Geoduck farm hearings postponed two months due to opposition leader’s departure
Mar 19, 2024Hearings on Taylor Shellfish’s proposed geoduck farm in Burley Lagoon have been postponed until May.
Gig Harbor plans $2 million roundabout at 56th Street and 38th Avenue
Mar 14, 2024Many people living near the junction of 56th Street NW and 38th Avenue NW, at the western edge of Gig Harbor city limits, have been there long enough to remember when it was a country crossroads. Traffic at this spot is not bad now. But when city officials look at the intersection in light of
Free legal pop-ups debut this week in Gig Harbor
Feb 12, 2024Legal advice may not, at first, seem as fundamental a human need as food or medical care. But Bob Vollbracht, volunteer leader of the Gig Harbor Key Peninsula Housing-Homeless Coalition, has seen the profound benefit of free legal services to low-income clients shaken by situations such as domestic violence, child custody disputes or looming evictions.
Pierce County weighs stripping urban growth designation from Purdy
Jan 29, 2024If Purdy ever truly dreamed of an urban future, that possibility may be slipping away. The tiny agglomeration of businesses, schools, homes and utility company maintenance yards at the head of Henderson Bay, just over Gig Harbor’s northern border, has long been designated an urban growth area (UGA) under the Pierce County Comprehensive Plan. That’s
Proponents, foes of Burley Lagoon geoduck farm to face off at March 2024 hearings
Dec 07, 2023Parties to a dispute over a proposed 25.5 acre geoduck farm in Burley Lagoon have until March 2024 to hone arguments and marshal evidence. That’s when Taylor Shellfish, which seeks to launch the controversial aquaculture operation, will face off against a coalition of environmental groups and neighbors in arguments before the Pierce County Hearing Examiner
Developments would bring more than 150 residences to Swede Hill
Nov 28, 2023Add northern Swede Hill to the list of Gig Harbor locales slated for accelerating suburban growth. West of Highway 16, on land sloping down to Burnham Drive NW and McCormick Creek, two local developers are shepherding separate proposals through the city’s permitting process that would add more than 150 residences on land now occupied by
The sinking of the Walrus in 1963 was a disaster averted
Oct 26, 2023Have you heard about the sinking of the Walrus? It was only one of the greatest maritime near-disasters in Puget Sound history. There’s no memorial to it, as not-quite-calamities don’t usually get one. But among the survivors, and those with them at Catholic Youth Organization’s (CYO) Camp Blanchet on Raft Island in the summer of
On Raft Island, the Peninsula’s last summer camp carries on, with updates
Oct 26, 2023Residents on the east side of Lay Inlet enjoy looking across the bay at All Saints Camp and Retreat Center, a heavily forested stretch of Raft Island shoreline that provides a home to wildlife and brilliant fall colors. The view hasn’t changed in decades. Neighbors might have worried earlier this month, when barges and heavy
Neighbors press city about The Reserve, a development planned above Crescent Valley
Oct 05, 2023The land slated to become The Reserve, a planned subdivision in Gig Harbor extending from Peacock Hill Avenue eastward down the hill toward Crescent Valley, is hardly a slam-dunk for development. The long, narrow 9.88-acre site slopes noticeably on its western half, where developers plan to build 14 homes. It then drops sharply to an
Xitco brothers quietly stake claim in downtown Gig Harbor
Sep 11, 2023A pair of brothers from a prominent Tacoma business family has bought up properties with big development potential in downtown Gig Harbor. Their purchases include a historic waterfront building between the Tides Tavern and the new 7 Seas taproom near the Old Ferry Landing. Another incorporates more than three-quarters of an acre in the commercial