POLL: Should the City Have Issued a Right-of-Way Permit to Relocate the Camp Murray Gate?

The city of Lakewood granted the Washington State Military Department a right-of-way permit, according to a decision made by the city document released on Monday.

The permit will allow Camp Murray to relocate its main gate located on Militia Drive SW and construct a new primary access gate at the northwestern portion of Camp Murray, near the intersection of Portland Avenue SW and Boundary Street SW in Lakewood's Tillicum community.

The existing gate at Militia Drive SW, near the intersection of Union Avenue SW/Berkeley Street SW, would close except for truck traffic as approved by the city of Lakewood.

The main gate relocation project would address concerns arising from the close proximity of pedestrians, vehicular traffic, and potential high speed trains if the Point Defiance Bypass project is completed in 2015.

However, residents living in Tillicum don't agree with the city's decision.

They contest that relocating the gate further into the

David Anderson, local activist, spearheaded a petition to stop the gate relocation. backed the neighborhood support against the camp relocation.

Traffic from the existing main gate exits Camp Murray at the busiest intersection in the Tillicum neighborhood within the city. Motor vehicle congestion at the interchange and at the main gate has created safety and security problems.

With the permit approval comes a number of following conditions: Click on the PDF attached to this story and scroll to page 4 for the improvements the WMD must make.