The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 49

LAKEWOOD PARKLAND A Couples £3 Comics £4 the News Tribune weekly community publication serving Lakewood Parkland Spanaway Stellacoom' DuPont Fort Lewis McChord and Rov Wednesday October 25 iBdflT NOTE Apartment complexes sprouting Can Lakewood handle the services impact? PtopU and Events 'l-' I By DJ) Flnnigan ForThaNmn Tribune Clover Park Vocational-Technical Institute has scheduled an arts fair from 10 am to 3 pm Nov 4 in the resource center at 4500 Steilacoom Blvd SW The 17th annual creative-arts fair and toy display ispresented by the family life department at CPVTI booths that will feature ideas in science art woodworking cooking music storytelling and early childhood curriculum and early A special feature this year will be the presentation of by the Chil- Theater of South Kitsap High School Driving around Lakewood these days ia like negotiating an obstacle course: road crews here dump trucks there Stop for the flagman Watch out for the lumber truck For residents just about anywhere in Lakewood the surge of apartment building has been quite evident the sounds of air hammers and power saws have ripped through the silence of many of their early morning hours even on Saturdays and Sundays a lot of building going on outJhere no question about said Don Masoero of the Pierce County Building Department Those in the know don't agree on the number of new or existing apartments in Lakewood According to the Pierce County assessor-treasurer's office 730 new apartments units will be ready for occupancy in the next half year That ia more than a 10 percent increase over the 6850 units the office said already exist However Tony Tipton of the Pierce County Utility Department said there are about 6400 apartment units in Lakewood Lakeview Light and Power general manager Don Geiselman said he thinks the apartment count In his service area which includes a large portion of lake-wood will increase 1200 units by next year He's already hooked up 660 apartment units since the first of the year He said he expects to supply electricity to another 600 apartment units before the construction ia done The county Building Department had no estimate of how many apartments are being built in Lakewood Regardless of the difference in figures all agree the three biggest apartment structures being built include 225 units in the current phase of the Seeley Lake Apartments which will include 770 units when it's completed next year Seeley Lake Apartments is located between Lakewood Drive Southwest and Bridgeport Way Southwest At Stoney Creek Apartments 80th Street Southwest and Lakewood Drive Southwest about 331 units are being built and 14S units are being constructed at Brighton Place on 87th Avenue Southwest The impact of these and other projects will be felt long after the hammers and saws are quiet The new residents will stay and use public services The Clover Park School District is having the toughest time of all government services adjusting to Children will be admitted free while there is a 61 admission fee for adults Lakewood Safe Streets are looking for 10 volunteers to be trained to organize neighborhood block-watch 1 The volunteers will complete a session and then will be awtigwwH to hoods that have requestedbelp orga block-watch programs A training session will be held at 7 pm Nov 6 Lakewood residents interested in becoming block-watch trainers are asked to call Lake-wood Safe Streets at 582-1441 0Tyee Park Elementary School will hold its annual Fall Festival from noon to 3 pm Nov 4 The festival whose slogan is will be held at the school 11920 Seminole Road SW Highlights include an outdoor obstacle course activities in the multi-purpose room a haunted house a jewelry sale a used-book booth and food and prims Raffle tickets will be sold during the first two hours of the event Proceeds from the raffle and the festival will be used to construct a fitness track for students at the school McGruff the crime dog gets a hug from a student at Southgate Elementary School McGruff takes big bite out of the hearts of Southgate kids By Doreen March ionni The News Tribune throughout unincorporated Pierce County So far sheriffs deputies think McGruff sinking in "I wish we did stuff like this years ago let kids know we're their said sheriffs deputy Kevin Fries with the east substation Fries is one of three deputies who visits elementary schools to encourage kids to stay out of trouble and to teach them the difference between and touches sincerely interested in helping these kids I think it (the education program) will have a 14 education program) will have a big impact The first annual Great American Card iLl Swap will be held from 10 am to 4 P-m- Nov 4 at 2618 12th Court SW Ibe event is a benefit for the Hurricane Hugo disaster victims and is sponsored by the ThurstonMason County Red Cross Chapter Bring your baseball and football cards along with a $1 entrance fee to help the Hurricane Hugo Relief Fund Refreshments will be on sale and free coffee will be offered to parents For more information call Chuck at 357-8883 State Reps Randy Dorn and Marilyn Rasmussen both Democrats from Ea-tonville will host a series of town meetings this fall to discuss topics concerning their 2nd District constituents The lawmakers said they are especially interested in district views on education crime drug abuse and transportation problems All meetings will be held at 7 pm The first is set for Oct 26 at the DuPont Historical Museum 207 Barksdale Ave DuPont Other meetings are planned for Nov 9 at McKenna Elementary School 35120 Wash-' 507 Yelm Nov 28 at Ballou Junior ington First there was Smokey the Bear the well-groomed cartoon brown bear who begged wilderness to help prevent forest fires Now there is McGruff the slightly disheveled cartoon detective dog who urges kids to help take a bite out of crime by staying away from drugs and strangers Judging by their affectionate embraces Southgate Elementary School students seem to love the woofer McGruff made a guest appearance at the school Oct 16 as part of the Pierce County sheriffs new on Fries said crime-education program in elementary schools Please see McGruff E2 Stellacoom future at stake Nov 7 said mayoral candidate Jack Sage Sage currently sits on the city council and is giving up his seat will decide whether we'll stand still or move forward going to be an all-new council no matter what One group would stop everything The other would be more Sage said He was referring to anti-growth candidates on one side and to candidates who favor controlled development and public works improvements on the other side Volkmer agreed she added that citizen coalitions are building that either support the status quo or vehemently oppose any change