Where: Harvard Elementary School 1709 85th Street East, Tacoma, WA 98445

Join Tacoma Power, Franklin Pierce School District, and Community Energy Labs for an in-person Smart and Resilient Schools Energy Summit. The Summit will explore how emerging clean energy technologies can keep our air clean and communities safe.

You will learn about the technologies, programs, and practices necessary to increase community resiliency in a changing future.

Lunch will be provided.

Register here: http://srs.communityenergy.tech/fpsd

Download the informational flier here

Planning & Public Works is providing Watershed Council members with a presentation on Pierce County’s Comprehensive Plan Update process and you all are invited! 

The presentation has been scheduled on Thursday, June 9th from 5:00-6:15 pm on Zoom.

Jessica Gwilt and Angie Silva from Pierce County Planning will provide a brief presentation with time for questions and discussion at the end. The presentation will cover:

• Background on planning in Washington State, covering the Growth Management Act, VISION 2050, Countywide Planning Policies, and County Comprehensive Plans

• Details about the local periodic update to Pierce County’s Comprehensive Plan as required by the Growth Management Act and due December 31, 2024, including the project purpose, scope, schedule, topic areas to be covered in the update (i.e., housing, climate change, environment/critical areas, health and equity, infrastructure and services, etc.), and public engagement opportunities

• Information about the 20-year population, housing, and employment growth targets (2024-2044) and how Pierce County uses them to plan

Please find the meeting information copied below. Note that the presentation will be recorded and posted to the web for those unable to attend on June 9th. You can also find more information on the project website at www.piercecountywa.gov/compplan.  

Meeting Details

Join Zoom Meeting

https://piercecountywa.zoom.us/j/93083359943?pwd=cmZsYUQwcVlrbEtKRHRRQWVzN1pSQT09

Meeting ID: 930 8335 9943

Passcode: 913108

Pierce Conservation District (PCD) is hosting a community forum to discuss a new toolkit.

Last year, PCD worked with a consultant to create a Civic Engagement Toolkit. PCD and other agency staff noticed a need for something like this because many of the volunteers we work with are interested in political advocacy. As agencies, we can’t engage in that sort of activity, but we can provide people with tools and tips on how to engage in local planning and policy efforts.

The intent of this toolkit is to be a one-stop-shop that walks folks through the civic process, providing tips on how to most constructively engage elected officials, agency staff, and other community members. It was written with an environmentalist audience in mind, but it’s not intended to be a solely environmental toolkit. You can access the toolkit on our website here: https://piercecd.org/649/Civic-Engagement-Toolkit

PCD recognizes that this is just a draft, and to make it actionable, we need to get feedback directly from folks who may use this toolkit. To get this feedback, PCD is hosting community forums on Tuesday, June 9th from 5:30 to 7:00, and/or Thursday, June 9th from 1:30 to 3:00.   The goals of the meetings are to introduce partners to the toolkit, receive feedback, identify gaps and missing resources, and recruit at least two case studies who will test this toolkit on a campaign.`

If you are interested in attending one of the offered sessions, please RSVP by contacting Robb Krehbiel at robbk@piercecd.org or (253) 845-9770 x136.

Please join City staff and fellow residents, businesses, property owners, and associations, to learn more about the Tideflats Subarea Plan and upcoming Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) scoping process, including an overview of the planning process, timeline, recent accomplishments, and opportunities to participate in shaping the future of Tacoma’s Tideflats.

Please see the attached flyer for additional information.

How To Participate

Attend: June 6, 2022 at 6:00 PM

• Link to join: www.zoom.us/j/85974500152

• Or dial to join: 253-215-8782

  • Webinar ID – 859 7450 0152

Visit: www.cityoftacoma.org/tideflatsplan

• For public meeting links and instructions

• To review draft documents

• To sign up for project updates

Contact: Stephen Atkinson, City of Tacoma

• (253) 905-4146

• satkinson@cityoftacoma.org

For over two years, Friends of Pierce County has followed and supported the County’s attempt to protect native habitat in critical shoreline areas from dock and pier development while also opening wide beaches to more aquaculture.

