Tumwater approves 4-story storage facility close to Tumwater Middle School

Tumwater’s hearing examiner, Mark Scheibmeir, approved on Monday, April 29, the site plan and conditional use permit for Tacoma resident Trevor Colby to construct a four-story storage facility immediately north of Tumwater Middle School.

The 1.77-acre project will be located at 6115 and 6199 Littlerock Road. Two single-family houses and their associated structures currently stand on the site but will be demolished to construct the facility, containing 898 storage units and office space.

As the site is within a general commercial zone, allowing storage facilities as a conditional use, the project had to go through a public hearing on Wednesday, April 24, before the conditional use permit was granted.

During the hearing, Permit Manager Tami Merriman told Scheibmeir that the project was consistent with various city plans.

“We did review the project against the Tumwater comprehensive plan, the city of Tumwater economic development plan, the Tumwater transportation plan, and the Thurston regional trail plans, and found that the project is consistent with those individual plans,” Merriman said.

Merriman added that the facility met the criteria and minimum requirements for a conditional use permit.

Merriman said that the project has to meet the city’s design standards so that the structure appears less prominent in terms of the building's aesthetic impact.

“There are design standards to try to break up blank walls, and there's design standards for break in modulation and colors and so forth.  So there are, through our design guidelines, ways to make that large building not appear quite as large,” Merriman said.

The manager added that there will be 10 feet of landscape as a buffer from the south boundary and eight feet of landscape on the rest of the perimeter.

The project’s landscaping plan also calls for 64 trees, above the required number of trees the development needs to retain or plant. Merriman said the project requires a minimum of 22 trees, which the site currently lacks.

Before the hearing closed, Scheibmeir acknowledged the facility's proximity to Tumwater Middle School but was confident that city staff had sufficiently reviewed the proposed development.

“I confess to a mild unease about a project of this scope sitting so closely to the middle school, but it isn't so close as to be overwhelming or impactful in any unusually negative way,” Scheibmeir said.

“I think the city has recognized that closeness by its landscape and other requirements, and so I'm comfortable that's been carefully thought through,” he added.

The proposed design of the 4-story storage facility, according to documents shared during the public hearing.

Hearing examiner approves variance request

Scheibmeir also accommodated the developer’s request for a variance from the city’s setback requirements.

The site's location necessitates a 40-foot setback from the school. The developer requested a minimum setback of 37 feet from the southern boundary of the property and 27 feet from the eastern boundary, which Scheibmeir granted.

During the hearing, Merriman explained that a private access road owned by the Tumwater School District already separates the proposed storage from the school.