Your Input Needed: Opportunity to Shape the Future of Tacoma and Our Region

TCC has been working closely with the Cascade Land Conservancy on the Tacoma Mixed Use Centers update. This is a very rare opportunity where a major city in our region is updating their land use plans to accommodate more growth and create healthy, more transit connected, compact communities. Please see the CLC alert below and weigh in on this important topic.

Please email the Tacoma City Council by 4 PM on Tuesday, June 30th; and attend the Public Hearing on June 30th, 5:00 pm at City Hall, and let them know that you want growth in Tacoma to improve our environment, our economy and our quality of life.

Over the past year Tacoma has been updating its regulations for sixteen Mixed-Use Centers around the City. The Cascade Land Conservancy has been following these regulatory updates and working to ensure that the updates help the Mixed-Use Centers (MUC) attract well-planned growth and development that meets the City’s goals and vision to improve the quality of life in Tacoma.

We need your help to ensure that as the Tacoma City Council considers the recommendations of the Planning Commission they adopt a MUC package that positively affects Tacoma and the region.

Thanks to the 114 of you who have already learned about the MUC and wrote letters to the Planning Commission; your work had a tremendously positive impact on the shape of the package being reviewed by Council!

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How You Can Make A Difference:
Email the Tacoma City Council by 4 PM on Tuesday, June 30th, and tell them that you want our neighborhoods and our region grow in a way that is responsible, puts feet on the street and provides more choices for future generations.
Attend the Public Hearing on June 30th, 5:00 PM at City Hall, to show your support for a MUC package that will result in livable, walkable Centers with well designed buildings that enhance neighborhood character, supply homes that we can all afford, and provide space for local retail shops, restaurants, and family-wage jobs.

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Why Do Tacoma’s Mixed-Use Centers Matter?
From Tacoma to Everett and Seattle to Ellensburg, our region is growing. In the next 20 years, the population of the Puget Sound region will increase by more than one million people, many our own children and grandchildren. That’s like having the entire population of Portland move into the area, twice.

As residents of a fast-growing region, we can’t take our high quality of life for granted. The splendor of our natural landscapes distinguishes this region, drawing businesses and talented employees who want to live and work here. We must create vibrant cities and towns to attract and retain jobs and families, and conserve the surrounding natural lands, working forests and farms we love. If we don’t work to shape this growth in a way that enhances our quality of life, we can expect more poorly planned growth consuming the landscapes that define our region. But if we seize this moment, we can shape the future for generations to come.

Tacoma’s Mixed-Use Centers can help achieve these goals and help accommodate the 100,000 additional residents expected to live in our City by 2040. Well planned Mixed-Use Centers will promote business and residential growth in existing community centers and help Tacoma use infrastructure wisely, promote economic development and preserve the character of Tacoma’s unique neighborhoods.