The Puyallup City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday, Nov. 10, on a long list of zoning map, zoning code and Comprehensive Plan changes that would reshape what can be built in several parts of Puyallup, Washington, the city announced. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall and will be livestreamed.
The package is the second phase of the city's zoning update. The Planning Commission held its own public hearing on it Oct. 28, according to the city's Phase 2 project page. The council hearing is also the first reading of the ordinances, and final council action is expected in early December.
Where the zoning map would change
- Neighborhood commercial nodes. Parcels across the city would be rezoned to a new Limited Mixed Use (LMX) zone, putting in place the neighborhood commercial nodes adopted in the 2025 Comprehensive Plan update.
- Shaw-Pioneer area. The Community Mixed Use (CMX) zone would be eliminated and the area rezoned to Urban Center Mixed Use (UCX), along with nearby General Commercial and open space parcels.
- South Hill Business and Technology Park. The street frontage would move from Business Park to UCX, with public facility zoning for public properties and utilities.
- Two zones retired. The Limited Commercial and Office Professional zones would be eliminated. Most of those parcels would go to LMX, and some to single-family residential.
- Western Washington Fair. Fair-owned parcels would be rezoned to UCX or Central Business District, and the fair's parking overlay would be redrawn at the fair's request.
What could be built
The code changes are as important as the map. In the Business Park zone, the city would update what is permitted outright or by conditional use, including warehouse and distribution, equipment sales and rental, retail sales, multifamily housing and day care centers. The city says those changes largely come from Business Park landowners' requests and earlier council direction. The package also adds fencing standards for manufacturing zones, streamlines development standards in the mixed-use zones and updates rules for housing and day care in commercial zones to match state law.
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A new Comprehensive Plan designation, Mixed Employment - Business Park, would apply only to the South Hill campus.
Opportunity Zone on the way
The hearing follows an October announcement that Governor Bob Ferguson picked a Puyallup census tract between two regional growth centers, near MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, for the state's Opportunity Zones 2.0 program. The federal tax incentive aims to draw private investment to vacant and underused property, and the updated program is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027.
"This is an exciting opportunity for Puyallup and a major step forward in our ongoing economic development efforts," Mayor Ned Witting said. The city plans outreach to property owners, developers and investors in the tract.
How to weigh in
Written comments go to the city by 5:30 p.m. on the hearing day and will be passed to the council. Maps and info sheets for each rezone are posted on the Phase 2 project page.
Sources
- Public Hearing: Zoning Amendments, City of Puyallup
- Phase 2 Zoning Code and Map Amendments, City of Puyallup
- Puyallup Selected for Opportunity Zone Designation, City of Puyallup
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