It’s official: Panattoni submits plan for 480,000-square-foot warehouse in Tumwater
Tumwater area residents have until 5 p.m. Monday to comment on a developer’s plans for a warehouse distribution center.
Panattoni, which had several preliminary conversations with the city before submitting the plans, submitted a notice of application on July 1 for a 480,000-square-foot warehouse on a 30-acre site that it is calling the South Sound Commerce Center.
The location it has identified is off Center Street, south of 78th Avenue Southwest. Although it is in Tumwater, the land is owned by the Port of Olympia and is part of the port’s New Market Industrial Campus, which lies between I-5 and Olympia Regional Airport.
In fact, the port and Panattoni struck an agreement a couple of years ago that allowed Panattoni to explore development on a 200-acre parcel in the area.
Panattoni, which has an office in Tacoma, has requested a consolidated permit review for the site plan review application, transportation concurrency ruling, threshold determination under the state Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), site development/grading and building permit.
In other words, Panattoni wants to throw everything into one administrative review by the city, said Mike Matlock, Tumwater’s community development department director.
The consolidated process is allowed under city code and state law, and there is a state mandated time frame of 120 days to complete the work. However, the city is free to start and stop the clock over the 120-day period, Matlock said.
“If we find something that needs to be adjusted or we don’t have all the information, we can inform them of that and stop the clock,” he said.
Warehouse distribution is a permitted use in the area, Matlock said. The land is zoned airport-related industrial and has a zoning overlay that allows for distribution warehousing.
Missing from the proposal is a development agreement between the port and city of Tumwater regarding Panattoni’s plans. Development agreements do not replace the land-use process, but are designed to guide development and offer incentives to those involved in it.
In this case, the city wanted to get a community center out of the process, while the port wanted assurances that the rules wouldn’t change on them over a 10-year period. The two sides could not agree.
Once the notice of application was submitted July 1, those within 300 feet of the property boundaries were notified about the proposal. However, Matlock acknowledged that there are no residences in the area. The application also was posted on the city’s website, he said.
The proposal only requires review by the city. It will not come before Tumwater City Council or the hearings examiner, Matlock said.
The comment period ends at 5 p.m. July 18. To comment on the application, send an email to Tami Merriman at tmerriman@ci.tumwater.wa.us.
If you miss the comment period, another chance to comment is once a SEPA determination has been made. It is followed by a 14-day comment period and a 10-day appeal period.
This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
