Tacoma Landscape Architect
Tacoma Landscape Architecture for Developers, Engineers, and Architects
Evergreen Design Group is a licensed landscape architecture firm serving land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors on projects across Tacoma and the broader Pierce County market. Since 2005, we have delivered land planning, planting design, hardscape design, and irrigation design on residential communities, mixed-use and commercial developments, industrial projects, and civic sites throughout the region.
Our clients are project teams — not homeowners. We are structured to engage within your development workflow, coordinate directly with civil engineers and architects of record, meet Tacoma’s plan review and permitting timelines, and deliver construction-ready documentation that moves through the City of Tacoma’s development review process efficiently.
Tacoma presents a landscape architecture environment with real specificity. The city’s stormwater program operates under a municipal NPDES Phase II permit with its own design standards layered on top of the Western Washington Stormwater Management Manual. The City of Tacoma’s Critical Areas Program, Shoreline Master Program, and Urban Forestry Code each create distinct documentation requirements for development projects within city limits. Beyond the city boundary, Pierce County’s active suburban growth markets — Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Lakewood, University Place, and the Frederickson industrial corridor — each operate under their own landscape and critical areas ordinance frameworks. Doing this work well requires knowing Tacoma specifically, not just knowing Washington State.
Landscape Architecture in Tacoma's Development Environment
City of Tacoma Stormwater Program and the Western Washington Manual
Tacoma operates under a municipal NPDES Phase II stormwater permit administered by the City of Tacoma's Environmental Services department. The city has adopted the 2019 Western Washington Stormwater Management Manual as its technical design standard, with local amendments and administrative procedures specific to Tacoma. This means development projects disturbing one acre or more within city limits must comply with both the Western Washington manual's low-impact development (LID) requirements and any Tacoma-specific stormwater program provisions.
Landscape architects are directly responsible for the design and documentation of vegetated stormwater management facilities required by Tacoma's stormwater program: bioretention cells, rain gardens, vegetated filter strips, and permeable pavement systems with engineered soil media. These facilities must be designed to Western Washington manual specifications, sized by the civil engineer's drainage calculations, and planted with species tolerant of periodic inundation and the sustained soil saturation common to Pierce County's glacial clay soils. Our team produces stormwater facility planting plans and bioretention design documentation that satisfies Tacoma Environmental Services review requirements and coordinates with the civil engineer's stormwater report.
City of Tacoma Critical Areas Program
Tacoma's Critical Areas Program — administered through Title 13 of the Tacoma Municipal Code — identifies and protects regulated critical areas within city limits including wetlands, streams, frequently flooded areas, geologically hazardous areas (including steep slopes, landslide hazard areas, and seismic hazard zones), and habitat conservation areas. Development projects that include or are adjacent to regulated critical areas must comply with the program's buffer requirements, mitigation standards, and enhancement or restoration obligations.
Tacoma's geology creates a particularly active geologically hazardous area designation environment. The city sits on Puget Sound lowland glacial deposits — a mix of glacial till, outwash, and lacustrine sediments — with significant areas of mapped landslide hazard on bluffs overlooking Commencement Bay, Puget Sound, and the Puyallup River valley. Steep slope buffers and geologically hazardous area setbacks affect the buildable envelope on many Tacoma development sites, and landscape architects must design within these constraints. We coordinate directly with your geotechnical and civil engineering team on sites with slope hazard and critical areas designations, ensuring that landscape grading, drainage, and planting plans are consistent with the geotechnical recommendations and the city's critical areas standards.
Tacoma's Shoreline Master Program and Commencement Bay Context
Tacoma's Shoreline Master Program (SMP) governs development within shoreline jurisdiction along Commencement Bay, the Puyallup River, Chambers Creek, and other regulated water bodies within city limits. The Foss Waterway — a historically industrial waterway now transitioning to mixed-use, residential, and marina development — is one of the most active shoreline development corridors in Tacoma, and projects along it are subject to the SMP's shoreline environment designations, setback requirements, vegetation buffer standards, and restoration obligations.
