Puyallup residents worried about developer's plans to build warehouses on former farmland



PUYALLUP - Big changes could be coming to the Puyallup Valley. Developers want to build a large warehouse complex on what had been historic farmland. But not everyone thinks that’s a move in the right direction.

Kaylin Brenay moved to a home on 134th Avenue East about a year ago. It’s just outside Puyallup city limits, but feels like it’s way out in the country.

“It's our own little spot in the middle of the city,” she says. “There are farms and we have a lot of animals.”

But Brenay isn’t sure how long she’ll be able to stay. Developers want to build a three million square foot warehouse park. She says her landlords didn’t really warn her about that.

“They said something about there may be warehouses in the area, but not that there are going to be warehouses right where my house is at.”

A lot of people who live in the Puyallup Valley say they don’t like the idea of warehouses being built where farms and flower fields once flourished.

“We're the Evergreen State, we're known for what we grow here,” says Jonna Amato. “It's really worrisome because you can get a building anywhere, but you can't get this stuff back. Once you've done that, it is done.”

It's not just losing farmland that concerns people who live here. They also worry about whether this area could handle the increase in traffic.

“Especially right in this area, there's a lot of traffic troubles,” says Brenay. “Warehouses are going to bring trucks and there's just not a lot of space here for them.”

The Puyallup City Council has raised that concern. But since the land in question is outside city limits, they may not be able to stop the project.

Homeowners like Amato don’t think voicing their opposition will help.

“I think it's going to happen anyway, I don't think we have any control over it,” she says. “I think the monetary value is really what's going to change everything.”

Brenay says she may need to start looking for another place to live.

“I have no idea what's going to happen here, it's kind of scary.”