Home Care In Milton, WA

Editor’s Note: A previous version included an incorrect date to appeal the decision.

A two-year fight against a megachurch in Milton has ended.

A Pierce County Hearing Examiner determined that the Salvation Slavic Baptist Church’s application to build a 2,000-seat church in a Milton neighborhood should be approved.

The church filed for a conditional-use permit in April 2019 to develop nearly 20 acres at 1707 23rd Ave.

The proposal includes a 92,000-square-foot church, holding up to 2,000 people, a 7,500-square-foot gym, a 26-student classroom and 546 parking stalls. The city’s population is 8,697, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

Hearing examiner Stephen Causseaux issued his decision Sept. 30. Causseaux said the proposal does not break any city code restrictions on development because there are no restrictions.

Opponents have raised more than $36,000 on experts, attorneys and studies to stop the church, said Chris Phillips, organizer for Citizens for Small Town Milton. The group contested the city’s conclusion that there would be no significant impacts to traffic, the environment or noise. They primarily argued that the city’s comprehensive plan states a development should not “adversely affect the established character and planned character of the surrounding vicinity.”

The hearing examiner said in his findings that Milton has not adopted any code amendments to protect the “small town character” or specific regulations. Causseaux said the code never distinguishes between “large and more neighborhood scale institutions” in residential areas.

Phillips was surprised by the clarity in the decision. She thought the residents’ group put up a strong argument. She worries that this project will change her neighborhood charm.

“Once you put a large impact development into the residential zone, you have lost the small-town character,” she said. “It feels like they have just nixed that. Just say goodbye to small-town Milton.”

Andrew Chepel, the church’s project manager, said Salvation Slavic Baptist Church did not have a comment on the decision at this time.

The church, currently located at 10622 8th St. in Edgewood, was built in 1992. The church also offers a school program from kindergarten to 10th grade.

According to the hearing decision, the Salvation Slavic Baptist Church congregation consists primarily of those whose families immigrated to this country from Russia to escape religious persecution. The church told the hearing examiner it has outgrown its Edgewood facilities, counting 1,200 church members and 180 students.

City staff and elected officials have spoken out against the project. Former Milton Public Works Director Nick Afzali once oversaw the planning department. He resigned in July over the proposal, saying it was not “compatible” with his values.

“In short, due to the size and location of the proposed SSBC, this proposed development neither promotes walkability nor it is compatible with the current residential character and fabric of the neighborhood – both of which are key tenets of my professional core values,” his letter to city officials said.

Four of the city’s seven council members have written letters or testified against the development. Council member Phil Linden has been vocal and told The News Tribune he was profoundly disappointed in the decision.

Linden said this should be a cautionary tale to neighboring towns and cities to tighten up planning codes.

“The citizens did their part and did it well. Unfortunately the existing city code is what failed them,” Linden said.

He pointed to the more than 2 million square-foot warehouse that was approved off 5th Avenue last year as proof that this is part of a larger problem in the city.

“There is vulnerability in the code, and both of those land use decisions have shown that. Milton is a victim of its own code,” Linden said. “Other communities have fortified and protected their citizens more substantially.”

Milton’s council unanimously passed a bill on March 15 to put a pause on conditional-use permits in residential areas for six months under the advice of Afzali to address gaps in development code. The moratorium is still in place.

Opponents of the development have until Oct. 21 to appeal the decision to Pierce County Superior Court.

Milton’s senior planner Brittany Port said if no timely appeals are filed, the church can begin submitting building plans to be approved. Once the city gives the green light, there is a “pre-construction conference” to discuss requirements of construction like noise control and erosion mitigation.

Philips said the citizen group would not be moving forward with an appeal.

“The citizens did what we could and to fight through large groups and lots of letters and talked to the City Council and got nowhere,” she said. “So it really does feel like the city will make their own decisions on where they go from here.”

She believes the uproar over the church development has voters watching mayoral and City Council races closely, especially candidates’ positions on the issue of development.

