Puyallup Design Review & Historic Preservation Board Meeting – December 18, 2025
Puyallup Design Review & Historic Preservation Board Meeting – December 18, 2025
The Design Review & Historic Preservation Board met in Council Chambers at Puyallup City Hall on Thursday, December 18, 2025, with Vice Chair Paige Rooney presiding. The meeting was called to order at 4:04 p.m. and adjourned at 4:51 p.m. Board members Abdul Khan, Shelly Schlumpf, and Diana Wolfe joined Vice Chair Rooney for a quorum; Chair Kris Stamon and Board Members Matthew Pitts and Ajay Garg were excused. The board reviewed two work-session projects—a pre-application for the "Seasons on Meeker" townhomes and market hall/brewery, and a formal design review application for the AOB mixed-use development—and approved the formal application unanimously.
Consent Calendar
- Motion by Board Member Schlumpf, seconded by Board Member Wolfe, to approve the agenda passed 4-0.
- Motion by Board Member Schlumpf, seconded by Board Member Khan, to approve the November 20, 2025 meeting minutes passed 4-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were submitted by email before the 3:00 p.m. deadline, and no in-person citizen comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Pre-application Design Review – "Seasons on Meeker" Townhomes and Market Hall/Brewery: Senior Planner Chris Beale introduced the project, and Associate Planner Nabila Comstock presented. Nate Erwin of Palindrome Development and Chris Davidson of JCR Collective described Phase 1: eight townhomes plus conversion of the existing garage/retail building at the Cornforth Building on Meeker Street near the bypass into a 7,500-square-foot market hall and brewery. The site is east of Meridian on Meeker Street in the CBD core zone. Future multifamily development to the north/northeast was excluded from this review. Davidson emphasized a pedestrian promenade connecting the residences, market hall, and broader community; two-story perimeter townhomes to match neighborhood scale; a brick-heavy materials palette with metal accents; market hall facade updates using color, materiality, and texture changes; and a conceptual hop-themed mural on the east elevation. Board members asked whether blue renderings represented actual colors (clarified as material offsets) and about the choice of gray brick, which the team said was selected to differentiate the residential building from the darker market hall while fitting Puyallup's character. One board member asked about contaminated-ground mitigation, but staff said follow-up would be handled outside the meeting because this was a design pre-application.
- Design Review Application (DDG) – AOB Site Mixed-Use Development: Senior Planner Chris Beale introduced the formal application for the AOB site behind the Puyallup Public Library, facing Third and Pioneer streets. C2K Associate Planner Juliana Seymour presented changes responding to board comments from the November pre-application meeting. The project is a 104-unit mixed-use building with studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units, plus ground-level parking, retail, lobby, and plaza. Changes included regrouping floor levels to reduce visual height, reorganizing window groupings to reduce repetitiveness, aligning garage openings with the retail storefront datum, raising garage opening sills to two feet, adding vegetation, and providing new contextual renderings from nearby viewpoints. Staff found the proposal complied with downtown design guidelines with no noted inconsistencies. Board members responded positively to the updates. A motion by Board Member Wolfe, seconded by Board Member Khan, to approve the application as presented passed 4-0.
Staff Report
- Senior Planner Kendall Wals announced that the 2026 board meeting schedule will change to one meeting per month on the third Thursday, still at 4:00 p.m., with flexibility to explore other times and to schedule additional meetings for time-sensitive projects. The first 2026 meeting is set for January 15. The design review standards update is now expected to be released for public review in January, with a board presentation likely in February; minutes from the two focus groups will be circulated.
- City Manager Steve Kirkelie thanked the board for its role in Puyallup's downtown development and wished everyone happy holidays.
Key Outcomes
- AOB mixed-use development approved 4-0 as presented, with no additional conditions. The approval permits the applicant to move forward with final design in the land use process.
- 2026 meeting schedule change to monthly third-Thursday meetings was communicated; special meetings remain possible for time-sensitive projects.
- Next steps for "Seasons on Meeker" remain at pre-application stage; no formal decision was made. Staff and applicants will address follow-up questions outside the meeting.
- The board exchanged holiday greetings; Board Member Schlumpf encouraged members and staff to visit the mansion during the holidays.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear us okay? Yes, I can hear you. Perfect. Um, I believe I'll pass the floor over to Vice Chair Rooney. And for the record, this is Yasenia Barca, the um acting administrative clerk. Great, thank you. I'm trying to see who's all online and if we have a quorum. Let's see. I think there are there three of us here from the board. From what I could see, it looks like three. Um I can do a roll call just so we can always verify as well after we call the meeting to order. Okay. That is correct. If you would like, we could wait a few extra minutes. I do know that we were supposed to have four board members confirmed. Um if you would like to give an extension for five to ten minutes, we can do that as well. Okay. Um let's wait. We could wait until four oh five and see if they show up. Okay. Okay, thank you. Madam Vice Chair, it does look like board member Wolf just logged in, so it looks like there are four people. If you would like to start the meeting, we do have a quorum. Great. Okay, that sounds great. Let's call this meeting to order. So I call this meeting to order at four oh four PM on December eighteenth. Uh, and we'll start with roll call. Board member Cons. Hi, yeah, present. Board member Garr. Excused. Board member Wolf. Present. Board Member Schlumpf. Here. Board Member Pitts. Vice Chair Rooney. Here. And Chair Staman is also excused. Great. Thank you. Thank you. We have a quorum. Great. And the next on the agenda is to approve the agenda. Um, so we're looking for a motion to approve. So moved. Thank you.
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