Puyallup’s Frustrations With Sound Transit Rooted in Distrust

The Puyallup City Council met with Sound Transit staff Wednesday evening to discuss future parking access for Sounder commuters, the second in a round of three work sessions.

Members of the city council and Sound Transit toured Puyallup at the start of the evening commute and reconvened at City Hall to discuss their experiences and opinions on how things are working.

The discussion’s facilitator, Susan Millan, then proposed a group project that involved sticking multicolored dots on an aerial map to indicate places that are positive and problematic to Sound Transit commuters and Puyallup residents, with a Sound Transit staff member recording the responses on a posterboard.

The exercise was annoying to some on the Puyallup council, who urged for clearer direction from Sound Transit.

“This process is irritating and going way too slow,” said Puyallup councilmember John Hopkins. “We know what the issues are, but what we don’t know is what Sound Transit wants.”

Millan told the group that oftentimes “eureka” moments come out of identifying problem areas and discussing them as a group and will give Sound Transit a direction to go in future development.

Hopkins’ reaction to the exercise was only one example of the tension exhibited between Sound Transit and the Puyallup council on Wednesday.

“There is no level of trust in this room,” said councilmember Kent Boyle.

Sound Transit has set aside approximately $55 million for transportation improvements in East Pierce County, which could be used to build a downtown parking garage, satellite transit hub or parking lot.

Right now, Puyallup’s commuter traffic flow is at a “fragile equilibrium,” most councilmembers agreed.

“The concern is that, as we move to capacity, the growth needs to be in baby steps so we don’t create any more road blocks or burdens to our residents,” said Mayor Rick Hansen.

Councilmember Steve Vermillion agreed.

“If you put another 600 cars downtown, we’ve exceeded our equilibrium for our roads and quality of life is diminished,” he said.

Councilmember Tom Swanson said he doubted the growth analysis numbers Sound Transit did in Puyallup for their 2012 Sounder Stations Access Study, which defined East Pierce County as an area that needs more transporation access, but projected that Puyallup's ridership will only grow about 2 percent by 2030. 

“The [Sumner and Puyallup] transit stations are serving a huge population—we are quickly becoming a major metropolitan area that is being served. Where are the new homes going in the next 20 years? East Pierce County,” said Swanson. “Saying you only need to serve an extra 1,000 cars in the next 20 years is preposterous. We need to meet that problem.”

Joni Earl, Sound Transit’s CEO, assured the group that the reason they were all meeting together was to identify where the investment should be made in this region.

“We are now at the point where we’re ready to determine these solutions. This is the starting point,” said Earl. “We’ve been accused of having the intention to destroy this community. That is beyond untrue. There is tension on all sides… what we are here to do is to seriously understand [Puyallup's] problems. We have the funding to do this, and we want to make an investment here.”

When pressed about Sound Transit’s interest in building another transit center on Shaw Road, Sound Transit staff said that it’s being considered, but as one of many options.

Earl told the group that a station Shaw Road would likely be a satellite station and not a full-fledged one, like downtown Puyallup's.

Councilman John Palmer said that, as a commuter, he believed the Shaw station would be better oriented to serve Sumner than Puyallup.

“It’s counterintuitive. Commuters are like water, they find the path of least resistance,” said Palmer. “Shaw Road is better oriented to serve Sumner than Puyallup, because it’s going the other way.”

Sound Transit and the Puyallup City Council have one more scheduled meeting to discuss future transporation development options. The third and final meeting will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30 in council chambers.

Where do you think a new transit station, commuter parking lot or other access point in Puyallup should go? Tell us in the comments.