Input sought on habitat corridors

By John Larson

Tacoma Weekly

June 19, 2008

Preserving natural corridors throughout the city will provide crucial habitat for wildlife and maintain the quality of life for people, according to planners with the city of Tacoma, who, in conjunction with Metro Parks and Green Tacoma Partnership, unveiled draft maps of habitat corridors recommended for conservation during a public meeting at the University of Puget Sound June 12.

Leslie Batten from Cascade Land Conservancy told the audience that public input is important to this process. She assured them this was not some policy wonk exercise. “We want to make a plan that you see as usable,” she said. “This is not something that is just going to go on a shelf until the next comprehensive plan update.”

The corridors can link North End gulches to the Ruston Way waterfront and Northeast Tacoma to Swan Creek. One proposed corridor runs along Highway 16 to Snake Lake and continues south to the Oakland/Madrona neighborhood.

A process is underway to gather information for what is officially known as the Open Space Habitat and Recreation Plan. Elliott Barnett, a planner with the city, said the input from the public so far has helped guide the direction and assisted the city to be a better steward of open spaces.

“We also heard loud and clear from the community that parks and recreation are important,” he said. “We need to be focused on that too.”

The role of groups that adopt a local park or gulch are very important to the process, said Barnett.

“The city is not going to be able to do everything with city staff. We need the community to help.”

For the meeting, stations were scattered around the building on campus, and attendees were able to visit each one and ask questions. At one, Molly Harris, another planner from the city, listened to residents tell her they wanted stormwater treated before it made its way to parks, creeks and eventually Puget Sound. One person wanted to see more collaboration with the city and the Department of Transportation.

Kathy Sutalo, an urban forester with Metro Parks, said corridors are meant to promote non-motorized transportation. Private property owners have nothing to fear from the process, she added.

Batten said achieving social equality is an important goal. “We want to make sure all neighborhoods are included.”

At the station where Bennett heard input, there were mixed views on taking social equity into consideration, including the impact homeless people have on open spaces.

“Some people felt we were trying to do too much with too little.” The idea is to create a vision that will guide the city for the next 100 years, he added.

“We want more trees and more green in our city, and not less,” said Krystal Kyer, a conservation coordinator with Tahoma Audubon.

The city’s Planning Commission will review documents related to the plan July 2. Meetings for stakeholders will take place in July. In October the Planning Commission will make its recommendations to Tacoma City Council, which is scheduled to vote on the matter in December.

“We are under a very aggressive and tight timeline at this point,” Harris commented.