Shoreline development in Tacoma requires landscape architects to design within the applicable SMP vegetation buffer, specify native riparian and nearshore species appropriate to the shoreline environment, and in many cases prepare restoration planting plans as a condition of Substantial Development Permit approval. The Commencement Bay nearshore environment is also subject to Puget Sound recovery goals and potential Endangered Species Act consultation through National Marine Fisheries Service, adding another layer of regulatory consideration for projects in proximity to marine nearshore habitats. We design within shoreline jurisdiction with an understanding of Tacoma's SMP requirements and the broader Puget Sound regulatory context.
City of Tacoma Urban Forestry Code
Tacoma's Urban Forestry Code — administered by the City's Environmental Services department — regulates tree removal and preservation on development sites within city limits. The code requires tree surveys on sites proposed for development, establishes significant tree designations based on diameter at breast height (DBH), requires a tree replacement plan for significant trees removed, and in some circumstances requires mitigation fees for trees that cannot be replaced on-site. Tacoma's Urban Forestry program coordinates with the city's standard building permit review process, and landscape plans that do not adequately address tree requirements generate corrections.
Tacoma's established neighborhoods — Proctor District, North End, South End, Hilltop, and others — contain mature street trees and significant on-site trees on infill and redevelopment sites that must be addressed in the landscape plan. Our tree disposition plans for Tacoma projects are prepared to meet Urban Forestry Code requirements: documenting existing trees, identifying significant trees and their DBH, establishing protection zones for trees designated for preservation, and calculating replacement obligations for trees proposed for removal.
SEPA Review in Tacoma
Most development projects in Tacoma above Washington State's categorical exemption thresholds are subject to State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) environmental review administered by the City of Tacoma Planning and Development Services department. SEPA review assesses potential impacts on vegetation, wildlife habitat, stormwater runoff, geologic hazards, and other environmental factors — and frequently results in conditions of approval that directly affect landscape scope. Landscape architects contribute to the vegetation and stormwater sections of SEPA environmental checklists and design mitigation measures — buffer planting, habitat restoration, visual screening — in response to SEPA conditions. We are experienced in the documentation requirements and mitigation design work that Tacoma's SEPA review generates.
Pierce County: Tacoma's Suburban Development Context
Tacoma is the county seat of Pierce County, which is one of the most active residential development markets in Washington State. The suburban and exurban growth markets immediately surrounding Tacoma present their own distinct regulatory environments:
- Puyallup: Active residential and commercial development in the Puyallup River valley. Puyallup administers its own landscape and tree ordinance requirements and is subject to Pierce County's CAO framework in unincorporated areas. The Puyallup River is a significant salmon-bearing water body with associated habitat conservation area buffer requirements.
- Bonney Lake and Sumner: High-growth residential communities in the Stuck River and White River sub-basins of Pierce County, east of Tacoma. Active master-planned community and subdivision development; Pierce County CAO and Western Washington stormwater manual jurisdiction for development in unincorporated areas.
- Lakewood: Suburban city immediately south of Tacoma with active residential, commercial, and military-adjacent development (Joint Base Lewis-McChord proximity). Lakewood administers its own zoning and landscape requirements.
- University Place: Established suburban community west of Tacoma with active commercial and residential redevelopment; Chambers Creek and nearshore Puget Sound adjacency creates critical areas and shoreline buffer considerations on some development sites.
- Frederickson and Graham (unincorporated Pierce County): Active industrial and residential development in the south Pierce County corridor, governed by Pierce County's CAO and development regulations rather than a city ordinance. Significant logistics and industrial development driven by proximity to I-5 and the Port of Tacoma.
- Gig Harbor: Growing waterfront community on the Kitsap Peninsula across the Tacoma Narrows. Active residential and commercial development with significant Puget Sound nearshore and wetland critical area considerations under Gig Harbor's municipal ordinances.
Port of Tacoma Industrial Corridor
The Port of Tacoma — one of the largest container ports on the West Coast — anchors a significant industrial and logistics development corridor in the Tideflats area of Tacoma and adjacent unincorporated Pierce County. Industrial development in the Port's operational area and surrounding logistics corridor generates landscape architecture demand for large-footprint industrial sites: perimeter buffer planting, parking lot landscape, stormwater green infrastructure, and documentation meeting the environmental standards that apply to development in proximity to Commencement Bay and the Puyallup River delta.
