Tacoma City Council Study Session on Transportation, Critical Areas, and Budget – May 12, 2026
Tacoma City Council Study Session on Transportation, Critical Areas, and Budget – May 12, 2026
The Tacoma City Council held a study session on May 12, 2026, to receive briefings on three major topics: the annual amendment to the six-year transportation improvement program, a proposed update to the city's critical areas ordinance, and the city manager's "Roadmap to Recovery" plan to address a structural budget deficit. No formal votes were taken; the session was informational and preparatory for future public hearings and council actions.
Transportation Improvement Program Amendment
Public Works Transportation Division Manager Jennifer Camersall presented the draft six-year transportation improvement program for 2026-2032. The program currently includes 144 projects. One project is proposed for removal (the Multilingual Honorary Street Name Sign Project, completed in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe). Seven new projects are proposed for addition, totaling approximately $38.8 million. These include active transportation projects, Vision Zero improvements, ADA access, and partnerships. The projects are tied to the recently adopted Transportation and Mobility Plan (TMP), with a new slide showing how each project aligns with the TMP's eight goals. Councilmembers asked about project selection, funding, and how the public can access the full list. The draft is available on the city's website. The public hearing is set for June 2, 2026, with first reading on June 9 and adoption planned for June 16.
Critical Areas Ordinance Update
Robin Bolster-Grant (Land Use Division Manager) and Lisa Spadoni (Principal Critical Areas Biologist) presented the planning commission's recommended update to the critical areas ordinance. The update addresses wetlands, streams, fish and wildlife habitat, critical aquifer recharge areas (CARA), and geological/flood hazards. Key changes include:
- Stream buffers: The minimum buffer for many streams (types NS1 and NS2) will increase from 25 or 75 feet to 100 feet. Salmon-bearing streams will see an increase from 150 to 200 feet. This affects approximately 1,200 parcels (1.6% of all parcels).
- Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas: The mapped CARA will expand to cover the entire Central Pierce Sole Source Aquifer within Tacoma. The planning commission recommended the most restrictive option (Option 1) to limit high-impact uses. This creates a conflict with the recently adopted Tideflats Subarea Plan, which permits asphalt and cement batching, metal recycling, and chemical manufacturing processing/storage in the SCM zone – uses that would be prohibited under the proposed CARA. Existing businesses would be nonconforming.
- The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend adoption and flagged five priorities: tribal consultation, staffing resources, improved mapping, public education, and land acquisition. Councilmembers questioned the practical impacts on property owners, costs of permits and vegetation, the risk to drinking water, and how the city will notify affected owners. No timeline for adoption was set beyond a public hearing on June 2.
Roadmap to Recovery – Structural Budget Deficit
City Manager Ashley presented a multi-year plan to address a structural deficit in the general fund, which has been declared for over six biennia (12 years). The gap is driven by expenses growing approximately twice as fast as revenues (2.6% revenue growth vs. 4.9% expense growth). A preliminary forecast in February projected a $27 million structural gap for the next biennium, which is expected to increase due to rising healthcare costs and other factors.
Immediate actions include:
- A citywide hiring freeze with exceptions.
- A target of $5 million in savings by the end of 2026.
- Reduction targets of 10% for internal service departments and 5% for police, fire, and courts, but the council's own budget will not be cut by 10%.
- Elimination of one of the two deputy city manager positions (the internal services role).
- Merger of the Public Works and Environmental Services departments effective January 1, 2027, eliminating one director position and aiming for operational efficiencies.
Longer-term strategies include revenue options, workforce restructuring, and advocating for state and federal policy changes. The city will launch a public webpage (Tacoma.gov/roadmap-to-recovery) with dashboards tracking cost-saving measures. No layoffs have been announced, but the city manager did not rule them out.
Key Outcomes
- Transportation: Public hearing set for June 2, 2026; adoption scheduled for June 16, 2026.
- Critical Areas: Public hearing set for June 2, 2026; council will deliberate on adoption later in June. The planning commission recommended adoption with added priorities.