This story was originally published October 5, 2021, 12:54 PM.

Construction on a Megachurch has begun in Milton. KING 5 has learned that tribal concerns voiced to the city were overlooked, breaking typical treaty rights.

SEATTLE — Concerns from the Puyallup and Muckleshoot Tribes over the construction of a new megachurch in Milton were overlooked by the city, according to an Indigenous rights lawyer who says the new build could be violating treaty rights.

The megachurch is prompting environmental, traffic and housing concerns from multiple groups. The Salvation Baptist Church bought a single-family zoned piece of land to build the 92-thousand-square-foot building.

"I saw the trees go down last week and that was sad," said Milton resident Jeoffrey Cross.

"The sanctuary holds 2,000 people in one seating so that's a lot of people coming," said Chris Phillips who lives a block away from the property. After fighting the construction of the church for years, Phillips says her hopes diminished when the trees were cut down. "I just don't want to see it happen, but then again, I feel like it's a done deal and I'm done with it."

The City of Milton conducted the necessary state environmental reviews before construction and found two wetlands and a stream to Surprise Lake with endangered Coho Salmon on the site. The Puyallup and Muckleshoot Tribes wrote letters to the City of Milton in 2021 with their main concerns focusing on fish blockage and stormwater infiltration that could result in the death of the fish. The city responded to the Puyallup Tribe by inviting them to a public comment session.

"The fact that the tribes were invited to public comment and in fact their comments were treated as public comments rather than intergovernmental communications is very telling," said Gabriel Galanda who does not represent Puyallup or Muckleshoot Tribes but is an Indigenous rights lawyer. He said even the hearing examiner, who reviewed the project, listed the Tribes' letters in the public comments section when they should have been held in higher regard.

"If it's not illegal, they certainly violated best practices," said Galanda who believes more should have been done to address the Tribes' concerns. He said the city should have made more of an effort to meet with the Tribes per treaty agreements.

"It seems the City of Milton or at least its politicians don't appreciate the supremacy of Indian treaty rights and particularly fishing rights," said Galanda.

Former Milton Public Works Director Nick Afzali resigned in 2021 over the project. In his resignation letter, obtained by KING 5, he wrote in part the church "does not align with my core values as a professional who has been serving the public… for the last thirty years." Afzali was the State Environmental Policy Act official who conducted the environmental reviews.

"They had 20 acres and they are pretty much filling up every square foot except where there are wetlands and streams," said Phillips.

This is what Phillips, a former architect, had to say when asked if the city did everything right: "No. That is my professional and personal opinion."

KING 5 reached out to Milton Mayor Shanna Styron Sherrell multiple times about how the city handled the project. She declined to comment for this story but said the church went through neighborhood meetings, city council meetings, public hearings, and appeals.

Even after all of that, Galanda believes it's not too late for the city to respond.

"The project should be paused, and the City of Milton should engage in government-to-government consultation with the Puyallup and Muckleshoot Tribal nations regarding the impacts this project will have on treaty rights," Galanda said.

Trees have recently been cut down and construction work is currently happening. KING 5 should learn more about the church's plans through the permitting process in the coming months.

A spokesperson for the church told KING 5 they chose that property because of its proximity to their other church. When asked about environmental concerns, they pointed to the long approval process but declined to answer additional questions.

Milton has approved a four-warehouse project to be built on a former quarry next to I-5.

The “Lloyds site” will become a 118-acre warehouse center with hundreds of big rigs using 5th Avenue daily, according to the application submitted to Milton.

The City Council voted 5-0, with two abstentions, on Jan. 6 to approve the Bridge Development Partners’ project.

Bridge Partners has applied to build a four warehouses totaling 2,043,024 square feet on the former quarry site, which is book-ended by two apartment complexes.

Up to six tenants will rent the spaces for light warehouse and distribution use, like auto part distribution, moving and storage or paper distributors, a partner with the development company, Justin Carlucci, told a hearing examiner in October.

