Fife to submit comments on SEPA review for port projects

By John Larson

Fife Free Press
jlarson@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: June 05, 2008

The city of Fife plans to submit comments regarding future developments on the Tideflats as part of a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review process. Port of Tacoma held a public meeting May 29 to provide information and hear testimony about plans for the peninsula between Blair Waterway and Hylebos Waterway.

SEPA requires a study of potential environmental impacts for this major reconfiguration of the peninsula.

Bob Stromberg, the port’s senior program manager, ex-plained that the process was set in motion last year, when the port signed an agreement to build a new terminal for NYK Line on the east side of Blair Waterway. That will require relocating Totem Ocean Trailer Express to another location at the tip of the peninsula. On the west side of Blair Waterway a wharf will be lengthened at Washington United Terminal.

To accommodate more ships, the port wants to widen the waterway, and it wants to improve road and rail infrastructure for the additional trains and trucks that will be moving cargo from the ships in and out of the Tideflats.

“This is a real challenge we are undertaking,” Stromberg said.

Chris Pasinetti, a planner with the city of Fife, briefly addressed port staff during the public comment segment of the meeting.

Among his concerns is that the SEPA process does not accurately reflect the amount of traffic on the Tideflats. He said the city would be submitting written comments by the June 6 deadline.

Carl Smith, director of the city’s Community Development Department, said he could not give out detailed information at this point about Fife’s concerns. He did say that once the city’s report is submitted it will become public information.

“Typically, transportation modeling is done on an afternoon peak,” Smith said. “We are not sure that is the right way to go about it.”

While this is when traffic congestion in general is the worst, some of that can be attributed to afternoon rush hour of commuters. In a busy port where ships call at all hours of the day and night, and truck traffic does the same, analyzing the afternoon peak may not truly indicate the amount of traffic generated by port activity. “It is important to capture that when it happens.”

There are other developments on the Tideflats that are not part of this particular SEPA review process.

“Any construction related to the port should be done cumulatively,” Smith said.

“Obviously, big projects such as this have many benefits for our economy,” he remarked. “Because of Fife’s proximity, it has impacts on us.” Traffic is a primary concern, he noted.

“We just want to make clear such impacts are addressed clearly, so they don’t overwhelm the positive aspects of the projects.”

Smith said port staff were scheduled to meet with representatives of the city of Fife last week, but the port staff had to reschedule. He expects this to be rescheduled soon.

Fife will share its written comments with port officials on June 6. The report will also be presented to Fife City Council at an upcoming meeting, Smith said.

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