Most of us in general use the word legacy for something handed down from one generation to the next, i.e., a retiring company president might leave a legacy of honesty and integrity.
The purpose of this letter to the letter is to highlight what citizens and the local government leaders are wanting as a new vision for Federal Way, one that will be in the future referred to as “our legacy” when people look back and say, “They cared enough to do the right thing for the citizens of Federal Way.”
Currently there is a heated argument between the citizens of Federal Way with the new owners of the former Weyerhaeuser Headquarters Campus, Industrial Realty Group, about their plans for redevelopment of a large segment of the property. Whether they like it or not, the City Council and the mayor are caught in the middle.
In very simplistic terms, the new owners applied their redevelopment request to the city, the city gave the go ahead (without any prior public meetings to hear comments from the neighboring residents), and then plans for one of the projects found daylight and the community reacted vehemently in opposition to what was described as a very large freezer warehouse for the production and packaging of frozen fish.
In comparison, the former Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters building has 220,000 square feet of space, and the preferred freezer warehouse will have 314,500 square feet of space, which means the warehouse will be nearly 1.5 times larger. The proposed height of the warehouse is approximately 70 feet, or roughly seven stories. The former corporate building is roughly five stories.
The freezer warehouse will have anhydrous ammonia tanks on site. In recent events around the country, there have been deadly leaks and explosions involving those types of chemicals. For clarification, the warehouse isn’t going to replace the beautiful former headquarters building just built very nearby.
Obviously, the sanguine outlook that is being portrayed by local city officials and IRG are not shared with the neighbors of the future tenants of the campus.
A recent comment in the Tacoma News Tribune, “The sale, redevelopment and reuse of this iconic property by IRG is important for the future of Federal Way,” said Jim Ferrell, mayor of Federal Way. “We look forward to working with IRG to bring additional jobs, businesses and sustainable development to Federal Way. Our strategic location, support for business, and quality of life available to our citizens enables us to be well-positioned for the future.”
While redevelopment may bring jobs into our community, it has been pointed out the majority will be “minimum” wage positions and that current employees for the proposed freezer warehouse will be commuting to the new location rather than creating new jobs for local residents. One negative impact being discussed is with warehouse development there will be large tractor trailer rigs clogging our local streets, the freeway system and adding to the traffic congestion we see daily.
In closing, perhaps it’s just too difficult for IRG to market to more suitable tenants because to do so requires a commitment of time and resource, but if IRG and the city officials of Federal Way would like to leave behind a legacy for future generations maybe that investment of time and resources would prove more valuable to the community in the long run.
As a side note regarding the fish factory, I am a fisherman and I enjoy preparing what I catch with my family and friends. I would like to point out that scientists have predicted with the rate of commercial fishing globally, fish stocks of all the oceans will hit the tipping point of complete failure by 2050. So, with that in mind, do we really need a fish factory in Federal Way?
Roger Flygare, Federal Way
