Puyallup City Council Study Session – September 22, 2026

The Puyallup City Council met in study session on September 22, 2026, to hear three informational presentations: Pierce Transit Proposition 1, Pierce County's Unified Regional Approach to Homelessness, and a possible re-evaluation of the Rural Buffer Residential future land use designation. The council approved the agenda 7-0, heard public comments, and postponed an executive session on potential litigation until a future meeting before adjourning at 8:38 p.m.

Agenda Approval

• Councilmember King moved approval, Councilmember Gilliam seconded; the motion passed 7-0.

Pierce Transit Proposition 1 – Informational Presentation

• Pierce Transit CEO Mike Griffus and Acting Chief Planning Officer Tina Lee presented Proposition 1, a November 2026 ballot measure adding 0.3% to the sales/use tax (3 cents per $10) within the existing Pierce Transit service area to fund a 47% increase in transit service. The measure would not expand the district to new areas.
• Griffus said Pierce Transit is funded at half the rate of peer agencies, its sales-tax rate has not changed since 2002, and its passenger-mile efficiency is the best in the Puget Sound region; it has generated $9.3 million in savings from 133 projects. Without new funding, service reductions could begin as early as 2031.
• Lee described proposed improvements: new routes including a Shaw Road route in Puyallup, three high-capacity lines, 86% of current routes operating more often, seven routes at 15–20 minute frequencies, 23 routes every 30 minutes or faster, later spans, eight light-rail connections, senior fare-free service, and expanded paratransit boundaries covering about 27,000 people.
• Puyallup would receive a 94.8% service increase, the highest of any municipality in the service area, including improved Route 402 on Meridian, improved Route 409 on 72nd Street, and weekend Route 400 service.
• Councilmembers discussed restoring the discontinued 425 connector for seniors (Adler), why Puyallup received the largest increase (Gilliam; Griffus cited historic under-service and local advocacy), and transit's value during fuel/energy disruptions (Kastama; Griffus noted buses run on compressed natural gas).

Public Comments & Testimony

• Doc Hansen, a Ridgecrest resident, supported removing the Rural Buffer Residential designation from the Ridgecrest neighborhood. He said the designation had been used to prevent lot subdivision and noted that 8% of subdivision lots are non-conforming.
• A resident of Pierce County District 2 (named Andrelyn Izquierdo in the minutes; the transcript renders the name differently) described personal barriers for people experiencing homelessness, including lack of wayfinding, disconnected sidewalks, appointment-based shelter and food-bank systems, vehicle residency, and unsafe walking conditions.

Pierce County's Unified Regional Approach to Homelessness – Informational Presentation

• Pierce County Council Chair Jani Hitchen, Policy Analyst Mary Connolly, and Lakewood Mayor Paul Bocchi presented the proposed Unified Regional Approach (URA).
• Connolly shared data: in 2025, 580 people receiving homeless services reported sleeping in Puyallup the previous night, and 219 reported a last permanent address in Puyallup-area ZIP codes 98371–98374. Mayor Witting questioned those figures and estimated the true Puyallup-proper count was in the 70s; he cited a 20–40 person waitlist for the city's hotel-model shelter. Also presented: 422 Puyallup school students identified as homeless in 2024–25, and 100 eligible Puyallup households applied to Pierce County's eviction prevention program from January 2024 to July 2025.
• The URA would be created by interlocal agreement, with Pierce County as administering agency and a board of elected officials from participating governments. It would start with 2–3 staff and an annual budget of $400,000–$600,000; Puyallup's estimated contribution is $17,000–$25,000 per year, with dues beginning in 2028 and full dues in 2029. It would not be a separate legal entity like the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
• Next steps described include jurisdictions adopting resolutions of intent and developing an interlocal agreement. Pierce County, Fife, Gig Harbor, Lakewood, Orting, Ruston, and Tacoma have already adopted resolutions.
• Councilmember Kastama expressed skepticism about whether regional coordination would reduce homelessness, citing county spending growth from $14.6 million to $75.7 million (2019–2024) alongside a 79% increase in the homeless count, and similar outcomes in King County. He called for specific measurable goals and raised neighborhood impacts and drug addiction concerns.
• Deputy Mayor Johnson urged a data-driven, holistic approach, with involvement from business, policymakers, and faith communities, and said current efforts need to show results rather than just "try."
• Councilmember Adler called the criticism from the dais disheartening, thanked the presenters, and offered to give up her seat on the URA elected leadership group to a colleague who wanted to shape the proposal directly.
• Mayor Witting voiced strong reservations about the governance structure, saying committees and elected boards spread responsibility without a clear person in charge. He noted the county's homelessness budget is about $55 million compared with the city's roughly $250,000 in direct spending, and argued the county should attach requirements to its funding. He said the emphasis should be on healing and self-reliance, not only housing.
• Councilmember Smolko supported measuring outcomes first, establishing baselines, and publishing regular dashboards with cost per successful outcome; he cautioned that the homeless population is not homogeneous and that the housing market itself can overwhelm successful programs.

Rural Buffer Residential Future Land Use Designation – Informational Presentation

• Planning Manager Chris Beale presented a possible re-evaluation of the Rural Buffer Residential (RBR) future land use designation. RBR is not a zone district; it is implemented primarily by RS-35 (35,000-square-foot lots, one unit per acre) and an agricultural/recreation/open space zone.
• Beale explained the original purposes: transition from rural county areas, low-density housing where urban services are limited, protection of critical areas, agricultural/open-space preservation, and reflecting past one-acre development patterns.
• Examples included the Shaw-Pioneer/agricultural area, Redesco, areas southwest of the city, Ridgecrest, Terridon, the WSU campus, and Clarks Creek/Stewart Avenue. He noted Ridgecrest was rezoned to RS-35 in 1997, and a 2017 attempt to move it to a lower-density designation was dropped after neighborhood concerns; many lots are non-conforming.
• Beale proposed a framework organized around rural-edge, environmentally constrained, infrastructure-limited, and established-neighborhood conditions, and said the review could be coordinated with the single-family zone consolidation planned for 2027.
• Deputy Mayor Johnson supported reducing large minimum lot sizes where site studies and mitigation can protect critical areas, said growth should pay for growth, and argued the city should not let infrastructure or critical-area constraints block responsible smaller-lot development.
• Mayor Witting said the map-by-map decisions were hard to evaluate in the abstract and proposed meeting one-on-one with staff to discuss individual areas; Councilmember Adler asked to participate in that discussion.

Key Outcomes

• No formal council votes or binding decisions were taken on the three informational items.
• The agenda was approved 7-0.
• The executive session on potential litigation was postponed until the next meeting because of the late hour; the meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.