

elliott.barnett@cityoftacoma.org

(253) 591-5389

Brian Boudet

bboudet@cityoftacoma.org 

(253) 573-2389