Thursday, July 29, 2010
Former police station/substation for sale
If you live in my neighborhood, or use 112th Street to get to and from places, you may have done a double-take to see a real estate sign on the Pierce County property there. This building, of course, used to be the sheriff's substation, and then later the Lakewood Police station.
It's interesting to see a sign on it, because it's an unusual property. The city has zoned it for 'public institutional' uses: so it would be a great museum, or library, or government office. You couldn't buy the land, tear down the building and put condos or houses there, or a minimart.
The Pierce County listing says it's suitable for office use, but I assume they mean for government.
Friday afternoon update: a Reader asks, could a church go there? That's a reasonable question, since there are churches on either side of the property.
Answer: any use other than a public institutional one would require a zoning change by the City Council. Churches are not included as they fall into other kinds of zoning. Now maybe a church is up for discussion, but someone will probably have a lot of trouble convincing the council to put something that's not a public institution at the property, given how so many homes are nearby.
The most famous property in Lakewood to have 'public institutional' zoning is Western State Hospital. As you can imagine, Lakewood wants to be very precise with what the state could do with their huge land holdings there.
Here's the actual definition of public institutional:
The following uses are permitted within the PI zoning district, subject to approval of a discretionary land use permit and all applicable development permits. The unique nature of this zoning district and the uses that may be placed there require flexibility in administration. Therefore, any proposed use, whether new or an expansion or change of an existing use, shall be evaluated individually to determine whether it will be treated as an administrative or conditional use, based on its size, overall functions, and anticipated level of impact, including, but not limited to, such factors as hours of operation, relationship to adjacent land uses, trip generation and parking needs, storage needs, and environmental impact.
a. Continuation of uses already legally existing within the zone at the time of adoption of this title. Maintenance and repair of existing structures shall be permitted.
b. Any use that, in the opinion of the Community Development Director, constitutes an essential public facility as defined in LMC 18A.20.400.D, or public and semi-public facilities beyond those specifically identified in state law, including a broad variety of both listed and unlisted uses, which may be liberally interpreted to meet essential community needs. Examples may include, but are not limited to, schools, libraries, and hospitals, including the Western State Hospital campus, but specifically excluding Religious Assembly use types for which adequate provision is made in other zoning districts.