Industrial development in the Tideflats is also subject to environmental review under the City of Tacoma's Tideflats Subarea Plan, adopted in 2022 to guide long-term development of the industrial waterfront. Landscape architects engaged on projects within the Tideflats Subarea Plan area should understand how the plan's design and environmental standards affect landscape scope and documentation requirements.
Landscape Architecture Services We Deliver in Tacoma
Every service is performed in-house by our licensed professionals with no subcontracting of scope.
Our land planning service supports developers and civil engineers at the pre-application and schematic design stage — establishing open space frameworks, critical areas buffer configurations, stormwater facility siting, tree preservation areas, amenity placement, and land use transitions before the civil plan is set. In Tacoma’s regulatory environment, where critical areas designations, steep slope setbacks, shoreline buffers, and stormwater facility requirements frequently constrain the developable area of sites, early landscape architecture engagement is essential for efficient entitlement.
We are experienced designing within Tacoma’s Critical Areas Program constraints, coordinating with environmental consultants on wetland and habitat buffer configurations, and integrating stormwater facility siting into the early land planning process — before the civil plan is locked in a configuration that makes stormwater integration difficult. For projects in Pierce County’s suburban growth markets, we are familiar with the Pierce County CAO framework and the distinct ordinance requirements of Puyallup, Lakewood, Bonney Lake, and other Pierce County municipalities.
Planting design in Tacoma and the broader Pierce County market is defined by the maritime climate of the southern Puget Sound: mild, wet winters with extended cloud cover, moderate summer drought stress during the July-September dry season, and glacially deposited soils that range from well-drained gravelly outwash to poorly draining glacial till and lacustrine clay depending on site location. Plant selection must account for species that tolerate seasonal soil saturation, moderate summer drought once established, and the low-light conditions of western Washington winters.
For stormwater bioretention and rain garden facilities, planting must be selected from a palette of species tolerant of periodic inundation and the sustained wetted conditions of the bioretention growing media. For shoreline and riparian buffer areas, native Puget Sound basin riparian species are required or strongly preferred by Tacoma’s SMP and the applicable critical areas mitigation standards. Our planting plans are documented to the level required for Tacoma’s plan review environment — including species, container size, spacing, installation methodology, and the establishment irrigation and maintenance provisions that Tacoma Environmental Services requires.
City of Tacoma Urban Forestry Code requires tree surveys and replacement documentation on development projects within city limits. For infill and redevelopment projects in Tacoma’s established neighborhoods — where mature street trees, parkway trees, and significant on-site conifers and deciduous trees are common — tree disposition plans must document existing trees, identify significant trees by DBH classification, establish protection zones for trees designated for preservation, and calculate replacement obligations per Urban Forestry Code requirements. Our plans are prepared to meet Tacoma Urban Forestry’s review standards and coordinated with the grading and civil plans to identify any conflicts between tree protection zones and proposed construction.
For suburban Pierce County projects under Pierce County’s CAO — where wildlife habitat conservation areas may trigger native tree and shrub retention requirements — we produce tree and vegetation disposition documentation calibrated to the applicable county standards rather than the city’s urban forestry framework.
Pierce County’s residential development markets — from master-planned communities in Bonney Lake and Sumner to suburban subdivision development in Puyallup and Lakewood to urban multifamily projects in Tacoma’s downtown and Stadium District — each have distinct amenity quality expectations and regulatory contexts. We design amenity packages — pools, clubhouses, fitness areas, dog parks, multi-use lawns, trail connections, pocket parks — that are market-responsive, code-compliant, and sized and specified for the operational realities of HOA and property management. For Tacoma’s urban multifamily and mixed-use projects, we design courtyard environments, rooftop amenity decks, and constrained urban open spaces appropriate to the project density and site conditions.
