Rumors & Questions

Because it is the safest option for vehicles parking, vehicles passing by, bicycles and pedestrians. That corner is a challenge for any kind of parking configuration near the intersection. We could have simply eliminated all parking in front of Dairy Freeze and Napa, but that seemed too drastic a choice for businesses and their customers who had parked there for years. Parallel parking would give them 2-3 spots where they had a lot more spaces, so that led to angled parking. There is simply no way to offer front-in first parking without also forcing vehicles to back out onto busy Wood or Main. With the driver at the front of the vehicle, backing out into oncoming traffic is statistically more dangerous for all involved than pulling out front-first.

All that said, we know that drivers retain strong personal opinions about the back-in parking requirement. The good news is that they have options available for their preferences as well. Parallel spots are available within the block, particularly south of the intersection on Wood Avenue. And for those who like parking lots, the City offers a public lot across Main, between the old cleaners and the market, with front-first angled parking spots as well as other public lots throughout downtown. Please just note that the market also at that intersection has a private lot that is reserved for customers of their business only.

With the holiday, this answer is a little late, but here goes anyway. Obviously, we did not close the Sports Complex or any other park over the weekend. Why? Misuse of the park--breaking the rules and vandalism--is frustrating, but closing parks to all use is worse. They'd be constantly closed. While the 4th brings a situation that frustrates you, we experience misuse and destruction in our parks (flaming port-a-potty!) routinely. On the 4th, when our officers get complaints, they drive thru the locations and try to move people along. They noted your comment to check on the Heath Sports Complex on Saturday; I'm not sure how that ended up happening with the call volume they got. They simply can't be everywhere at once. Your question of volunteers is interesting, but we also know that our Main Street Association struggles to find volunteers for one-off events like Rhubarb Days. We're not sure how successful we'd be with a volunteer program that would require an ongoing commitment...aside from your offer - thank you for that. Also, we should note that people breaking the rules and/or laws and not being caught is absolutely not the same thing as that behavior being "allowed" by the City. From fireworks to speeding, it's everyone's responsibility to follow the laws, whether they get busted or not. And yes, our Parks Department routinely clean up bags of debris. If you happen to see them, please thank them!

1) The music system is causing huge problems for IT to keep managing alongside all the other urgent requests to keep hundreds of devices and online services working. It’s not unexpected since we used the cheapest equipment option and put it outside for years on end. We’re currently evaluating whether we keep wrestling with this semi-failing system or try to find the funding (and time) for a new one. 2) The hanging baskets have been growing in a greenhouse as usual. The big cost is not the baskets themselves but the seasonal employee it takes to water them every day without fail once they’re out. (Rain doesn’t count.) That seasonal employee began yesterday, so the baskets are scheduled to go up tomorrow per the usual timeline.

UPDATE: July 2, 2026 - IT did evaluate the sound system and all but two speakers are completely gone. They worked with a local sound company to assess what it would take to replace the system with better equipment. Just returning sound to Main St and Alder Ave (not the park) will cost roughly $200,000-$300,000. We can't simply "find" that money in our current budget. So, we applied to Pierce County Lodging Tax to see if we can get a grant to fund it in 2027. Stay tuned...

I love the irony with "pest control"! This is an ongoing challenge for cities. Technically, the solicitors must have a peddler's license from the City to go door-to-door. Most don't, and that's kind of the point. You could ask to see their peddler's permit and/or business license. Granted, you've already been disturbed, but I sometimes do this as an investment in discouraging future attempts. At the least, I hope they're crossing my address off their list, muttering, "Never again!" If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, you can also call Police. Please use the non-emergency line of (253) 287-4455, and if you go this route, call right when it happens. Depending on other calls they're busy with at the time, an officer will respond and chat with the solicitor. We have received complaints in the Police Department about solicitors, but they usually come in hours or even days after it happened. There's nothing we can do at that point. It's not a perfect solution, but hopefully this helps a bit. My guess is that with doorbell cameras, fewer people are responding, making each sales person a bit more desperate when they do get someone. 

