Tacoma protest against 150-acre warehouse project turns violent after ‘director’ intervenes

A Tacoma protest against a controversial 150-acre warehouse project turned violent after a “superintendent” intervened.

DEMONSTRATION:

The South Sound Climate Alliance, a grassroots organization based in South Tacoma that aims to empower community residents to improve their lives through environmental actions, held a news conference Friday to talk of last Sunday’s demonstration against the 150-acre Bridge industrial project. warehouse project on Burlington Way.

The project, which officials say is aimed at creating jobs, is located in one of Tacoma’s low-income communities.

The project will create 2.5 million square feet of light industrial and warehouse space in four large buildings, according to the city of Tacoma website. The developer first applied for a permit in 2021 and later received approval in 2023.

The group said it was peacefully protesting the developer’s project Sunday afternoon, saying it would negatively increase commercial traffic and pollute the community’s air and water.

“We don’t need another mega-warehouse in this area. We don’t need more pollution. We don’t need more danger. We don’t need more trucks. We don’t need our aquifer damaged. We don’t need our air to be polluted,” said Gemini Null, coordinating director of the organization.

Null said the group was cleaning up trash near the construction site last Sunday, where they had previously adopted a cleanup program organized by the city of Tacoma.

KIRO 7 News has reached out to the City of Tacoma for more details on this program and the group’s involvement. We are still waiting for details.

Null said many families near the construction site are in need of essential resources.

“We need a grocery store. South Tacoma does not have a normal grocery store. We need more parks,” she said.

During the protest, members of the organization told KIRO 7 News a vehicle was seen speeding toward the protest.

Paul Zuber-Fantulin, who was providing security for the event, witnessed the incident, he said.

“The vehicle arrived at an extremely high speed,” he said. “Then you can hear the driver completely crushing it. High RPMs. The engine runs as hard as possible.

The vehicle quickly slowed down and changed speed, he added.

“There are no horns during this. No warning that it was coming,” he explained.

The vehicle drove through the protest, he said, then parked on the other side of Burlington Way, near the construction site.

A woman and a girl got out of the vehicle, he said, and approached them.

“She said, ‘I’m the director of this company. I’m here to check on the employees,” he described what the woman said. “When I arrived that day, I didn’t expect such a thing to happen.”

Protesters said the woman became physical and grabbed the phone from Andromeda Robinson, who captured the incident.

Robinson was participating in the demonstration.

“I immediately saw it as an attack,” she said. “This woman said she was the manager.”

“I was shocked. I don’t understand why anyone would be upset that we were here, other than those who are taking advantage of it,” she shared. “I’ve been really anxious since this happened.”

“We had no threat. We did nothing to provoke this act,” Zuber-Fantulin said.

Leaders of the organization said they believed the woman was the manager of the site’s developer.

KIRO 7 News reached out to Bridge Industrial to verify the accusation. We are still waiting for a response.

Several members of the organization told KIRO 7 News the project would create significant commercial traffic and pollute the air and water, harming the health of neighboring families.

“I didn’t have any breathing problems before this and I’m afraid it’s going to get worse,” Robinson said. “This is blatant destruction of the environment. »

“When traffic increases significantly, which it will, it will hurt the community,” said Kit Burns, who lives near the site.

Burns told KIRO 7 News he has more than 40 years of experience as an architect and has led a number of large projects across the Puget Sound.

“As architect and project manager, I was responsible for bringing together all the consultants. I had up to 50 consultants looking after soil, water, wetlands and the Ministry of Natural Resources,” he said.

“The fact that so many people could get hurt and we just look the other way is wrong. We are in the 21st century. We have the ability to keep things clean, but it costs money and it has to be done right. We don’t do that. Even now, even when we know better. We know not to pollute our air and that will not help us,” he added.

KIRO 7 News reached out to Bridge Industrial for more details about the project, Sunday’s incident, whether the woman involved works for the company and its response to the protesters’ accusations.

We are still waiting for a response.

Zuber-Fantulin said she filed a police report.

Tacoma police confirmed there were no arrests and no charges filed. No further details were shared.

TACOMA CITY:

KIRO 7 News has reached out to the City of Tacoma for more details on the project.

A city spokesperson said Bridge Industrial met a number of requirements to purchase the land, as required by state and local laws.

Officials said the developer must complete the associated environmental review required by the state Environmental Policy Act and complete a critical areas permit related to the wetland and forested area on the western portion of the site.

The city said the conditions were as follows:

· Completion of restoration, expansion and enhancement of wetlands and creek

· Protect the Garry oaks on the site and plan for excess plantings to compensate for those that will be removed

· Preserve and enhance the steep slope and the wooded areas of the western part of the site

· Permanent registration of these protections on the property title

· Monitor all plantings until they are well established

According to the city’s website, the developer will have to monitor the traffic generated by each tenant and ensure that it does not exceed the required thresholds. The stormwater drainage system is also in place to collect any water that would seep into the ground, the website states, which will filter the water and disperse it into the stream or into the ground. However, there were no details on how much of the collected water would be filtered.

A spokesperson told KIRO 7 News the city cannot conduct its own environmental impact assessment of the project.

KIRO 7 News asked if the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department had assessed the impact of the project.

The spokesperson referred us to the agency.

A spokesperson for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said they were working to get more information and referred us to the city of Tacoma and its website.

The city of Tacoma said it recently entered into a $150,000 pilot agreement with the Department of Health to conduct comprehensive health impact assessments of major zoning changes and land use ordinances. The health department will assess the targeted lands and inform City Council members of the potential health implications of future land use and choices.

The current 150-acre project will not be affected by this new effort, the spokesperson said.

It’s unclear exactly how much the warehouse’s property taxes will be, officials said, because there are no details on potential tenants.

The City of Tacoma said public input was taken into account and considered before the project.