UWT, City of Tacoma Unite for Future Downtown Developments

This campus and the City of Tacoma are working together to create an environmental impact statement regarding plans to further develop in Tacoma’s south downtown areas. The State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) impact statement will cover 600 acres, which other than the UW Tacoma campus includes the Foss Waterway as well as the Brewery, Hillside, Dome and Museum Districts.

A draft of the South Downtown Subarea Plan and Environmental Impact Statement is available currently for a 30 day period designated for public comment, which ends on Friday, May 3^. Comments can be submitted  to the project manager, Ian Munce of the Planning and Development Services Department, by email at imunce@cityoftacoma.org.

Milt Tremblay, Director of UW Tacoma’s Sustainability and Campus Planning, said that this is the first step to incorporate the campus’ master plan of development into the city’s guidelines, and will only positively impact students. “The main purpose of the SEPA is that it aligns the city’s code with what we want to do. This will help by saving the campus money and also identifying mitigation for subsequent projects we do.”

The SEPA will include details for all campus developments planned for the next 10 years, which Tremblay said will quicken the process of building, since each project would require its own SEPA if UW Tacoma hadn’t partnered with the city.

“I feel like there’s not room for the construction already happening,” said Husky Nicholas Garrett, who expressed his anger at driving through traffic slowed by it almost every day. “I will look at the draft and see what they want to do, if it’s necessary.”

Other UW Tacoma students showed gratitude toward the SEPA saving the campus time by including all of the future projects at once.

A public hearing will be held by Tacoma’s Planning and Development Services Department on April 25 at 5:30 pm in the Carwein Auditorium. This is where concerns or comments will be heard. The drafted plan and further information can be found at http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?hid=15999.