Tacoma’s hardscape design environment is shaped by high annual rainfall (averaging 38 inches), glacial clay soils with low permeability and seasonal volume change, geologic hazard areas with slope stability constraints, and the structural demands of the region’s active commercial, industrial, and mixed-use development pipeline. For urban development projects — particularly in Tacoma’s downtown, the Dome District, the Foss Waterway corridor, and the Stadium District — hardscape must perform in high-pedestrian-traffic conditions with the durability demanded by Tacoma’s wet climate.
We produce fully documented hardscape construction drawings: paving materials and finish specifications appropriate to Tacoma’s climate and soil conditions, joint design for drainage and movement, grading and drainage coordination, retaining wall and edge restraint details, and structural pavement section specifications for vehicle and pedestrian loading. For projects with structured parking, plaza deck applications, or waterfront development conditions, we produce hardscape designs that account for the specific structural, drainage, and environmental conditions of those applications.
Landscape irrigation in Tacoma and Pierce County is supplemental — the maritime climate delivers adequate rainfall for most plant establishment and maintenance, but the July-through-September dry season creates irrigation requirements for commercial, multifamily, and community development projects with high-visibility landscape areas. Irrigation systems in Tacoma must comply with applicable municipal water conservation requirements, City of Tacoma Public Utilities backflow prevention ordinance, and in many cases homeowner association maintenance budget expectations.
Our irrigation designs for Tacoma projects are hydraulically engineered to the specific site conditions — water pressure parameters from the applicable utility service area, zone configurations organized by plant type and water demand, smart controller technology specifications, and system documentation suitable for competitive contractor bidding and long-term property management. For projects with stormwater bioretention facilities, we design establishment irrigation systems appropriate to the initial plant establishment period while the native species planting becomes self-sustaining.
Tacoma and Pierce County Project Types We Support
Residential Land Development
Master-planned communities, single-family subdivisions, townhome communities, and mixed-density residential development across Pierce County’s active growth markets: Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Lakewood, Graham, Frederickson, and Gig Harbor. We provide land planning, amenity design, planting plans, tree disposition plans, and irrigation design — coordinating with the civil engineer from pre-application through final construction documents, including phased community buildout on large-scale projects.
Urban Infill and Multifamily Development in Tacoma
Tacoma’s downtown core, the Foss Waterway district, the Stadium District, Hilltop, and the 6th Avenue corridor are active urban infill and multifamily development markets. These projects require landscape architects experienced in constrained urban sites, limited soil volume conditions, Tacoma’s Urban Forestry Code requirements, SEPA review documentation, and the design standards applicable in shoreline jurisdiction along the Foss Waterway. We design planting, hardscape, stormwater green infrastructure, and amenity environments appropriate to Tacoma’s urban development conditions.
Commercial and Mixed-Use Development
Retail centers, office developments, medical campuses, hospitality projects, and mixed-use developments across Tacoma and Pierce County. We produce landscape plans that satisfy the applicable municipality’s landscape ordinance requirements, comply with Tacoma’s stormwater program or the Western Washington manual (depending on jurisdiction), meet critical areas buffer standards where present, and support the commercial performance of the project with documentation sufficient for competitive contractor bidding and municipal plan review approval.
Industrial and Port-Adjacent Development
The Port of Tacoma industrial corridor, the Frederickson logistics market, and Pierce County’s industrial development areas generate significant demand for landscape architects experienced in large-footprint industrial sites. We design landscape plans appropriate to industrial conditions — perimeter buffer planting compliant with applicable setback and buffer requirements, parking lot landscape, stormwater green infrastructure for large impervious sites, and low-maintenance vegetation documentation — produced to the standard required for site plan approval and competitive bidding.
Civic, Institutional, and Military-Adjacent Development
Tacoma’s position as Pierce County’s county seat, home to the University of Washington Tacoma campus, and adjacent to Joint Base Lewis-McChord generates significant demand for landscape architects experienced in institutional and civic project types. We serve civic and institutional clients with the same documentation standards and coordination practices we bring to private development — producing construction-ready drawings, coordinating with civil and architectural teams, and navigating the additional review layers that public and institutional projects often involve
Why Tacoma Project Teams Work with Evergreen Design Group
Current Knowledge of Tacoma's Specific Regulatory Environment
The City of Tacoma's stormwater program and its relationship to the Western Washington manual, the Critical Areas Program, the Shoreline Master Program, Urban Forestry Code, and SEPA review — this is the working regulatory framework for landscape architecture practice within Tacoma city limits. We design to this environment specifically. For suburban Pierce County projects, we maintain working familiarity with Pierce County's CAO framework and the distinct ordinance requirements of the major Pierce County municipalities.
