Tacoma City Council is scheduled to vote later this month on a request by City staff to acquire nearly six acres of land in order to increase the amount of open space in South Tacoma.
If approved by councilmembers, Tacoma would execute an agreement with Pierce County to acquire approximately 5.87 acres located within the South Tacoma Wetlands Conservation Area, near the intersection of South 52nd Street and Mullen Street, for open space conservation purposes, according to documents prepared by City staff. The City would also execute a stewardship agreement and restrictive covenant related to the parcel. Pierce County and the seller, City Acres LLC, have entered into a purchase and sale agreements stipulating that the sale should be finalized by July 12.
The City is working with the Conservation Futures Program to purchase the site then to transfer it to City ownership and place it into permanent conservation status. The Conservation Futures Program is providing the majority of the $411,000 purchase price. The City’s contribution is $13,030 (ten percent of assessed value) paid from Tacoma’s open space fund.
Located within the 40-acre South Tacoma Wetlands Conservation Area, this site is contiguous with other city conservation parcels and is the second of two in this area which the City is seeking to acquire this year with Conservation Futures funding. The first purchase, the 2.16 acre Shaughnessy site, was successfully acquired earlier this year. Should this purchase move forward, the City would then own a total of approximately 23 acres out of the total 40 acres targeted for conservation in this area.
More information about the City of Tacoma’s open space habitat and recreation plan is online at here.
Tacoma City Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution authorizing the deal during its meeting on Tues., June 26 at 5 p.m. in City Council Chambers on the first floor of the Tacoma Municipal Building, located 747 Market Street. The request for the resolution is online here. Meetings are streamed live online here and broadcast live on TV Tacoma. For more information, click here.
