What’s happening in Lacey near North Thurston High School?
Land has been cleared in the area of 15th Avenue Northeast near North Thurston High School for an 82-unit home development known as the Bradley Park subdivision.
The proposal was first pitched to the city of Lacey in 2020. The city later issued a mitigated determination of nonsignificance for the project, meaning it was not likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment, and that an environmental impact statement was not required.
Lacey City Council voted to approve the preliminary plat that summer.
National home builder D.R. Horton plans to subdivide a little more than 15 acres for the project, plus set aside 5 acres for future development, possibly a church, senior planner Sarah Schelling told the council in August.
The home builder also agreed to set aside a mitigation area for a species of woodpecker, she said.
However, not everyone is pleased with the development. The city received some comments in opposition to it, and resident Jim Weber shared his displeasure in a letter to the editor in The Olympian April 29.
“I would like to invite Lacey residents to view what terrible, thoughtless, reckless growth looks like,” he said in his letter. “Go out Sleater Kinney Road and take a right on 15th. The first huge moonscape will hit you as you turn your first corner. Not one tree in dozens of acres (football fields) of clear cuts where a month ago a huge, beautiful forest once stood.”
Weber writes that he is concerned about more development on 15th Avenue Northeast, a two-lane road with no shoulder or sidewalks.
“Residential development must have the infrastructure and services in place before growth can be allowed,” Weber writes. “The planning commission failed; the city council failed. The city manager, council, and commission must be held accountable. This is a dereliction of duty and another huge gift to developers at the expense of current residents.”
Lacey City Council unanimously approved the proposal in August.
“We’re in such a housing shortage right now,” Ryder said at the time.
Schelling added that those in the area should expect frontage improvements along Sixth Avenue Northeast and 15th Avenue Northeast.
This story was originally published May 1, 2022 at 12:35 PM.
