Lacey weighs larger warehouses on last 40-plus acre parcel with this type of zoning
Northeast Lacey is no stranger to large warehouses, and now the City Council is considering whether to allow them on a particular parcel that is zoned for light industrial commercial uses.
Doesn’t the city already allow this? No, the large, even giant warehouses that dot Hawks Prairie, occupy land that is zoned light industrial, not the more specific light industrial commercial.
And the light industrial commercial zoning has capped warehouse sizes at 200,000 square feet since 2006, city planning commission manager Ryan Andrews said.
But now that could change.
Hill-Betti Business Park LLC, which owns a 40-plus acre parcel of land in northeast Lacey that is zoned light industrial commercial, has requested a zoning text amendment, that, if approved by the council, would increase warehouse sizes up to 500,000 square feet.
The business park is north of Britton Parkway and west of Marvin Road Northeast.
Although the city is home to three areas that are zoned light industrial commercial, the Hill-Betti parcel is the only one with enough acreage to accommodate a larger warehouse, Andrews said.
Andrews presented the zoning text amendment application to Lacey City Council on Thursday after the city’s planning commission voted 8-1 to recommend approval of it. The vote against recommendation came from planning commission member Daphne Retzlaff, council agenda materials show.
She felt larger warehouses didn’t meet the vision of the light industrial commercial zone, and that there are enough large warehouses already in the area, said Andrews, who shared her comments with the council and a reporter.
At Thursday’s meeting, Deputy Mayor Cynthia Pratt also raised concerns about idling trucks that likely would serve a larger warehouse.
Although her question wasn’t answered in great detail, the city has built in some oversight if the zoning text amendment is approved.
The developer will have to hold a neighborhood meeting before a project is proposed, Andrews said. The City Council also will have to sign off on a development agreement, a kind of guiding document for the project, and five acres must be set aside to help retain the small businesses that already do business on the Hill-Betti parcel, Andrews said.
Also, the smaller buildings on the site, which are home to those small businesses, will eventually have to be converted from septic to city sewer, he said.
The council is likely to vote on the zoning text amendment in January, Andrews said.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