- Budget: The city manager will return in June with an updated forecast and specific budget proposals. A new webpage will track immediate savings. The council will begin formal budget discussions this fall.
The study session concluded with no additional items.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of May 12, 2026. Clerk, please call the roll. Deputy Mayor Bushnell. President. Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Heinz. Councilmember Palmer. Councilmember Rumba. Here. Councilmember Sidalgay. Here. Councilmember Scott. Councilmember Walker. Mayor Ibsen. Here. Our first agenda item is the six-year transportation improvement program amendment briefing. I'd like to call on Public Works Engineering Division Manager Jennifer Camers all to begin the presentation. Welcome. Thank you, Mayor Abson, Deputy Mayor Bushnell and Member City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to present the six-year comprehensive transportation improvement program, annual amendment draft. As noted, my name is Jennifer Camersell. I'm the Transportation Division Manager in Public Works. As many of you know, the revised code of Washington requires the legislative body of each city and town to annually prepare and adopt a comprehensive transportation program, and for the adoption process to include at least one public hearing. At the May 19, 2026 City Council meeting, the consent agenda includes a request for the City Council to adopt to conduct a public hearing on June 2nd, 2026 for Tacoma's draft six-year transportation improvement program amended 2026 and 2027 to 2032. Today's presentation will include an overview of the program, information about this year's major updates and issues, the tie-in to the recently adopted transportation and mobility plan, and the proposed timeline for adoption. So as I noted, state law mandates that local jurisdictions annually adopt and submit to the state a six-year program of transportation improvements. The State Department of Transportation and the Puget Sound Regional Council use local six-year programs as tools for coordinating the transportation programs of local jurisdictions with those of regional agencies. PSRC monitors these local programs for projects of regional significance, which needs to be modeled for regional air quality conformity with federal standards, and then also to track projects supported by federal funding. The updated program must be adopted by July 1st of each year. Their program also serves as an inventory of projects and a rough work plan for the development of local transportation systems, and as such represents an important planning component under the state's Growth Management Act. The primary importance of the local program is to Tacoma is that in most cases, projects must be included to be eligible or to obligate grant funds for state and federal grants. We have seen, though, that recent grants do allow for projects to be included to be eligible as long as they're included in the Transportation Mobility Plan or their comprehensive plan, excuse me. Typically, projects listed in the first two years of the document are shown as having secured funding while projects in the last four years can partially or completely be unfunded. The program currently includes the draft program and currently includes 144 projects. Projects the program lists capital projects such as roadway reconstruction, bridges, non-motorized facilities such as sidewalks and trails and other capital-related transportation projects. It does not include maintenance projects such as chip seals and pothole repairs though. On these next two slides, I'll review the major updates for this year. So this first one is proposed, there is one project proposed for removal. The Multilingual Honorary Street Name Sign Project was a partnership with the Peallop tribe of Indians. Together, 176 honorary street signs featuring the Tulshootsi language on the Piolet Reservation were installed in 2025. This next slide is a summary of the total projects proposed for addition, which amounts to approximately 38.8 million dollars. This year we are proposing to add seven projects. Two projects are specifically active transportation focused and have received or will be applying for grant funding. Match funding is provided by the real estate excise tax safe routes to school funds allocated in the 2526 biennium, and then also from Sound Transit Access Funds. The five other projects include a variety of improvements that meet Vision Zero, Active Transportation, ADA access, maintenance and operations, fiber grant, future grant or partnership opportunities. And we'll also look for other grant opportunities or partnerships to expand on potential improvements. The Sixth Avenue and Tacoma Pavement Preservation Project utilizes street operations funding and also leverages a grant. This next slide shows the relationship between the proposed projects to be added with the recently adopted transportation and mobility plan. This is a new slide for this year, so I'm excited to show that tie-in to the plan that was recently adopted. This shows the eight goals of the Transportation and Mobility Plan, and each project is selected or checked if it meets the criteria that was outlined in the TMP.
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