Friends of the Waterfront
Olympia, Washington
Friends of the Waterfront | |
Save the Date!
Big Party and Strategy Meeting
Saturday, November 15, 10:00-12:30
Columbia Room, under the Capitol Dome
Keep Writing!
Email, write or phone the City Council — P. O. Box 1967, 900 Plum St SE, Olympia, WA 98501; 360-753-8569.
citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us
Read Our Testimony on the Rezone Request
Feel glum?
Erase the mistake
on the lake
Courtesy of John Leisenring
JCL Animations
So far, wide and deep community opposition at the City Council level hasn't been enough to stop Triway's effort to rezone the land between Capital Lake and Puget Sound for high-rise million-dollar condos. Letters to the editor, written testimony to the Planning Commission and the Council, and sign-ins and speakers at the public hearings all ran strongly against the rezone. Recently, the Olympia Capitol Park Foundation gathered around 4,000 city voters' signatures in just over five weeks to successfully complete its initiative campaign to compel the Council to study the cost of an isthmus park, and explore ways to get financial help creating one. This was the first such successful campaign in the city since 1955, when citizens passed an initiative to create Watershed Park and Sylvester Park.
In response to the citizens' initiative, the City Council did start the park study. At the same time, though, five of the seven Council members went ahead and voted to take a big step toward a rezone. Jeff Kingsbury, Doug Mah, Rhenda Strub, Joan Machlis, and Craig Ottavelli all agreed to proceed toward rezoning for up to 90 feet, requesting ordinances to consider in November, before the park study will be completed. Only Councilwoman Karen Messmer voted to oppose this motion, out of respect for the widespread community opposition to higher buildings there. (Joe Hyer straddled the fence, saying he wouldn't vote for more than 65 foot heights at this time, but might be persuaded to vote for more.)
At this point, these five people apparently intend to finesse the citizens' initiative, going ahead and voting on the rezone in December. If passed as currently proposed, their rezone would significantly increase the value of this land. It would allow Triway to build an additional 171,000 square feet of high-rise housing with prime views on its property, in addition to 90% of the commercial space it can currently build. Rezoning right away will make it much likelier that the park option will be beyond reach when the citizens' five-month long study is completed.
This isn't over yet. The city's Land Use Committee recently recommended eliminating the property tax break for housing on the isthmus. The national financial crisis makes it even harder to finance projects, and has dramatically reduced the home equity and investments of buyers. The Council could postpone the rezone decision and actually explore a park option when the study's complete. They could require an updated market analysis before giving away the views based on a speculative proposal and the promised success of Triway's project. The rezone could be thrown out as a result of subsequent litigation. Keep your fingers crossed, and write or call them - again...
In twenty, or thirty, or forty years, the heart of Olympia should be a spectacular park stretching from Capitol Lake right out to Percival Landing and the boardwalk around Puget Sound, with sweeping unobstructed views up to the Capitol and out to the mountains. Granting this rezone would make that impossible. (There should be plenty of housing downtown, too - but not on this spot.)