Sonoco Recycling was already shutting down operations in Sumner, so their tanks have been emptied out as part of that process. I don't know for sure if the chemicals Sonoco used to use were exactly the same as what Nippon had or not, but whatever Sonoco had is gone. The State Department of Ecology really handles that process, and the City is just aware of their progress. Ecology staff are at the forefront of monitoring various chemicals used in all industry, promoting safe storage and handling plus responding when something goes wrong. They have an ongoing webpage with details from the very sad Longview incident if you'd like more information directly from them on what's happening there: https://ecology.wa.gov/spills-cleanup/spills/spill-preparedness-response/responding-to-spill-incidents/spill-incidents/nippon-dynawave-industrial-incident

It's so wonderful to hear how much you enjoy the music. It's not so wonderful that none of us can hear the actual music at the moment! We checked our streaming station, and it shows it's playing. We may have an issue with the system itself. I think we need to call IT. (The system can be a bit finicky.) 

While we're talking about the downtown sound system, we should mention that we do not currently have a plan to return sound to Heritage Park or add it to Hops Alley. We were just asking Sumner Main Street Association if we should pursue grant funding to get that added and perhaps upgrade the entire system. They said yes. Sounds like you'd be in favor too! 

We have no ETA; they’re still working around the city, and they are not the only fiber company installing material in our right-of-way. Apparently, multiple companies decided that cities need lots of fiber now, and not the kind you get in cereal. When such companies come into our city, there's less control from the city than most people assume. We can negotiate terms, but we can't outright deny the companies' access. And, we don't really know when they will start offering actual services to residents. 

Yes, the project is running behind schedule. It sounds like some situations arose between the contractor and Sound Transit. In other words, we didn't cause the delays!   

Yes, all of these concerns and more were addressed during the 2024 permit process. We actually posted about this project over a year ago on this Rumors page. I'll repost it here so that you don't have to scroll down.  

The City did receive a proposal from a BESS in 2024. The GreenWater facility proposal came from a company called Bright Night, who is planning to develop this facility on private property in Sumner’s Manufacturing Industrial Center. The owner and developer went through the Pre-Application Process, which the City encourages any large project to do in order to review any impacts, zoning issues or other challenges before a project applies for permits. This project did that pre-application. From April through July 2024, the City put the project through a State Environment Protection Act (SEPA) Process for the full development and a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process, per our code, for the transmission lines. These processes involved a lot of both required and proactive engagement to review concerns from the City, from East Pierce Fire & Rescue, from the health department, from neighbors and from the public. Topics reviewed included everything from ensuring drive lanes accommodated the turning radius of a fire engine to assessing this project’s proximity adjacent to one of the City’s wells. You can still review all the topics addressed and assessed, including water supply and fire safety. 

UPDATE: I'm hearing that the documents you want on the Notice of Decision page take a really long time to load. There are multiple big documents, so that makes sense. Let me try to give you their links directly. Here's the link to the Emergency Response Plan: https://sumnerwa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Emergency-Response-Plan-ERP-BESS-Tesla-Draft_v1.pdf that answers your question about the preventative measures. You'll also want to review the SEPA Checklist which is available here: https://sumnerwa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Noticed_-SEPA-Checklist_Revised-4.24.24_v3.pdf. That gets you details on all the other factors evaluated, including groundwater. Hopefully, this makes it easier to get to the details quickly. Also, I'm checking on a direct contact for Bright Night. As soon as I have that, I'll update the answer again. 

To ensure concerns were addressed from the public the process included public notices, signs on the site, posts in the City’s e-newsletter and on social media, and postcards mailed to neighboring properties, inviting them to a public information session held on the site. Bright Night also attended the City’s Spring 2024 Open House at City Hall to share information and answer questions. Although the formal comment periods have ended now nearly two years ago, this new technology may continue to generate questions such as yours. If you have concerns, please do not rely on rumors heard from your neighbor or viewed on social media; instead, please contact Bright Night directly to talk through your concerns and get your questions answered.

Also, since then, the City has also updated its code to more clearly specify requirements and process around battery energy storage systems in our commercial and manufacturing areas. They will not be an allowed use in any residential zones.

Like most issues, homelessness does not "see" borders, so Sumner has impacts all the time from things happening in other jurisdictions, as our choices also likely impact our neighbors. For that reason, we work across borders on solutions too. Frankly, the thing outside our borders that will most impact Sumner is the State's proposed bill HB 2489, which narrowly passed out of committee yesterday. Through this bill, the State would prohibit cities from clearing any public space including sidewalks, parks, etc. from activities including storage of personal belongings. Visit our Legislative Agenda page for more information on this bill and our concerns with it.