The issue started with a County Council member proposing to prohibit docks along 39 miles of shoreline that were environmentally or recreationally important. Pierce County staff reduced those 39 miles to 7 miles after misinterpreting the consultant’s report. The latest position from staff is that the County does not need to add extra protection for the remaining seven miles because the state Dept. of Ecology has adopted the County’s Shoreline Master Program – so it is good enough. 

That position, by staff, brings the issue back to square one – before it all started. It leaves folks scratching their head asking “What was the point of studying all this in the first place”? 

The point was to do a better job of protecting sensitive areas and public access along and above the shoreline. The County is reviewing multiple development applications for areas that should not have docks placed on them. This will continue to happen until the County Executive and full County Council recognize the problem and achieve shoreline development requirements that benefit Pierce County’s needs for public recreation and a healthy marine environment.

To get involved – you can attend the next County Council Community Development Committee meeting – June 6 at 1:30 PM. More information can be found at the link below:

https://online.co.pierce.wa.us/cfapps/council/iview/committeeMeeting.cfm?id=4668#:~:text=Community%20Development%20Committee,Tacoma%2C%20WA%2098402

Climate change is happening all around us from rising sea levels, more extreme summer temperatures, and more frequent forest fires. In efforts to mitigate some of the environmental impacts, new private and government programs are springing up around the country.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has recently launched a program called  THE DNR CARBON PROJECT. 

According to information on the agency’s website - DNR is launching an innovative carbon project to protect some of our most ecologically and culturally valuable forests, while generating millions of dollars in revenue for the schools, colleges, and critical local services that state trust lands support. 

DNR is moving an estimated 10,000 acres of Western Washington’s most ecologically valuable forests into conservation status to store carbon and generate revenue for state trust land beneficiaries. The new carbon project will lease land for carbon sequestration and storage at a price that is reflective of the economic value of logging, diversifying revenue streams and providing greater financial stability and certainty to beneficiaries. 

This initiative represents the first-in-the-nation use of carbon markets by a state agency to protect critical forest areas by immediately removing stands from the planned harvest schedule, many of which were slated for imminent harvest. 

Over 900 thousand carbon offsets credits will be generated from the project in just the first ten years, which is equivalent to preventing over 2 billion miles driven by gas-powered cars, according to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. 

The project is broken into two phases and will launch in Whatcom, Thurston, King, and Grays Harbor counties. We will continue to follow progress and hope that Pierce will be involved in stage 2.

With vanishing farmland and food deserts in local communities, this invention might provide a solution for urban communities to obtain fresh, local food and to help offset the loss of rural farmland.

Check out this interesting story here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/vertical-farms-a-new-form-of-agriculture/

Tacoma Narrows Airport Final Environmental Assessment and FONSI

To comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) design standards, Pierce County completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) for several projects proposed at the Tacoma Narrows Airport over the next five years (2022 – 2026). The FAA completed its evaluation of the Final Environmental Assessment and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on April 25th. Those documents can be found at www.piercecountywa.gov/tiwea.

The projects include:

• Obstruction Removal: Evaluation of trees on airport property that penetrate the airport Federal Aviation Requirement(FAR) Part 77 surfaces, and potential removal of obstructions

• Taxiway A Relocation, Taxiway B4 Relocation and Apron Expansion

• Stormwater Pond Relocation: Relocation of an existing stormwater pond to accommodate the Taxiway A Relocation

These projects will improve safety at the airport and bring the runway and taxiway at Tacoma Narrows Airport in compliance with current FAA standards. These projects do not include a runway extension, and do not affect the type or size of aircraft that currently operate at the airport.

A public comment period was held from February 15 - March 17, 2022. Comments were shared with the FAA and responses were captured in Appendix G in the final EA document. 

The next step will be the design phase of the projects. This phase is expected to be finished in May 2023 with construction beginning in the same year.