COUNTY GIVES LANDFILL LOOPHOLE WITH SPOT ZONING
Pierce County is misusing the Community Plan process to spot zone LRI’s 304th Street landfill in Graham with a new special overlay, intending to streamline approval for expanded uses of the facility. The Department of Planning and Land Services sprung a last minute staff report on Feb. 22nd which guts four years of work by the Community Planning Board and creates a new zone for the private landfill property, which it labels “Essential Public Facility – Solid Waste Facility Overlay.”
The County wants this site-specific overlay to expedite the approval process for expanded and “accessory” uses on site, including a garbage transfer station, gas extraction systems, gas conversion to liquefied natural gas for vehicles, methane-fueled energy production, recycling processing, and self-hauled garbage hauling. The new zoning overlay would allow these new activities outright or through a “public facility permit process.”
The Planning Department is using our Community Plan to create a new zoning overlay for the landfill, describing it as a “template” for countywide implementation. This would allow other solid waste facilities anywhere in unincorporated Pierce County, including areas where such facilities are prohibited by existing community plans. This back room policy making comes just days before the comment deadline.
Help our community protect its rural character as envisioned by the Community Planning Board. Spot zoning, loopholes for private interests, and industrial-intensity waste handling facilities are inappropriate for our area. Your comments are critical to stop this.
Testify at this week’s meetings---
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, 7:00pm, Graham Library, 9202 – 224th Street East, Graham (half mile west of Meridian)
Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 7:00pm, Graham-Kapowsin High School, 22100 – 108th Ave. East, Graham (1st stoplight east of Meridian on 224th Street)
Call and send written comments to Pierce County Planning Commission and Pierce County Council---
Email comments to Pierce County Planning Commission by deadline Friday, March 3rd:
Send written comments to Pierce County Planning Commission by deadline Friday, March 3rd:
Pierce County Planning Commission
c/o Toni Fairbanks, Clerk of the Commission
2401 So. 35th St., Rm. 228
Tacoma, WA 98409
Contact your County Council member at any time:
SHAWN BUNNEY
District 1
sbunney@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-3635
CALVIN GOINGS
District 2
cgoing1@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-6694
ROGER BUSH
District 3
rbush@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-6626
TIMOTHY FARRELL
District 4
tfarrel@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-7590
BARBARA GELMAN
District 5
bgelman@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-6653
DICK MURI
District 6
dick.muri@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-3308
TERRY LEE
District 7
terry.lee@co.pierce.wa.us
253-798-6654
Don’t know your County Council member? Find it here:
More information on the Community Plan is available at: