Rumors & Questions

We have no idea. When 7Eleven pulled out of the project, the property owner moved forward with their own Conditional Use Permit (CUP).  This process included a public hearing followed by the Hearing Examiner decision approving the project with conditions. This permit vested the project prior to the code change but does put limitation on expansions in the event a gas station is built there.  At this time, we have yet to see any movement from the applicant on submitting for building permits.

UPDATE 4/24/24  We have received questions in particular about a home on Kincaid Avenue, and we wanted to share a few more facts about this as we understand them. The owners did file for a license to become a vendor with the State Department of Corrections (DOC) as required. At that point, DOC was supposed to notify the City, but it appears that they failed to do so.  Since the City did not receive advance notice, the Development Services department is currently assessing if the use of this home aligns with all applicable building codes and what other uses or treatments are being provided. As always, this is to ensure the safety of all inhabitants of a structure within our city. Based in the information available to the City at this time, the use falls under the definition of a small group home which is permitted in Low Density Residential zones outright, but is still required to comply with building codes that could limit occupancy or other types of uses. Being permitted outright means there’s no provision for special notice or required permits.

ORIGINAL ANSWER: This is a complex, serious and emotionally charged subject, and we don’t want to do it a disservice. We’ll give you a short(er) answer plus links to look into more details. Yes, group homes can locate in Sumner as an outright permitted use. Smaller group homes housing up to eight people can be in low-density residential (neighborhoods with single-family homes), while larger facilities of nine or more residents can be in multi-family and commercial zones.  Both can only be minimally regulated by the city, and there is no public or permit process.  In-patient Behavior Health Facilities that provide treatment for substance abuse disorder, harm reduction programs or mental health disorder treatment can be located in residential and commercial zones. Out-patient Behavior Health Facilities can only be allowed in commercial zones. For these facilities, we can, and have put into code the ability to regulate through a conditional use permit process; however, permit processes are about reducing potential impacts: the City has no ability to prohibit these uses outright. The conditional use permit process requires public notice to neighbors and a public hearing.

This new code is in response to recent State legislation. The State’s Engrossed Substitute Senate House Bill (ESSHB) 5536 in 2023 amended the state definition of essential public facilities to include opioid treatment programs (both mobile and fixed-site medication units), recovery residences, and harm reduction programs (excluding safe injection sites). In addition, House Bill (HB) 5235 in 2021 states that jurisdictions may not regulate or limit the number of unrelated persons that occupy a household, with few exceptions related to the building code.

We understand this required change will create concerns. The designation “essential public facilities” is used specifically for those kinds of facilities that are essential but not usually appreciated in anyone’s backyard. In the past, this designation was used for things like airports, transit centers and solid waste facilities. By using this designation, the State acknowledges that neighbors will likely not be pleased but removed a city’s ability to zone these uses out of the City. We’re only left with the ability to place conditions upon the use and regulate the placement of such facilities.

What can you do? Here are a few tips that work in any situation. We unfortunately know too well that neighbors can have disputes over a variety of topics, not just this one.

• For unusual activity from any source—single-family residence, group home or business—that is negatively impacting you, fill out a code complaint form. That starts our process to check it out. We cannot code-enforce people or their choices, so avoid complaints like “I hate my neighbor’s dog” and focus more on specific impacts such as “My neighbor’s dog barks all night and keeps me awake.”
• If you ever feel unsafe, call Sumner Police. No call is too small. If your concern is not imminent enough to dial dispatch, use our online form to share your concerns.
• We recommend every neighborhood hold routine block watch parties. You can invite an officer to stop by. Crime has gone up from a number of sources, and we encourage neighbors to know each other for many reasons. It would be unwise to focus on one thing, like a potential group home, and ignore the very real risks coming from a variety of other sources including car prowls, drug overdoses and even the potential for natural disasters.
• Please do not expect a notice from the City about any specific group home locating in Sumner. The way State law enacted this, there’s a limited ability for the city to even know about such use. Likely, neighbors will know before we do.
• Please help your friends and neighbors focus on the facts. As we said, we know this topic can create many emotions. Fear limits people’s freedom more than crime itself. We also know how easy it is to share opinions and assumptions on social media, especially when having an emotional response.

LINKS:

• ESSHB 5536 as passed
• HB 5235 as passed
• Sumner Staff Report – Essential Public Facilities Code
• Sumner Ordinance 2878 – Essential Public Facilities
• Sumner Code Complaint Form
• Online Police Reporting

UPDATE 4/18 - We checked with Sound Transit, and they assured us that the 596 was NOT one of the routes cut with the recent cutbacks. This powerpoint they shared helps sort out what's cut and what's not. I notice your wording is very specific about reliability, not direct cuts, so if you're still experiencing challenges that are more indirect to the route, let us know or share that feedback directly with Sound Transit. You can email me directly at carmenp@sumnerwa.gov.

Thanks for asking. There are a few options: 

• Parking in the lot across from City Hall is definitely the popular option right now. That lot is now owned privately, so we have no say in if it's okay or not. So far, the developers thankfully seem to be fine with it. That lot is still anticipated to become an apartment building, but as construction hasn't started yet, it does help with the whole parking situation.
• You can park at the new Puyallup garage. That's a bit of a drive for people coming from east of Sumner, but it is an option.
• You can park at the Bill Heath Sports Complex and ride the Sumner Commuter Connector bus over to the Station. Because the City contracted for this service, not Sound Transit, it is a separate fare than an Orca card but worth exploring for a reliable ride. https://sumnerwa.gov/transit/sumner-commuter-connector-residential-loop/

Thank you for the feedback about the Bonney Lake P&R. That is disappointing to hear, and we'll share your insight with our contacts at Sound Transit. The Bonney Lake P&R is supposed to be a key mitigating option during construction, but it only works if the bus runs you to the station reliably.

Please see the very next answer right below this one as that will get you all the information we already posted about the Heritage Park fountain. For most people reading this online, that post will be below this post. You will also get an email as the requestor, so here's the link back to the Rumors page to make it easy to find the info: https://connects.sumnerwa.gov/rumors. Heritage Park never had a waterfall, so I'm assuming you mean the fountain. If that assumption is wrong, let us know. 

As to the records request, we will begin to process that for you. City Clerk Michelle Converse will follow up with you. For future reference, the best place to make a public records request is in the request system that's located here: https://sumnerwa.gov/public-records/. It's just easier for both you and us to track the request and be in touch back and forth. Whether or not you make this same request there, we'll process from this correspondence and try to find your email. If you have any questions about your request, please contact Michelle at michellec@sumnerwa.gov.

The fountain at the tip of Heritage Park was at the end of its life with ongoing maintenance issues and constant vandalism. The plaques within the fountain were also at the end of their life, brittle, cracked and nearly illegible. See the picture below. The City removed it last year as part of the work to replace/upgrade the utilities under Main Street, Kincaid and Cherry Avenues and to repave with the at-level "woonerf" plaza that connects the park to its adjacent blocks with no curb. This design better allows events to use the space without a tripping hazard and  still allows vehicle access on "normal" days while helping slow down drivers in a pedestrian-friendly area.

There were also decorative bricks behind the fountain that people bought to engrave names. Those also had to be removed for the same project. It turns out, they were not installed as full bricks but as decorations that were a fraction of the depth of a real brick. They were also secured really well. In removing both the fountain plaques and the bricks, most bricks and some plaques simply shattered. We documented the names included before the project. Although some of the plaques are in storage, they are in no condition to be put into use again. 

Heritage Park is currently in the process of a complete redesign. See the project page for updates and details. This year is the full design process to take the park from conceptual design to construction-ready. Then, we have to find funding for construction. This will take time. We are committed to returning the names to the park as part of the redesign and will find a way to honor the names that were on the plaques and bricks. If you have specific suggestions on what you think that should look like, let us know. 

The former fountain had reached its end of life with the plaque inserts cracked, brittle and very difficult to read. 

 

 

 

It isn't so much about cutting corners (literally) as the funding didn't extend to every corner in the first place. The City was able to get a grant from Sound Transit to construct the Academy Street Bike Lanes. We were able to stretch that funding to also reconstruct some, but not all, of the ADA ramps along the Academy Street corridor. Efficiency has it's advantages! Yes, in hindsight, we should have changed the rendering to show one of the corners we could include.

You are correct that this corner is not alone. In the downtown area south of Main Street, the portion built predominantly before ADA ramps were even considered, we have 490 ADA ramps, 174 of which are compliant to current standards. There are also 36 corners that have no ramp with a sidewalk, and 37 corners with no ramp and no sidewalk. We continue to look for grant money for sidewalk and ADA ramp improvements to supplement the City general fund. We also take advantage of any funding available, which is why it looks so scattered. The Sound Transit funding for Academy Street is one example. Another is Academy at Alder & Kincaid, two more corners we did not use this funding for as they will be replaced already as part of that block's redevelopment. Thank you for asking!

