05/09/2024
Update on the Waterfront Center.
The Port of Olympia has been engaged in a multi-year effort to revitalize Olympia's waterfront. In particular, port-owned properties along the East Bay, running from North Point down to the Hands on Children's Museum, remain underutilized and we have not yet realized the full recreational and community potential for access to our waterfront.
Executive Director Alex Smith shared at a work session on Monday that she has sufficient resources to launch this work with a "planned action" -- this involves detailed State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review and preparation of environmental impact statement documents as part of a holistic design for the Port Peninsula. My understanding is, under the Growth Management Act, the City of Olympia would play the leadership role in designating the area for master planning. Port staff are just beginning to reach out to the City to put this work into motion.
The Port has already engaged in significant public process to understand generally the values that the community would like to realize from our waterfront (Vision 2050, conducted in 2017). But from there, we know that initial architect and port-sponsored ideas for proposed redevelopment were not consistent with the community's vision or the Shoreline Management Act, as an RV Resort was proposed for a strip of land just south of the Marina, which the City did not approve.
Under the Planned Action framework, we will be able to ensure that specific development plans:
- account for Sea Level Rise;
- build partnership with the City of Olympia as it engages to restore the Deschutes Estuary and develop its comprehensive planning vision for the next decade and beyond;
-- consider the future of the marine terminal; and
-- fully unlock federal and state funding to remediate historical contamination in Budd Bay.
That said, the Port has already secured resources (thanks to the leadership of our legislative delegation--thank you Rep. Bateman, Rep. Doglio, and Rep. Dolan!) for the initial designs of a waterfront center to be located on one parcel adjacent to the Swantown Marina-- a modest investment that would move forward on a faster timeline than the comprehensive planned action.
The waterfront center meets some immediate needs:
- replacement of marina offices that are beyond their useful life;
- consolidation of port offices so that the port will no longer depend on leasing offices and will ultimately be able to reduce its operating costs;
- creation of some square footage at the waterfront available for community purposes such as classrooms or multipurpose event space, which are in high demand in our community.
Many of my initial concerns about the waterfront center have been addressed--the comprehensive planned action will help us avoid piecemeal development of our unique waterfront and ensure that we can nimbly partner with the private sector, when opportunities emerge that are consistent with the vision that those who live and work in the City of Olympia have for our future.
I have heard from many constituents concerned about how we will account for sea level rise. Port staff and I will be working with Commissioner Maggie McCarty Sanders through the cross-jurisdictional Sea Level Rise committee to ensure that any plans we have are consistent with broader municipal plans to address sea level rise. https://www.olympiawa.gov/services/water_resources/storm___surface_water/sea_level_rise.php
Thanks to all of you in our community who are working to unlock potential for our families, our small businesses, our wildlife, and our future!
