MILTON, Wash. — New construction projects are transforming the small Pierce County city of Milton, where residents say the pace of growth is threatening the community’s rural character.

Work began this week on a 15-unit apartment complex near the intersection of Milton Way and Porter Way. Crews cleared the site, including several large cedar trees that neighbors described as old growth. For many, the sound of heavy equipment marked another sign that Milton’s landscape is changing.

“There is concern about overgrowth, overdevelopments going too quickly, and then what that’s going to do in our little pocket of Milton, as far as commuters going around and through and slowing things down and creating more congestion,” said Sabbatha Elmstedt, a business owner whose salon is near the constructi

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