Save our neighborhoods!  The City Council is voting this month on huge changes to neighborhood zoning.  This will impact every Tacoma neighborhood.  All single-family neighborhoods will be rezoned to allow “Low-scale” developments, such as duplexes, triplexes, and townhouses.  

More significant, at least 20% of neighborhoods will be rezoned to allow for “Mid-scale” development.  This would mean 3 and 4 story apartment buildings could be built right next to small, modest homes anywhere in a neighborhood zoned Mid-scale.   

If enacted, Mid-scale Zoning could transform the affected communities.  Larger buildings will shade out yards and homes and eliminate privacy.  Neighborhoods will become noisier and more congested.  There will be loss of open space and tree canopy.  Apartment buildings will gradually replace the existing homes.

Low-scale zoning, if it’s well managed, could provide needed housing while also preserving the appeal of our neighborhoods.  But Mid-scale Zoning is a step too far! 

Ask the City Council to put Mid-scale Zoning on hold and focus staff resources on taking the steps essential to getting Low-scale Zoning right. 

Specific demands we’re making to Council:

1.  Put Mid-Scale on hold – The City’s own planning report states that Tacoma does not need to build 3 to 4 story apartment buildings in our neighborhoods in order to meet 2050 housing targets.  Instead, the City should emphasize developing multi-family complexes downtown and in areas already zoned for larger buildings.

2.  Conduct neighborhood planning – The City must partner with residents to create neighborhood-specific plans, tailored to the needs of individual neighborhoods.

3.  Create Design Review to ensure high quality building designs—The Planning Department must create design standards that are sensitive to neighborhood context.  And implement a public, citizen-based Design Review process.

4.  Focus staff resources on ensuring that Low-scale is implemented successfully – The City must develop:

• Initiatives to prevent displacement of current residents
• Regulations to encourage development on vacant and underutilized land
• Actions to ensure urban infrastructure and services are adequate to support growth
• Proactive surveys to identify historically and culturally significant buildings
• Strategies to discourage demolition 
• Robust standards for setbacks, building mass, landscaping, and streetscape planting
• Initiatives that will actually address affordability and provide pathways to home ownership.

5.  Focus on creating affordable housing for those who spend more than 30% of their income on housing – The City should stop incentivizing growth in high-end areas that will only produce high-end, high-priced housing.

6.  Conduct effective outreach – An issue of this magnitude requires in-person public meetings. Mailings to inform residents about proposals must use clear and specific language that will alert residents to what’s actually being proposed in their neighborhoods and for their properties. 

We don’t need to lose the character and appeal of any of our neighborhoods to gain improvements in livability, affordability, inclusivity, and sustainability across the city.

Our shared goal is to support growth while ensuring that the fabric of Tacoma’s neighborhoods and communities remains intact.