Stormwater Green Infrastructure Design to Western Washington Manual Standards
Bioretention cells, rain gardens, vegetated filter strips, and permeable pavement with engineered soil media — designed to the Western Washington Stormwater Management Manual's technical specifications, coordinated with the civil engineer's drainage report, and planted with species appropriate to the sustained wet conditions of bioretention growing environments. This is standard work for us, not a specialized service. Our documentation satisfies Tacoma Environmental Services review on first submission.
Critical Areas and Shoreline Experience
Sites with wetland buffers, slope hazard areas, salmon habitat conservation areas, and shoreline jurisdiction are common in Tacoma and the broader Pierce County market. We have experience designing within these constraints — coordinating with environmental consultants on buffer configurations, designing native riparian and nearshore restoration planting, and producing documentation that satisfies the City of Tacoma's Critical Areas Program, the SMP, and Pierce County's CAO requirements.
Single-Source Landscape Scope Management
Land planning, planting, hardscape, tree disposition, irrigation, stormwater green infrastructure, and community amenity design — managed by one firm, coordinated internally, and delivered as a unified set of construction documents. One point of contact for the civil engineer. One set of documents going into plan review. Less coordination overhead. Fewer RFIs during construction.
Licensed, Experienced, and Accountable
Evergreen Design Group holds an active Washington State landscape architect license. Every project is managed by or under the direct supervision of a licensed landscape architect. Since 2005, we have delivered projects across more than 40 states, with the Puget Sound region and Pierce County among our active Pacific Northwest markets.
Frequently Asked Questions — Landscape Architects Tacoma
Tacoma operates under a municipal NPDES Phase II stormwater permit administered by Tacoma Environmental Services. The city has adopted the 2019 Western Washington Stormwater Management Manual as its technical design standard, with local amendments. Development projects disturbing one acre or more within city limits must comply with the manual’s low-impact development (LID) requirements — which typically means designing vegetated stormwater management facilities including bioretention cells, rain gardens, and permeable pavement systems with engineered soil media. Landscape architects are responsible for the design and planting of these vegetated facilities. Our team produces bioretention and rain garden designs, planting plans, and stormwater facility documentation coordinated with the civil engineer’s drainage calculations and formatted for Tacoma Environmental Services review.
Tacoma’s Critical Areas Program (Title 13 of the Tacoma Municipal Code) protects regulated critical areas within city limits including wetlands, streams, geologically hazardous areas (steep slopes, landslide hazard areas, seismic hazard zones), and habitat conservation areas. Development projects that include or are adjacent to regulated critical areas must comply with buffer requirements, mitigation standards, and restoration obligations specified in the program. For landscape architects, critical areas constraints directly affect where grading, hardscape, planting, and stormwater facilities can be placed on a site, and trigger native restoration planting requirements in buffer zones. Tacoma’s glacial geology creates significant mapped geologically hazardous area coverage on bluffs overlooking Puget Sound and the Puyallup River valley — steep slope setbacks are a common constraint on Tacoma development sites. We coordinate with your geotechnical and environmental consultant on critical areas compliance and design within the applicable buffer and setback requirements.
Tacoma’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) governs development within shoreline jurisdiction along Commencement Bay, the Foss Waterway, the Puyallup River, and other regulated water bodies within city limits. Each shoreline environment designation within the SMP establishes setbacks, vegetation buffer requirements, permitted uses, and restoration obligations. Projects along the Foss Waterway — an active redevelopment corridor transitioning from industrial to mixed-use and residential use — are subject to the SMP’s Foss Waterway Seaport environment designation, which has its own standards for vegetation, public access, and waterfront design. Landscape architects working on Foss Waterway or Commencement Bay-adjacent projects must design within the applicable SMP vegetation buffer, specify native riparian and nearshore species appropriate to the shoreline environment, and prepare restoration planting plans where required as a condition of Substantial Development Permit approval.
