Tumwater Hearing Examiner Mark Scheibmeir approved the binding site plan of Yorkshire Apartments, a 21.7-acre apartment complex to be built between Tumwater Boulevard and Israel Road.
Scheibmeir released his decision last week on January 12 after holding a public hearing for the project on January 3.
Grandview Yorkshire wanted to construct the project in phases, thus requiring the developer to submit a binding site plan.
According to the city’s municipal code, a binding site plan is an alternative method of land division allowing for parcels to share access, parking, open space, and other developmental requirements. A binding site plan also allows for a project to proceed in phases if the project results in ten or more dwelling units.
Yorkshire Apartments would create 1,153 residential units through a combination of seven 5-story residential buildings and a mixed-use 4-story building.
Part of Scheibmeir’s decision was to approve the conditional use of these high-rise apartments as they are only allowed as conditional use in general commercial zones.
The developer also requested a conditional use permit for a 5-story self-storage facility, which Scheibmeir granted.
Other structures to be constructed include a clubhouse, swimming pool, a rooftop courtyard, and around 1,300 parking stalls. The project must also retain 3.25 acres of the site as open space.
In his decision, Scheibmeir acknowledged that the Yorkshire Apartments may be the largest project of its kind in Tumwater.
Scheibmeir approved the binding site plan and requests for a conditional use permit subject to 74 conditions that city regulations require.
Among these requirements are several road improvements to mitigate the project’s impact on traffic.
The developer would have to build an extension of Tyee Drive down to Tumwater Boulevard and a roundabout where the roads intersect.
Scheibmeir wrote that the Tyee Drive extension would have five lanes per the Transportation Master Plan. Still, the city could permit three lanes if a traffic engineer could demonstrate the alternative as adequate.
A segment of Tumwater Boulevard from Littlerock Road to the east point of the apartment complex would also be improved. The boulevard would need to have five lanes with a landscaped center median.
The city also requires a trail from Israel Road to Tumwater Boulevard. The path must be a 10-foot wide concrete sidewalk with two-foot wide shoulders made from crushed rocks. A sidewalk along Tyee Drive would meet this requirement if designed to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
Scheibmeir also included an additional fencing requirement that city staff had yet to include. A fence buffered by eight-foot landscaping along its perimeter would need to be placed along the boundaries of 13 adjacent properties southwest of the project site.
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Bigjules
Come on guys, what about the old brewery warehouse?
Wednesday, January 17 Report this
Southsoundguy
Disgusting. This is what city “leaders” and uninspired developers think of Tumwater and its future—dormitories. A project this size will not provide meaningful housing to the area, just overpriced apartments that will stay that way to drive up NOI in an attempt to juice the valuation in a high cap rate environment, so they can leverage it 70-80% and just wait for inflation to drive up the price. No actual value will be created, just fiat financial tricks and malinvestment. Another giant, paved-over eyesore that destroys genuine community.
Thursday, January 18 Report this
SecondOtter
3.5 acres of 'open space". Let's see. Looking at the map, I see nothing listed as 'open space'. So I'm guessing that the 3.5 acres of open space is 3.5 TOTAL acres, not contiguous acreage. Meaning, you have a scrap here that they couldn't shoehorn another building in, a 10 foot long scrap there in between the road and the ''sidewalk"..
And Open Space means what? Is that the same gobbledygook the State said when they wanted to flatten thousands of homes for the mega airpor in Thurston county? Their term "Greenfields" made it sound as if there was 7 square miles of open, vacant land and how NIMBY of us to refuse to allow it. Only after the airport was shot down..thank the stars...did they define 'greenfield' as quote, "anywhere there's not an airport'.
What is this open space? . Is it a paved area? A spot where the soil is so blasted that not even scotch broom will grow there? . I bet my boots open space does NOT mean a tree is left standing, it's not even a spot where the a kid can actually go out and throw a frisbee. It probably will be a drainage lagoon, where the resultant flooding from all the asphalt can run into and stagnate. Making it absolutely useless for anyone other than the builders of this horrible development who keep their fingers crossed when they swear there's SOME bit of land not paved over.
THis is just more of the same gaslighting baloney as greenfields.
"Open Space" probably means where they intend to place the dumpsters.
IF they provide dumpsters.
Thursday, January 18 Report this
JW
If this was Olympia, instead of market rate apartments and housing they'd have shoved yet another low-barrier transient "transitional housing" dump full of drugs, crime, and filth on to this lot. At least Tumwater has reasonable development goals in mind.
Thursday, January 18 Report this
Southsoundguy
There’s nothing reasonable about this. It’s malinvestment. A better development would be tight clusters of 4-6plex/townhome buildings and leave as much of the existing forest in place as buffers. You get higher quality living space that supports household/family formation and doesn’t lead to a blasted out institutional dormitory and massive parking lot.
Thursday, January 18 Report this
Kruz81
A joke. Tumwaters city council and mayor are a joke. We will soon look like low rent Lacey with all the crime all for more tax dollars.
Friday, January 19 Report this
JW
What is it guys? Low rent and crime or overly expensive "dormitory housing"? What is this vacant lot of land giving us right now? Nothing. What would a bunch of new residents in market rate housing provide? More growth, local spending, and an increased tax base.
The people griping around here evidently want to live in everlasting fantasy Mayberry.
Saturday, January 20 Report this
Southsoundguy
JW, what are you taking about? How does 1100 units of institutional dorms support meaningful growth? What does this say about your vision for the future of the community? Based on your comments, you don’t care as long as the government is stuffing its pockets with more property tax dollars. And I described how that land could be put to use in a much healthier way. But I guess you’d rather see a bunch of people crammed into a small area. Turning out like Lacey would be the best case scenario, the Tumwater “leaders” have us on a path to becoming Federal Way, a paved over dumping ground for meaningless retail along I-5. If that’s your idea of “growth” you should move out of Tumwater.
Monday, January 22 Report this