in town sympathy lies with the people who don't want change But my intellect lies with those who want modest change I'd be a better mayor because I have By Doreen Marchionni The News Tribune About the only issue mayoral and city council candidates agree on is that this year's elections could determine how much more will change in the near future in this historic town of cozy cafes and eentlv rolling hills Come Nov 7 the city will have a new mayor and possibly four new faces on the five-member City Council Three council seats currently are open Also City Councilwoman Janda Volkmer is running for mayor If she is elected her council seat will open If she elected finish the last two years of her term on the council These changes could spell dramatic changes in public policy especially if the candidates are elected High School 9916 136th St Puyallap Dec 5 in Room 194 of Orting High School 320 Washington Orting and Dec 7 at Spanaway Lake High School 1305 EL 168th Spanaway the increased population due to apartment building and home building It expects about 1400 new students to walk into its schools from their newly built apartments or houses and it doesn't have classrooms for them think people realize how desperate we are in the Clover Park School District because of the housing situation We have no option but to educate those said JB Layne president of the Clover Park School District are definitely in dire need of he said The district has twice failed to persuade voters to approve bond issues to finance new facilities Layne said the majority of the school board members have agreed to ask voters again in February Borrowing classroom space from the churches may be one of the alternatives Layne says the school district may have to consider if voters say no again Layne said other school districts as close as Bellevue have required or have considered requiring apartment developers to make financial contributions to schools their renters attend need to look into Layne said Tipton the manager of the county Utility Department said he thinks the push for new multi-family units in Lakewood is the result of the new public sewer system the county installed The county built the Chambers Creek wastewater treatment plant in 1984 to handle waste from Lake-wood The capacity is about 12 million gallons per day Because of population growth the plant is nearing its capacity and the county is receiving bids to increase the capacity to 18 million gallons per day at an estimated cost of $26 million according to Tipton Some apartment developers said they are willing to pay for some of their impacts on the community a said Dan Kelley president of Holly Homes feel we have to pay our share of said Tom Ossinger project manager for Nordevin Inc He added "It doesn't make it any easier to write the check" Kelley said assessing apartment developers for their projects is an efficient taxing procedure subsidizing rather than taking" he said He noted that extra costs called mitigation fees in the business his or any development company pays are recovered through rent revenue Ossinger said he would protest paying mitigation fees for schools The state pays for schools out of property taxes he said and he already pays property taxes on his projects When he is completed with his 18 million Brighton Place Ossinger has plans for a bigger adjacent complex to be called Beaumont He expects to pay for widening 83rd Street Southwest The county Utility Department unlike schools can charge apartment builders their share of the cost of building bigger sewer facilities to handle the new residents Connection charges made up of aipa rhrp and capacity charges have been assessed against some of the Lakewood apartment builders Tipton said Holly Homes which built Stoney Creek Apartments paid 6241412 in capacity charges for its share of the increased capacity to be added to the sewage treatment plant It also paid an 686600 area charge as its portion of the cost of increasing the size of the main sewer pipe under the street in front of the complex Nordevin Inc developer of Brighton paid the Utility Department a capacity charge of 6150937 Tipton added He said the Utility Department expects to pay the whole 626 million cost of the expansion project from fees it collects from residential and commercial devel- see Election E2 Pierce College 9401 Farwest Drive SW will hold a free workshop for looking fo nviMlMIU lUft homemakers who are looking for isvk- new options and resources from 9 am to 3 pm Nov 1 in the Performance Fireside Lounge The community event is co-sponsored by Pierce Community College Displaced Homemaker Program the Altrusa Club of Puyallup Valley and the Washington State Displaced Homemaker program The workshop will cover such areas as selfesteem communication skills educational on-tions and employment issues For more information call Pierce College Displaced S8M7S Pacific Lutheran University will be the site of a lecture by Phyllis Schlafly en-titled Changing Roles of Men and Women at 8 pm Nov 6 in Eastvold Auditorium The event is sponsored by the Associated Students of PLlLCost is $250 at thedoor but is free to PLU students and BM NwitorTtM Hmm Tribunt while being restored A C-124C transport plane sits on the runway at McChord Air Force McChord museum boosts rare planes By Elizabeth Scherman For The News Tribune co-curator Fred Johnson The move is made possible in part by the enthusiasm of the McChord Air Museum Foundation whose members including retired fliers work devotedly to bring rare planes to the base to restore and exhibit foundation raised 260000 to get the C-124C airworthy so it could be flown here from Michigan" said Johnson When the vintage carrier arrived in 1986 Johnson was flown up in another plane to and get its arrival photograph The is being spruced up with a 61000 gift see Museum E2 To submit Homs If you would like information included in any of the Neighbors Section listings Please send information to: The Morning News Tribune PO Box 11000 Tacoma: Wash 98411-0008 ATTN: Neighbors numbw 1Ud Mme nd telePhone must be received two weeks before publication They call it It looms above its smaller cousins on the McChord airstrip its aluminum belly gleaming in the sun It is a C-124C cargo transport plane the pride of the McChord Air fleet It is one of seven aircraft that the McChord Air Museum has acquired for public exhibit in its fifth year of operation The museum is in the process of moving to a larger building on the base said museum historian and 3 3 3 Sheriffs Captain Gary Smith officer in charge of the West Precinct serving Lakewood said apartment growth in Lakewood as elsewhere in the county increases his job of the way they are stacked" he said Two years ago county voters agreed to tax them-Please see Apartments E2 1.