Rumors & Questions

The short answer is yes. The biggest update currently happening is construction of the missing separated trail along Fryar Avenue, a project going into construction this year for $7.2 million. (Yes, these projects are very expensive.) We're able to do this one thanks to a Federal grant for design and construction funding from a WSDOT Bike & Pedestrian Grant. There are lots of other plans for bike lanes and improvements, but there's not a lot of other funding to do them. You offered some great suggestions and the one I'd also add is smooth roadways. Crumbling roads negatively affect everyone, vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles. We know that even our routine road maintenance is underfunded, and we're falling behind. We go after any grant we can find, but it's highly competitive for the grants that are available, and there's no grant funding for residential road maintenance. All this summer, the Council has been considering a Transportation Benefit District (link) to provide a revenue source specifically for roadways. You might want to explore this more and what it would mean for Sumner's roadways, including for bicyclists. 

Yes, we agree. We have indeed been working on our long-term water rights for a long, long time. In fact, Sumner volunteered and was selected to serve as one of four cities in Washington to pilot ways to mitigate water rights after the Foster lawsuit of 2015 greatly changed a city's ability to obtain future water rights. 

That said, I should probably clarify that you got the flyer this summer because a number of other issues affected our water simultaneously. First, the south tank was not online yet because a routine paint job got delayed. We started it in January specifically to be done before summer, but it didn't go that way for various reasons. Second, higher than normal levels of manganese were coming out of another well, and we've been on the phone routinely with the filter manufacturer about why the filters aren't working as well as they should. We were never out of water, but we always want to ensure enough supply in storage not just for everyday use but also in case of a fire. 

Providing water is a complex system. We have been and continue to watch our water rights for long-term growth. Even with those efforts, there likely will be times when various factors make us need your help to chip in with some minor adjustments to preserve our supply during peak use seasons.

Water conservation is always a good idea! There are lots of tips, one of which is to water every-other day. Here are a few more: 

• Water in early morning/late evening when more water goes to the plants and less into the air through evaporation. 
• Plant based on a plant's preference for shade vs. sun. No amount of water can make a shade-loving species happy in full sun. 
• Run only full loads in the laundry and dishwasher. Ignore those commercials (from detergent companies), trying to get you to run even partial loads. 
• Sweep/blow pavement to clean it rather than use a hose. 

More tips are available at https://www.epa.gov/watersense/start-saving. 

In addition, our crews always watch the recovery level of our tanks. So far, we are seeing heavy water use in the daytime, and the tanks are recovering at night. If we see that change later in the summer, watering restrictions are one strategy we may use. Our goal is to always ensure we have enough water for personal use as well as to maintain a good fire flow in case of fire. Again, that's not necessary now, and we'll keep monitoring through the summer. 

Sure! In the 2024 session, the State legislature considered a State-wide ban on the sale of gas equipment, but I don't believe it passed. We didn't hear of any return efforts in the 2025 session. City governments like ours are under a State mandate to prioritize purchasing non-gas vehicles for our fleet, but I haven't heard of anything extending to equipment for us yet. Happy mowing! 

Unfortunately, this time, the Sk8 Park was closed for more than graffiti and vandalism. It started that way, but as we were cleaning up, we noticed several significant cracks throughout the bowl. We called in a specialist to review the park, and it is aging with major structural issues. The Sk8 Park is closed indefinitely. We know that’s not the news you wanted to hear. There are skate parks in Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Milton and Lakeland Hills. If transportation is an issue, check in with Beyond the Borders, a County service that offers free rides to youth 12-17. Their regular route does not get you close to another skatepark, but I believe they will deviate their route if you schedule it ahead of time. More info: https://www.piercecountywa.gov/4856/Beyond-The-Borders

Many homeowners are surprised to learn that sidewalks are their responsibility. Over time, more and more owners believe it’s the role of the City. It is confusing because we help when we can. If we get grants or opportunities for others to help replace/fill in sidewalk, we encourage it. A few years ago, Sound Transit redid sidewalks around the station to improve access to the station. We also have a program called the Helping Homeowner Project, through which homeowners who know their sidewalk is bad can partner with the city to have us help repair them in groups at once to lower costs. Those are the white marks you see. We have been going to each location that is on our list and have been taking initial measurements and gathering information, so we are able to provide information to the homeowners with the applications that are being mailed out on Monday, June 2^nd. The white marks are the extents of what the repairs would be if that property is accepted into the Helping Homeowners program. We try to keep a list of things we see to invite owners to this program. We’ll note down the one you mentioned on Lewis, although it’s probably already on the list. In the future, if you find more, you can email us at sidewalks@sumnerwa.gov. We try to balance fixing bad spots with constantly nagging homeowners.

Oh no, that's not the case at all! Thanks for checking. The right-of-way proposed to be vacated is part of a very old road (Highland Street) that dates back to 1909 and is limited to only that portion that abuts the two residences at the end of 142^nd Ave E. It doesn’t impact the road you currently use or anyone other than the two property owners who applied for this change. When the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) constructed SR 410 through the City and acquired additional right-of-way in that area, Highland Street stopped being utilized and houses were constructed upon it –this proposed vacation doesn’t actually fall within the “street” that people drive on. See the map below for the exact location of the 30 feet being proposed to be vacated. There are homes sitting upon this old right-of-way and that is complicating things for those property owners, thus their request to the City to vacate. They submitted a request to vacate the right-of-way and the City is currently processing it. The public hearing is May 5, 2025. 

Thank you for the compliment! We appreciate this forum too in order to help clarify rumors people may hear, like the one you brought up. Cornerstone Montessori recently applied for permits to expand their capacity. When expanding occupancy, owners tend to think about the size of the building itself but often miss other needs, like the size of the sewer service capacity and safe exit routes for occupants. We’ve been working through those issues with the owners. The original occupant load was 112 and will be increased to 242 occupants. Total occupant load is calculated based on building size, use ad egress compliance based on existing corridor sizing. It has nothing to do with ages. The owners are in the process now, so they can’t expand service until the work is done, and we get their certificate of occupancy at the larger size. In the meantime, they can still operate with their current 112 occupant load. We value good childcare too, and a lot of our staff rely on it as well. Our job also requires us to make sure that any building offering childcare (or any other service) has all the necessary structures and systems in place to do that safely for the children, staff, and neighbors.

We posted about a year ago on this page (still available if you scroll down) about the condition of the fountain and its plaques. It's great that yours survived. Others did not survive and shattered. There's no design yet for how all the names will go back into the park. Just to clarify, the names returning will include all the donor names that were in the park, including on the brick pavers, not just the fountain names.  

Those are the Flock cameras we've been talking about. There are 12 throughout the city. They actually have their own project page; here's the link to learn more: https://connects.sumnerwa.gov/flock-safety.