FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION

The Hearing Examiner denied a consolidated appeal by the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council and 350 Tacoma, ruling that the City of Tacoma did not commit clear error in its environmental review of a proposed 2.5 million square foot industrial development. The decision affirms that the project's impacts on transportation, air quality, noise, and water were sufficiently analyzed and mitigated under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and local codes.

• The proposed project consists of four industrial buildings totaling approximately 2,500,000 square feet of floor space on a 150-acre site, designed for industrial and warehouse uses with rooftop solar installation capabilities.
• The Hearing Examiner upheld the use of the 'Industrial Park' (IP 130) land use code for trip generation analysis, rejecting the Appellants' argument that a 'worst-case scenario' using High-Cube Warehouse (HCW) codes was required.
• Air quality analysis concluded that the project would not have significant adverse impacts, with greenhouse gas emissions estimated at approximately 24,000 short tons of CO2 equivalent per year, primarily from off-site vehicle emissions.
• The project site is a former Superfund site (South Tacoma Field) under EPA jurisdiction, with remedial actions completed in 1998-1999; current development must comply with a 1994 Record of Decision and a 1996 consent decree.
• The stormwater system is designed to capture and treat the first 15% of stormwater from rainfall events, which is identified as the critical percentage carrying accumulated surface contaminants.
• The project is located above the South Tacoma Aquifer, and the Hearing Examiner found no evidence that the development would cause significant depletion or contamination of the drinking water supply.
• Regarding salmon protection, the project utilizes bio-pods for stormwater treatment, which is identified as one of the most effective Best Management Practices for containing 6PPD-quinone, a tire-derived chemical toxic to coho salmon.
• Noise modeling indicated that the project would result in increases of between 0.3 and 2.6 dBA at the nearest residential receivers, which is well below the limits set in Tacoma Municipal Code 8.122.

APA

Earthjustice (n.d.). FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023.10.05-city-of-tacoma-hearing-examiner-decision.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION. n.d. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023.10.05-city-of-tacoma-hearing-examiner-decision.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023.10.05-city-of-tacoma-hearing-examiner-decision.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjusticendfindings, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023.10.05-city-of-tacoma-hearing-examiner-decision.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }