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Knutson Farms Environmental Impact Statement Project
Summary
The City is leading the development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed warehousing development on the approximate 188-acre Knutson Farm property located in the city's Urban Growth Area (within unincorporated Pierce County). The EIS is an objective analysis of the likely environmental impacts of the proposal and measures to mitigate harmful impacts. For the most current information, please visit KnutsonFarmsEIS.org which contains detailed information about the project, FAQs, and other information.
A number of private development proposals are currently pending in the vicinity of Shaw Road and East Pioneer, both within and immediately outside of the city of Puyallup’s corporate limits. Of particular interest to those who live in Puyallup is the proposed development of an approximately 188-acre site which, although outside of Puyallup’s city limits, is within its Urban Growth Area (UGA). According to the State’s Growth Management Act, property located within a jurisdiction’s UGA is anticipated to someday be annexed into that jurisdiction. This proposal, for development of a warehouse/industrial park complex comprising approximately 2.6 million square feet, is sited in the vicinity of 6719 134th Avenue East. This project was undergoing permit review in unincorporated Pierce County. SEE BELOW FOR IMPORTANT UPDATES.
Project review is on-going internally at the city; traffic modeling is progressing as is revised assessment of the project DEIS. The draft EIS is anticipated in summer, 2023. Issuance of the DEIS will include opportunities for public review and comment, and scheduled public meetings to receive additional information and Q&A,
The Knutson Farms EIS project is currently focused on fieldwork, impacts analysis, and report writing following scoping. The project applicant has clarified their proposed project by the final recordation of the restrictive covenant, and city staff is conducting further/revised environmental review. The voluntary restrictive covenant requires significant revisions to the project analysis and new traffic analysis must be completed consistent with the terms of the covenant. We anticipate the issuance of a draft EIS in Summer 2023.
The project has been slowed by a request from the applicant to consider a voluntary restrictive covenant; the restrictive covenant would assist in clearly defining the traffic analysis within a broad category of industrial park land uses (as defined by technical terms in the International Traffic Engineering manual) and limit other uses from being established, such as “Amazon-type” fulfillment centers, from the project site. The City and applicant are discussing the details of the proposed traffic covenant. The EIS is still being written but the traffic analysis is being paused. At this time, staff does not have an estimated date on when the draft EIS will be ready as the covenant issue needs to be resolved to complete the traffic analysis. Please check back here for further updates.
The EIS scoping comment period is now closed. Thank you to those of you who shared your input. Your comments were used to help identify possible areas of impact and to determine the extent of the EIS analysis.
The City of Puyallup has released the EIS scoping report comment summary related to the Knutson Farms EIS project and all comments received during the scoping comment period are now available.
Knutson Farms EIS Scoping Report 01/19/21
Appendix A – Knutson Farms Scoping Comments Received
Public comments most frequently received were related to the following topics:
- Traffic impacts
- Air quality
- Development impacts on plants, animals, and critical biological resources
- The use of land for warehouses and loss of agricultural land
The project is now entering the second phase, which will involve fieldwork, impact analysis, and report writing over the next several months.
January 28, 2021 Update:
The city of Puyallup has released the EIS scoping report comment summary related to the Knutson Farms EIS project. See the Related Documents sidebar for the formal reports. Please visit our micro-site to sign up for email updates. The project is in the second phase of the project which will involve an in-depth, independent analysis of the project impacts, culminating later in 2021 (Fall) in the issuance of a Draft EIS report for further public review and comment.
For specific questions on the EIS, please contact city project manager Chris Beale (Senior Planner) via email or (253) 841.5418 for more information.
December 2020 update:
The second notice requesting further comments closed on December 17, 2020. A full report on the comments is expected to be issued by the city’s EIS consulting team in January 2021 – that report and comments received will be posted to this page once available. Please visit the project website to sign up for email updates.
November 2020 Update:
The City of Puyallup issued a second notice of a previously issued Determination of Significance and scope of an EIS on November 17, 2020, requesting public and agency review of the proposal and comment on the scope of the EIS. Please see related documents sidebar for the notice.
October 2020 Update:
The city has finalized a contract with the applicant and consultant team and is proceeding forward with an updated public notice process of the city’s anticipated EIS scope and updated Determination of Significance. Please see this webpage for further updates soon.
February 2020 Update:
The city, along with the applicant, has mutually selected a consulting team – lead by HDR Engineering, Inc. to conduct the EIS process.
November/December 2019 Update:
The City has begun formal work on the Knutson Farms Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and is securing a qualified consultant to prepare that document, consistent with state law. Also, an updated Request for Comments on the Scope of the pending EIS, is expected to be issued soon.
Key documents summarizing the proposed project and environmental review issues are linked on the right-hand side of this page.
September/October 2019 Update:
Related Documents
- Appendix A - Knutson Farms Scoping Comments Received
- Knutson Farms EIS Scoping Report 01/19/21
- Knutson EIS Scoping Presentation
- SEPA Checklist (2016)
- City Second Notice of DS and Scope of EIS 11/17/20
- Preliminary site plan 9/16
- Excerpt, Master Application 9/16
- Pierce County MDNS 4/26/17
- City of Puyallup Comments on MDNS 5/10/17
- City of Puyallup Appeal of MDNS 5/23/17
- City of Puyallup Assumption of Lead Agency 5/10/17
- City of Puyallup Determination of Significance 5/10/17
- Revised Notice of Application June 2016
- Court of Appeals Decision 4/3/19
- City of Puyallup comment letter July 2016
- City of Puyallup comment letter June 2016
- October 2015 City of Puyallup comment letter
- December 2014 City of Puyallup comment letter
- Hearing Examiner decision, 2018
- Restrictive covenant, August 2022