The Latest on MBA’s Gross Density Pierce County Comp. Plan Amendment

As members are aware, last summer MBA Pierce, along with the Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors®, submitted a comprehensive plan amendment to change density calculations in Pierce County urban areas from net to gross. You can read about our application here, view our Comp. Plan Amendment application here, and if you would like to review the entire slate of amendments in Pierce County, please view here.
 
Our application has caused quite the stir at the County and, as the amendments begin their hearings this month, there are many moving parts to keep track of as it pertains to the Gross Density Amendment. Pierce County Staff has issued a Determination of Significance for our amendment. You can view the County’s memo on this here and the SEPA checklist here. This was not a surprise as MBA Pierce had been given a heads up that County Staff was going to be issuing this, yet we still do not agree with this approach and need for an Environmental Impact Statement. MBA Pierce is submitting formal comment to this DS and encourages members to do the same. We will need to provide comments to Erik Jaszewski erik.jaszewski@piercecountywa.gov by January 29th.
 
All comprehensive plan amendments are getting their hearings at the Pierce County Planning Commission incrementally now. Gross Density had its schedule hearing on Wednesday, January 13^th at 6:30pm, but this meeting was cancelled and postponed to a later date due to regional power outages. Nevertheless, the staff report on the Gross Density amendment can be found here. As you can see in the staff report, the information is sparse because staff is relying on the EIS. If you are interested in testifying at this Planning Commission Meeting once it has been rescheduled, please reach out to me at jgamble@mbapierce.com.
 
Further still, the Pierce County Council is now considering a resolution to remove our Gross Density Comp Plan Amendment from the docket and issue us a refund. The Special Community Development Committee hearing is set for Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 1:00 pm. The Final Council hearing on this proposal is set for Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 3:00 pm. Both hearings are anticipated to be over Zoom. If you would like to testify at these hearings and need help with how to join the meetings, please reach out to me at jgamble@mbapierce.com.