The County Executive, Bruce Dammeier, allowed the developers to draft up language in the lease allowing for up to 90 one and two bedroom “golf villas” which are essentially 1-2 bedroom private leased homes that will have their own driveways and garages. 90 villas?!
The lease period is described as “more than 30 days”, which means people could lease for years and years, living in the park. (See Lease section 1.05)
Aside from the obvious issue of having people living on public land are the impact that these villas have on the community as a whole.
1. They are not subjected to a lodging tax which typically goes back into the community. They have therefore skirted the single financial benefit that having lodging in a community provides.
2. The additional traffic that this number of independent long-term rentals will generate was not considered when allowing this lease to be drafted. Grandview, on a nice day, is already difficult to enter/exit for the residents who live along it.
3. The additional parking needs that the villas will generate was not considered. Yes, these villas will have their own garages but this assumes that the people who are living in them will never have visitors. Where will the visitors be parking? Council member Marty Campbell made note of this in a council meeting. Dan Putnam said potentially public transit would be a possibility. There is no public transit this far South on Grandview, nor is there a desire for public transit there.
The park was developed with a bond still being paid for by Pierce County taxpayers and was intended to have lodging in order to attract tournaments to the new course. Never did that plan include what are essentially rental condos.
The developers claimed they could not acquire financing without the villas, but the other individual who submitted a proposal claimed to have no such problem.
There is no time limit on when these villas must be converted to short-term lodging, meaning that the developers could essentially be landlords in perpetuity.
The lease period is described as “more than 30 days”, which means people could lease for years and years, living in the park. (See Lease section 1.05)
Aside from the obvious issue of having people living on public land are the impact that these villas have on the community as a whole.
1. They are not subjected to a lodging tax which typically goes back into the community. They have therefore skirted the single financial benefit that having lodging in a community provides.
2. The additional traffic that this number of independent long-term rentals will generate was not considered when allowing this lease to be drafted. Grandview, on a nice day, is already difficult to enter/exit for the residents who live along it.
3. The additional parking needs that the villas will generate was not considered. Yes, these villas will have their own garages but this assumes that the people who are living in them will never have visitors. Where will the visitors be parking? Council member Marty Campbell made note of this in a council meeting. Dan Putnam said potentially public transit would be a possibility. There is no public transit this far South on Grandview, nor is there a desire for public transit there.
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| Grandview |
The park was developed with a bond still being paid for by Pierce County taxpayers and was intended to have lodging in order to attract tournaments to the new course. Never did that plan include what are essentially rental condos.
The developers claimed they could not acquire financing without the villas, but the other individual who submitted a proposal claimed to have no such problem.
There is no time limit on when these villas must be converted to short-term lodging, meaning that the developers could essentially be landlords in perpetuity.
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