Sunset Beach Patrician Park

Objective: Realize Patrician Lane on Sunset Beach as a shoreline park.

Background

If you’ve ever attempted to visit Sunset Beach (Google Maps), you may have been faced with this unfortunate sight:

A 50 foot wide HOA-style gate blocking access to Sunset Beach. It says "residents only", "no soliciting", and warns of surveillance.

Our coalition believes this gate is misleading, because Sunset Beach is not completely private! As you can see in the map below, the public right-of-way (ROW) that this gate terminates actually continues on the other side of the tracks. The public is completely within their rights to be present on Sunset Beach within the bounds of the public right-of-way. It might be hard to see from the map below, but the strip of walkway on the north-west side of the tracks that connects all the houses on Sunset Beach is also public right-of-way.

A map of Sunset Beach showing the public and railroad right-of-ways. The public right-of-way goes all the way out into the water, but is intersected by the railroad right-of-way. The previously mentioned gate is also marked on the map, which falls right on the border between the public and railroad right-of-way.

We reached out to BNSF Railway about this gate, and they were able to inform us:

“BNSF Railway has a contract with the Sunset Beach association which allows them to have four private pedestrian crossings. The agreement states that only homeowners and their guests are allowed access to BNSF property and use of said crossings.”

This contract indirectly blocks access to the public space on Sunset Beach by preventing the public from crossing the railroad tracks. You can always access this site by water, but it would be best done at high tide because the concrete seawall is a slippery climb otherwise.

From visiting the site, you will see that neighbors have encroached on the public right-of-way by building boat storage and fences in the public space. The public right-of-way is 50 ft wide.

Proposal

There is a Sunset Beach plat that the Pierce County auditor filed in 1933 that labels the public right-of-way leading out into the water as “Patrician Lane”, and says:

“…the owner of the following described reef property…hereby donate and dedicate the lane and roads shown thereon to the public forever, for street and park purposes…”

The UP Shoreline Public Access Coalition proposes that the city of University Place realize the portion of Patrician Lane on Sunset Beach as a park. The city should declare intent to utilize this public space as part of their parks and trails network. This would enable the city to coordinate with all the key stakeholders to ensure a safe, accessible, and public rail crossing. A declaration of intent would also enable the city to give notice to Sunset Beach residents to vacate the public right-of-way.

As usual, we would like to see essential amenities at this park:

  • Trash cans
  • Bike rack
  • Accessible parking
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Restroom

And clear signage to ensure private and public property boundaries are being respected.

Current Status

Our coalition will be visiting this site throughout the summer to establish a public presence.

Updates

2026-05-14

We attended the University Place Park Advisory Commission during their scheduled meeting (see agenda), where we provided public comment about this proposal. We also provided public comment on the PROS draft plan to encourage inclusion of shoreline access improvements.

Attendees:

  • Gordon McCreary (UP Shoreline Public Access Coalition Leader)
  • Amy Wolfe (UP Park Advisory Commission Chair)
  • Ryan Baltazar (UP Park Advisory Commission Vice Chair)
  • Kristi Jones (UP Park Advisory Commissioner)
  • Nora Flemming de Sandoval (UP Park Advisory Commissioner)
  • Bay Stemp (UP Park Advisory Commissioner)
  • Tony West (UP Operations Manager)
  • Asuka Ludden

No opposition to the intentions of the proposal were raised. There were some concerns that the railroad crossing would need to be improved for public access (either bridge over similar to Saltar’s Point Beach in Steilacoom or at-grade crossing similar to Sunnyside Beach Park in Steilacoom or Titlow Beach in Tacoma). Tony was able to confirm for us that the neighbors, even though they have built on the public right-of-way, they won’t be able to claim squatters rights on it. Our request for action to the Parks Advisory Commission was to help the city declare intention to provide public access to this site, with the PROS plan being an immediate opportunity for this.

We also suggested Day Island shore access improvements be included in the PROS plan.

2026-04-20

Received official statement from BNSF Railway confirming they have an arrangement with Sunset Beach HOA that allows the residents to control access to the rail crossing.

2026-04-18

Proposal published.