It sounds like there may be some code violations. The best way to check is for you to start by filling out a compliant form, which goes to the Code Enforcement Official to look into the situation. Here's the form for now: https://sumnerwa.gov/permits/code-violations/. We're just working on cleaning up this webpage and putting the form itself online. That will come in a few weeks, and I didn't want to wait that long to reply to you.

There are two warming shelters in Sumner: the Gordon Family YMCA and the Sumner Pierce County Library, as posted on our website and promoted on social media. We thank these partners for their generosity in providing this service.

If you mean overnight shelters for homeless individuals, Pierce County's Department of Emergency Management coordinates that on a regional basis, working in conjunction with non-profits who provide shelters all the time. We also shared online the resources available for housing, transportation and coordinating assistance in general. If you have a location in Sumner you'd like to offer, please contact Evan Brazitis, our Emergency Response & Safety Coordinator, and he can connect you.

Let's not talk about future plans and focus instead about what Sumner has already done to help housing be affordable. You might want to grab a cup of coffee - this is a long and complicated one. 

1. Yes, the Comprehensive Plan addresses housing, but you're really going to want to review the Housing Action Plan, completed in 2021. This plan spent a year looking in detail at the housing needs in Sumner and Bonney Lake and then outlined the key steps each city should take to make housing more affordable. I think we're over half-way through completing these steps. They include things like passing new ADU laws that make it easier for people to add accessory dwelling units (ADU), or "mother-in-law apartments" as the old term used to call them. This step inserts smaller housing units throughout homes already in the city, adding more affordable options that are not in large multi-family complexes. That said, we do have multi-family being planned and built. I think it's something like 600 additional units recently built or in the permit pipeline. At a high, basic level, those units do help with rental rates thanks to simple supply and demand. The more supply you have, the less one property owner can charge astronomical rates because people can and will go someplace else. But, beyond that, one of the other steps from the Housing Action Plan was to increase the multi-family tax exemption, which we did in 2022. This is an incentive program that gives a developer  financial advantages IF--and only if--they keep  a certain percentage of their units at affordable rates. (There's a definition and equation for "affordable"; it's not just subjective.) In other words, property managers could not just make rents high. There are other steps we took to help expand options for senior housing, zero-lot-line housing, etc. that you can explore in the full report. It might seem daunting to dive in there, but you have an interest in this topic, so that report will give you way more details than I can include here or are available in Zillow or the broader Comprehensive Plan. Even at that, it's not the sole piece of the puzzle.
2. When property owners have to pay high property taxes, those costs get passed onto renters. We work every day to keep the city's portion of property tax rates as low as possible while we also face rising costs to provide services. In addition, the industrial area now accounts for over 50% of Sumner's property tax revenue. The more industrial owners fund key services like police and parks, the less we have to lean into residential owners for that funding, which means less cost from property taxes gets passed onto renters.
3. Many renters do pay for utilities. If they don't pay utilities themselves, then the cost of utilities is included in the rental rate. We need good utility services because people need an ample supply of safe water, but we do our best to keep rates as low as possible and spread out large projects so owners/renters never get a huge rate hike in one year. This year, we're also assessing if the way we structure utility rates is still the best for fairness and affordability. One of the areas we're specifically looking at is our base rate. Is that still the best model now that Sumner has not just single-family homes but also smaller apartments with only one resident? It could be, but it's important to ask the question and explore the options. Stay tuned - that process is beginning right now.
4. The other piece of what makes rent affordable is the ability to pay it from wages, as you mentioned. The warehouses on the north end offer residents a wide range of jobs, most of which are well above minimum wage. Sumner currently has 10,000 residents and over 17,000 jobs. Unlike the rest of the region, our residents have easy access to those jobs without the burden of a long commute, because let's face it, when it comes to escalating costs, gas is right there with housing.

There's more, but if your eyes haven't already glazed over, I'm guessing they're close. It's understandable that housing costs worry you. They worry us and have worried us for years now. They also worry pretty much everyone else in the region. While the answers might be long and complicated, that's kind of the point. It would be rather suspicious if we tried to say we had a quick fix to such a deeply important issue. Hopefully, that helps alleviate your worries, even if just a bit.

Thanks for asking! Depending on the details, this could be a combination of Police and/or Code Enforcement. Please email details to codecomplaint@sumnerwa.gov and our staff will help guide you from there.