Friends of the Waterfront
Olympia, Washington
Friends of the Waterfront | |
Write to the Department of Ecology
Details here soon!
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 have gone ahead and voted to rezone. Jeff Kingsbury, Doug Mah, Rhenda Strub, Joan Machlis, and Craig Ottavelli all agreed to rezone for 42 feet - plus height bonuses to 65 and 90 feet in return for mitigations which are mostly what Triway has been proposing all along. 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.)
Councilmember Strub joined Councilmembers Hyer and Messmer in voting against the rezone ordinance in its final form at first reading, partly because the development agreement which would have given the Council somewhat more control over the process for a longer period had been dropped. However, then she changed her vote again and joined Councilmembers Mah, Kingsbury, Machlis and Ottavelli and voted to give Triway the rezone on December 16th. If it goes into effect, their rezone will 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. Their decision to rezone 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 has recommended eliminating the property tax break for housing on the isthmus, and in January the Council will decide whether or not to keep the $11 million dollar tax exemption for the owners of the 141 condos Triway plans to sell for $1 million each. The national financial crisis makes it even harder to finance projects, and has dramatically reduced the home equity and investments of buyers. The Department of Ecology will now review the city's request for an amendment to its Shoreline Master Program, and if they find it isn't consistent with the Shorelines Act this rezone won't be possible. The rezone could be thrown out as a result of other subsequent litigation. Keep your fingers crossed.
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.)