Tacoma’s Urban Forestry Code requires tree surveys on sites proposed for development, establishes significant tree designations based on trunk diameter at breast height (DBH), requires replacement plans for significant trees removed, and in some circumstances requires mitigation fees for trees that cannot be replaced on-site. The code is administered by Tacoma Environmental Services and is reviewed as part of the standard building permit process. For infill and redevelopment projects in Tacoma’s established neighborhoods, mature significant trees are common constraints on development sites, and early engagement with Urban Forestry requirements — ideally during the pre-application phase — reduces the risk of plan review corrections that delay permit issuance. Our tree disposition plans are prepared to meet Urban Forestry Code requirements and are coordinated with grading and civil plans to identify conflicts between tree protection zones and proposed construction.
Yes. Pierce County’s suburban growth markets are among the most active residential development areas in Western Washington, and we serve projects throughout the county. Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, and Lakewood each administer their own landscape and tree ordinance requirements distinct from Tacoma’s. Unincorporated Pierce County projects are governed by Pierce County’s Critical Areas Ordinance and development regulations rather than a city ordinance. We maintain working familiarity with the landscape requirements of Pierce County’s major municipalities and the county’s CAO framework, and we design to the applicable local standard for each project location.
Tacoma’s stormwater program uses the Western Washington Stormwater Management Manual’s bioretention design standards, which specify engineered soil media composition, surface ponding depth, underdrain configurations, and overflow structure design. Planting within bioretention and rain garden facilities must be selected for tolerance of periodic inundation and sustained soil saturation — conditions that exclude many standard landscape species. We design bioretention planting from a palette of native and adapted species proven to perform in Western Washington’s bioretention growing environment, specify appropriate container sizes and planting densities, and include an establishment irrigation specification and initial maintenance protocol as part of the planting plan. Our bioretention planting documentation is coordinated with the civil engineer’s stormwater report and formatted to satisfy Tacoma Environmental Services plan review requirements.
SEPA — Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act — requires environmental review for most development projects above established categorical exemption thresholds. In Tacoma, SEPA review is administered by Planning and Development Services and assesses potential impacts on vegetation, wildlife habitat, stormwater runoff, geologic hazards, and other environmental factors. SEPA review frequently results in conditions of approval that directly affect landscape scope — requiring buffer planting, habitat restoration, visual screening, or stormwater mitigation measures. Landscape architects contribute to the vegetation and stormwater sections of SEPA environmental checklists and design mitigation measures in response to SEPA conditions of approval. We are experienced in both the SEPA documentation requirements and the mitigation design work that Tacoma’s review process generates, and we coordinate with your project team on SEPA responses when landscape or environmental conditions are within our scope.
Yes — direct coordination with the civil engineering team and proactive engagement with the applicable reviewing departments is standard practice on every Tacoma project. We share drawings, align on stormwater facility sizing and geometry, coordinate on critical areas buffer configurations, and flag conflicts between civil and landscape scope before submitting to the city. For projects where pre-application meetings with Tacoma Environmental Services, Planning and Development Services, or Urban Forestry are beneficial, we participate in those meetings as part of your project team. Our objective is to produce a coordinated set of documents that satisfies all applicable review requirements on the first submission — minimizing correction cycles and keeping your development schedule on track.
Contact us through our website or call our office directly. We will schedule a brief discovery call to understand your project type, site location, regulatory context, and schedule, and follow up with a proposal. Our clients are developers, civil engineering firms, architects of record, and design-build contractors. We are structured to engage directly within your project delivery process and at the pace that Tacoma’s active development market requires.
Ready to Start Your Tacoma or Pierce County Project?
Whether your project is a master-planned residential community in Puyallup or Bonney Lake, an urban infill development along the Foss Waterway, a commercial development in Lakewood, or an industrial project in the Port of Tacoma corridor — Evergreen Design Group brings the regulatory knowledge, stormwater design expertise, and construction documentation standards that Tacoma and Pierce County’s development environment demands.
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