North Downtown Subarea Plan Kicks Off: Get Involved

​Coming up on May 29, you’ve got the chance to be involved in planning the future of Tacoma’s north downtown; the City is kicking-off the North Downtown Subarea and Environmental Impact Statement process with a public meeting.

The subarea planning and EIS processes will result in a long-term plan for re-development of the area, including plans that will pre-approve up to 30 million square feet of new development space through the SEPA process, prioritize transportation investments, identify and prioritize necessary infrastructure improvements, plan for parks, trails, and open space.

The intent of the project is to develop an innovative area-wide long-range plan for the north end of downtown Tacoma and to complete the pre-development environmental review that will identify how to address environmental and community issues, ultimately reducing development uncertainties and risks for future projects and defining implementation time lines.

The City is partnering with Bates Technical College on this one, as it partnered with UWT on the South Downtown process.  This is the final of three such processes the City is undertaking to create a plan for development in all of downtown Tacoma.  The South Downtown Subarea Plan and EIS and the MLK Subarea Plan and EIS are both in draft form available on the city website.  

Like these other processes, the North Downtown plan will result in a document full of colorful maps, with detailed observations on current zoning and uses (like the map above), and a plan for the future.  That plan will outline what kind of future growth could and should occur and where - block by block. The plans address policy and code, neighborhood needs, housing, historic resources, brownfields, open space, mobility and transportation, and potential or desirable catalyst projects for development among other topics.

The North Downtown planning process will take place this year with Council adoption expected in December.  The decisions made will cover the next 20 years of development in the area.

Next week’s community meeting will be held at Bates Technical College’s Downtown Campus, Main Building Auditorium, 1101 S. Yakima Avenue.  Find out more at www.cityoftacoma.org/planning.  If you’ve got opinions about where and how you’d like to see development occur in Tacoma’s northern downtown, or if you just like a good planning map, think about showing up.