by Kirk Kirkland
It’s complicated:
- Backhoes dredging in creeks without permits;
- 900 trees were clearcut;
- Understory vegetation bulldozed;
- Exposed soil left to run off into Spanaway Lake;
- Violation Notice from WDFW ignored;
- Fill and Grade Permit handed out after-the-fact without a fine.
Then a few weeks later, fish in Spanaway Lake started to die.
These actions without a permit should have triggered an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Instead, the county staff has issued Determinations of Nonsignificance (DNS).
“Hundreds of dead fish are washing up along the shores of Spanaway Lake,” Spanaway Concerned Citizens reported in their February newsletter. “While multiple factors may contribute to this environmental harm, the unpermitted site work done by the Tacoma Rescue Mission within the streambeds presents a clear and plausible cause.”
This mass fish kill is the latest atrocity in the continuing legal appeals to protect Spanaway Marsh from deleterious mis-development so close to the water.
According to citizen scientist Don Russell, a former biology teacher, the fish are dying because of the dredging done in the creeks. “Particularly it came from the excavating done by the rescue mission workers when they made hydro-modifications and disturbed the creek. Not only does it have a high iron concentration . . . indicate a chemical fish barrier of a soluble reactive iron concentration, in such a high proportion . . . that the fish can not survive,” Russell wrote.
The fish kill is just one more example of why the county planning department should not have given out a Fill and Grade Permit to the TRM, which had previously dredged the creek without a Hydrology Permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Neighbors reported the creek destruction to Planning Department staff. That resulted in a Notice of Violation to TRM. Two days later the planning department issued a permit for TRM to clear cut 900 trees on the site. Why didn’t the county wait for the ruling from Thurston County Superior Court on March 25 before giving out a permit to Fill and Grade the building site and adjacent 50 acre forest.
The logging cleared the way to bulldoze a second access road to the TRM site, and in the process destroyed the forest understory so important to the survival of the resident eagles and several state-listed endangered species listed in the county designated Biodiversity Plan Area.
On the first day of the logging, the Environmental Coalition asked the county staff and WDFW to issue a stop work. Staff refused and WDFW said they had not been given authority—which an Environmental Impact Statement would have triggered. Their hands were tied.
Spanaway Concerned Citizens filed an appeal of the Fill and Grade permit. That hearing was delayed several months, until February 7, 2025.There, SCC demonstrated TRM’s ongoing pattern of non-compliance. “This evidence underscores the urgent need for regulatory enforcement and accountability to protect both our community and natural resources,” SCC leaders wrote in an e-mail. They presented these facts:
- Pierce County issued clearing, grading, and driveway approach permits to Tacoma Rescue Mission (TRM) immediately after citing them for unpermitted work and issuing a stop work order — without first requiring the mandated corrections.
- TRM commenced filling and grading activities on county-owned Wasmud Road, encroaching onto Federally owned land at JBLM prior to obtaining authorization from JBLM, Pierce County or WDFW.
- TRM unlawfully excavated and filled within Spanaway Marsh and Audubon Springs Creeks without obtaining Federal, State, or local authorization.
- TRM attributed the work to unnamed “volunteers” but did not take responsibility it.
- TRM violated the Federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act by clearing land within 75 feet of an active eagle nest without obtaining the required permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The way the Examiner interpreted the law was the most outrageous decision I have ever heard. Basically, he said there was no provision to revoke the permit. The developer was allowed to ignore county code and damage creeks and wetlands, as long as he applied for a permit and agreed to repair the damage done prior to his application. The HE ruled that the “SCC has not satisfied its burden of showing that planning staff was clearly erroneous in issuing or refusing to withdraw a previously issued Site Development Permit and a Fill and Grade Permit due to existing violations.
According to the Examiner, “Planning and Public Works (PPW) acted in accordance with the intent of the Pierce County Council by obtaining a voluntary remediation of the code violations.” Therefore, he denied the SCC appeal and once again did not issue a requirement for an Environmental Impact Statement or give them a fine of $9,000 for working without a permit.
He was able to reach this conclusion because the Pierce County Council did not give authority to staff or the HE to revoke a permit. Revocation is only possible if the developer does not comply with a condition in the Conditional Use Permit. County staff has enforcement powers, but as long as the developer shows intent to take appropriate corrective actions, the county cannot revoke the permit, no matter the extent of the damage to forests, wetlands or wildlife.
Clearly, filing for appeal of a Fill and Grade Permit is a waste of the people’s time and resources because the HE does not have the authority to enforce county code or issue fines for disobeying county code.
If county staff had wanted to protect the Biodiversity Planning Area from development, they would have required an Environmental Impact Statement from the beginning. Their issuance, instead, of a Determination of Nonsignificance, shows the staff’s disregard for environmental concerns. Clearly they chose not to comply with WDFW Violation Notice, as they chose not to comply with our request for a stop work order on the first day the trees were cut down. I’ve never seen such disregard for statutory mandates by the County Planning staff. It sets a dangerous precedent that threatens legal and critical environmental safeguards.
For the citizens who have funded these appeals ($140,000 so far) and the people who are now faced with a fish kill in their lake, an environmental injustice. Fortunately, there is one last chance to correct it. SCC will present their case in March in Superior Court in Thurston County. This judge will have the authority to revoke this permit or require an Environmental Impact Statement and to decide if the development must comply with its original Residential Resource Zoning Code.
In this county, enforcement of federal and county laws can be expensive. Help Spanaway Concerned Citizens get a fair hearing in Thurston County Superior Court!
Mail donations to: Spanaway Concerned Citizens, PO Box 562, Spanaway WA 98387
Or make a donation online: https://spanawayconcernedcitizens.com
Spanaway Concerned Citizens is a 501-C4 non profit organization. Contributions are not tax-deductible.