A pplications for two apartment complexes and one subdivision were recently approved by the city of Yelm after the subsequent environmental reviews were conducted, resulting in decisions in favor of …
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Applications for two apartment complexes and one subdivision were recently approved by the city of Yelm after the subsequent environmental reviews were conducted, resulting in decisions in favor of the developments as long as a series of mitigating conditions are met by developers.
This means the new developments are now in the civil plan review process with the city’s engineering team. Meanwhile, the developers will construct the water mains, sewers, streets and all public infrastructure for the projects. Then the plan will go back to Yelm Assistant Planner Casey Mauck for the final review and approval. If that approval is granted, the lots can then be built out.
The infrastructure is currently underway for the 48-unit Tahoma Terrace apartments, which will be located at 14301 Tahoma Boulevard S.E., as part of the Tahoma Terra Master Plan Community.
“So part of their master plan community approval was for every ‘X’ many single-family residences, they would have to construct some multi-family residences,” Mauck said of the development. “So apartments would fill that slot, just so that we can have a variety of housing types in the city.”
Currently in the civil review process, the developers of the Tahoma Terrace Apartments will have the city review its plans for driveways, sewer, water, and public infrastructure. That will be constructed before the project undergoes a building plan review.
“Apartments are a good way to encourage a variety of different housing types (in Yelm),” Mauck said, adding the developments allow the city to adhere to the Washington State Growth Management Act. “The Growth Management Act has a lot of principles that guide the planning we do for the city. And included in that is a focus on increasing different varieties of housing types so that you have housing available to different income levels.”
She said not everyone can afford a home, so apartments are a welcome solution for people who are looking for housing options in Yelm.
Mitigating conditions for the development include ensuring the project meets city standards on areas like fire safety, stormwater runoff and landscaping.
The planned 80-unit Tahoma Boulevard Apartments, located at 15035 Berry Valley Road, will be constructed by developer AHBL.
“It’s a firm that does engineering, surveying, architecture and some planning,” Mauck said. “They have a few different locations. We’ve been working with the one out of Tacoma.”
Mitigating conditions for final approval are similar to those of the Tahoma Terrace apartments.
Finally, the planned Meadows at Mill Pond subdivision will include a 21-lot housing development that’s right below Cochrane Memorial Park and above 104th Avenue.
“I just issued the notice of decision approval with some mitigating conditions for the preliminary subdivision,” Mauck said.
These infrastructure-based conditions are similar to the conditions for the apartment complexes.
When the city analyzes land-use applications, they look at the Revised Codes of Washington, Washington state law, and then at compliance with city code and development regulations.
“As long as the proposal is consistent with all of the above, we issue an approval,” Mauck said. “So there was nothing that we found along the process that strongly went against any codes or state laws, so we issued the approval.”
However, the project’s environmental review kicked out an additional mitigating factor.
Part of the preliminary subdivision review included an environmental review, and Meadows at Mill Pond, which will also be developed by AHBL, has a sister preliminary subdivision called Vista at Mill Pond, a planned 29-lot development.
Because the two are a pair, the city asked that the developments’ environmental reviews be done together, because if the impact studies were done separately, the actual impacts to the city in areas like traffic may have not shown the whole picture, Mauck said.
The additional mitigation condition based on the joint environmental review regards traffic congestion that will likely be brought on by the new subdivisions.
“So Meadows went through an environmental review with the 29-lot Vista (preliminary) subdivision and that environmental review came up with one mitigating condition, which is a financial contribution to the construction of a left-turn lane along (Highway) 507 at the intersection of 507 and Mill Road,” Mauck said. “That’s because the subdivisions will increase traffic on Mill Road, so that’s the mitigating condition that we put in on the environmental side.”
In general, new developments that fall sustainability within the bounds of the Growth Management Act and the city’s comprehensive plan are a boon for Yelm, Mauck said.
“We, as a city, have been limited by our water rights for some time now, and we are expecting additional water rights soon and that’s why we can now approve these subdivisions and complexes with the understanding that we will have additional water rights coming through,” Mauck said.
Mauck said the subdivisions have been in the making for a long time.
“A lot of this has been put on pause for a long time, but the demand is here,” she said. “We know that the demand is here. We know that people want to live here and so it’s great to see that we can get back on track with providing more developments in the city.”