Earlier this month, the Washington State Supreme Court rejected the appeals from Pierce County and Running Bear Development Partners, LLC of the previous Court of Appeals decision concerning the City of Puyallup‘s authority to assume SEPA jurisdiction over the Knutson Farms project. The Supreme Court’s decision to deny both petitions for review was unanimous.
In 2016, a St. Louis developer proposed the construction of a massive warehouse/industrial complex comprising approximately 2.6 million square feet on a 162-acre site located in the area of Shaw Road and East Pioneer. See here for a brief history of this proposal, which could add up to 2,000 tractor-trailers on Puyallup streets every day.
Over the next few years, the City repeatedly tried to ensure broad public participation and a full impact analysis of the proposed development. During this time, Pierce County issued a determination of non-significance for this project.
In April, the Washington Court of Appeals unanimously held that Puyallup is entitled under the law to act as a reviewing agency for this proposal. Now that the Supreme Court of the State of Washington has upheld that decision, the City will conduct an environmental review and determine needed traffic mitigation measures.