Five school districts take Pierce County to court over land use

GRAHAM, Wash. -- School districts in Pierce County say a new ordinance is hurting their kids.

It all boils down to geography. The ordinance is banning new schools, or expanding existing ones, in rural areas if they primarily serve urban students.

School districts in Pierce County say the ordinance is harming their kid’s education. Five school districts are fighting back by taking the county to court.

Bethel Schools says they bought an 80-acre parcel of land in Graham hoping to build a new high school one day. It’s surrounded by a fire station, a church and even a subdivision but the land is deemed rural so they will not be able to build a new school at the site. The school was planned to serve mostly urban students.

“We are expecting 3,000 more students in the next 10 years. Because of that, we need to build more capacity,” Bethel Schools spokesperson Krista Carlson said.

Most of the students in the Bethel district live in urban areas and the schools on the north side of the district are bursting at the seams.

“Those classrooms will fill up and be tighter, it could mean year-round schools,” Carlson said.

Bethel Schools says land in urban areas are expensive and hard to find.

“You want to be fiscally responsible as possible,” Carlson said.

The ordinance is also affecting Eatonville, Tacoma, Sumner and Franklin Pierce schools.  Together, they want a judge to answer this question.

“Should a school district be able to determine what it needs for their own community?" Carlson said.

No one in Pierce County government could talk to Q13 News on camera on Friday but they say the ordinance is there to comply with the state`s growth management act. It aims to limit sprawl in rural areas while keeping urban areas dense. Some say they understand where the county is coming from.

“We don`t need more schools, we need less people,” Leona Wystrach said.

But Cody Briggs, a mother of two from Graham, says the county shouldn't have the right to tell school districts what to do.

“Building companies are coming out here and building huge housing developments, yet we can’t have any room for our schools for our children,” Briggs said.

Bethel Schools says the new ordinance will also impact seven of its existing schools in rural areas. Since they primarily serve urban students, they will not be able to expand not even to use portables because that would be considered adding capacity.