The warehouses are estimated to bring 900-1,200 jobs with wages varying from $35,000 to $100,000, Carlucci said.

The warehouse project has residents concerned about the increased truck traffic it will bring on 5th Avenue and Porter Way. Milton resident Bryan Alderman told a hearing examiner in November truck traffic is already bad.

A traffic expert told the hearing examiner he estimates about 3,000 vehicle trips per day on 5th Avenue when the project is complete.

“The impact of this project will be felt by all,” Milton resident Phil Linden said in an October public meeting.

The developer has agreed to widen 5th Avenue, which runs parallel to I-5 and is frequently used to avoid interstate backups. Bridge Development Partners will pay for or construct $10 million worth of traffic improvements, Carlucci told The Herald, including a roundabout at 5th Avenue and Porter Way.

“It’s important to keep in mind that the legal requirement of the project is to fully mitigate all of its traffic impacts, to assure the level of service remains the same upon construction and occupancy of the project,” he said via email.

The site needs to be cleared of gravel and sediment left from the quarry, paved and landscaped, according to the master plan presented to the council on Jan. 6. The developer still has to obtain all the required permits before construction can start, said Nick Afzali, Milton’s public works director.

Milton residents also complained in the October meeting that the city did not properly notify the public.

Bruce Castle, who said he was a retired geologist, called for three critical reports to be done before the city moved forward in approving the developer’s application: an environmental site assessment, a hydro-geologic report and a risk management plan.

A church’s application to build a new campus in a Milton neighborhood has led to a top city’s resignation, a pause on new development and a fundraising effort to stop the project.

An Edgewood church, Salvation Slavic Baptist Church, applied to build a 2,000-seat church in a Milton neighborhood. The city accepted the application last October.

Here’s what you need to know about the “megachurch” proposal in Milton:

The church is a member of the North-Western Union of Slavic Baptist Churches.

It has a campus in the 10600 block of 8th Street East in Edgewood. The church offers Russian-language classes and operates Slavic Christian Academy, a K-12 school serving about 200 students, according to its website.

The church’s mission statement includes: “Salvation Baptist Church is called to lead people to saving faith, help them grow spiritually, and assist them in serving God and others. This mission statement can be expressed in short form as ‘Believe, Grow, Serve’.”

Salvation Slavic Baptist Church applied for a conditional-use permit in April 2019. The project would develop nearly 20 acres at 1707 23rd Ave. to include a 92,000-square-foot church, a 7,500-square-foot gym, a 26-student classroom school and 546 parking stalls.

In October, the city signed a “mitigated determination of nonsignificance.” The determination is part of the process for new construction. In signing the determination, the city said the proposal would not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment. A group of citizens disagreed and appealed.

The appeal from citizens triggered an arbitration process. An independent arbiter will determine whether the church receives a conditional-use permit to build and whether there is an adverse impact on the environment.

Residents of the neighborhood have created a nonprofit organization, “Citizens for a Small-Town Milton,” and a GoFundMe to stop the project. They said a “megachurch” like this one does not match the character of the neighborhood and therefore breaks city code.

The Muckleshoot and Puyallup tribes have written letters to the City of Milton. They ask for the city to stop the project until the potential impact to tribal fisheries can be determined, saying the current proposal impedes upstream migration for fish for streams off Surprise Lake.

Former Public Works director Nick Afzali resigned days before he was expected to testify in arbitration. He said in a letter to the mayor and city staff the project was the reason for his departure.

On March 15, the City Council put a pause on conditional-use permits in residential areas for six months so it can evaluate the process of issuing them.

The pause will not impact the church’s application.

The church has continued with its proposal. The Salvation Slavic Baptist Church’s project manager, Andrew Chepel, told The News Tribune the church had no comments at this time.

The city has commissioned independent reports.

Milton said in a email to The News Tribune that a hearing examiner, a neutral professional, is the final decision maker on both the citizen appeal of the city staff’s original decision on the mitigated determination of nonsignificance and the conditional-use permit application.

The final arbitration hearing is scheduled for July 19 and 20. The additional reports will be a major focus of the July hearing, City Attorney Scott Snyder said.

(EDITOR’s NOTE: According to public records, RISE and Tokyu paid $106 million, or about $313,610 per unit, for the asset. The seller is Revantage, a Chicago-based affiliate of Blackstone.)

Residential Community Purchase Marks 33^rd Acquisition in the Pacific Northwest for RISE

SEATTLE, Wash — RISE Properties Trust (“RISE”) a Canadian real estate trust based in Seattle, and Tokyu Land US Corporation(“Tokyu”), a fully-integrated real estate development and investment company, today announced the purchase of Surprise Lake Village, a 338-unit garden-style community located on the southern shore of its namesake lake in Milton, WA.

Surprise Lake Village was built in 1986 and offers a diverse mix of floor plans; including a variety of flat, lofted, and townhome style units. The community is one of just a handful throughout the Puget Sound with swimmable lake frontage, a highly desirable natural amenity that creates a serene setting for residents. A low-density site plan and mature landscaping throughout the property further complement this feature. The property is located just off Meridian Avenue, the primary arterial that serves the cities of Milton and Edgewood while connecting to the greater region via Highway 167 and I-5.

Amenities at the community include a lakeside clubhouse, fitness center, theater room, BBQ area, dog park, two playgrounds, soccer field, and a second clubhouse featuring an indoor/outdoor pool and spa. All unit interiors will be renovated to a modern, high-end finish level as part of an extensive value-add strategy. Amenity spaces will also be reimagined throughout the project, with special attention paid to complementing the natural beauty of the property.

Beau Madsen of RISE noted, “This purchase is particularly exciting in that it marks our acquisition of about 4,000 multifamily units in the Seattle metro since 2018, totaling north of $1,100,000,000 of investment made locally. We believe strongly in the fundamentals of our region and the ability of our platform to create value for our communities and investors. Surprise Lake Village, specifically, is an extraordinary low-density asset nestled on Surprise Lake in Milton. We look forward to creating a one-of-a-kind renter experience for this community.”

Ben Cherney, Vice President of Tokyu, stated, “Surprise Lake Village is an irreplaceable asset where, together with RISE and Thrive, we will be able to provide a garden-style offering that will compete directly with new construction. This is in large part thanks to the resort-like setting and layout of the property. The finished product will be the gold standard for south Sound communities.”

The transaction, brokered by David Young, Corey Marx, and Chris Ross of JLL, represents the fourth joint venture between RISE and Tokyu, following the acquisitions of Alaire Apartment Homes in Renton, Dockside Apartments in Kent, and just last week Discovery Landing Apartment Homes in Burien.

Including Surprise Lake Village, RISE owns approximately 5,500 units in the Pacific Northwest.

The property will be managed by Thrive Communities, a Seattle-based property management firm with more than 16,000 apartments under management.

About RISE Properties Trust

RISE Properties Trust is a private Canadian REIT focused on the US multifamily sector in the Pacific Northwest. Through fully-integrated operations, the Trust acquires underperforming apartment properties and improves their operations, cash flow, and value.

About Thrive Communities

Thrive Communities is an award-winning property management firm with approximately 16,000 apartments under management. Their in-house renovation platform has improved over 5,300 apartments on both occupied and unoccupied units. Thrive’s fully-integrated and hands-on team approach ensures each asset is operating at its full potential while maximizing value for its clients.

About Tokyu Land US Corporation

Tokyu Land US Corporation is a subsidiary of Tokyu Land Corporation, a fully-integrated real estate company in Japan that operates an urban development business, a residential business, a wellness business, overseas businesses and more. Tokyu Land US Corporation has offices in Los Angeles and New York, and investments in multifamily and office properties in New York, California, Oregon, Georgia, and Washington, Washington DC, and North Carolina.