Draft minutes, Aug. 12, 2024, CNA Meeting, Squaxin Park
Neighborhood Reports
Wildwood: The board held a Neighborhood Night Out (NNO) picnic for 70 neighbors which included a small “tactical urbanism” project creating a cross-walk with chalk.
Burbank: Councilmember Gilman attended the NNO event; homeless issues were raised as a concern.
Eastside: their annual picnic had about 45 people attend, and included a presentation by Energize Olympia. They are hoping to attract more members.
Governor Stevens: With Wildwood, the neighborhood associations completed a Neighborhood Matching Grant project to resurface a pathway. About 20 people volunteered to weed and haul bark.
Northwest: Planning their summer garden party/funfest for Aug. 31, including an ice cream social; interactive art; games; and a drum circle. They are using MailChimp to send a monthly newsletter to members.
Bigelow Highlands: Their annual NNO event was attended by Councilmember Gilman and many firefighters. Tip for other neighborhoods: consider hiring a DJ rather than a band: people are much more likely to converse with each other. Almost the whole board will be resigning this year, which is concern for the future of this RNA.
South Capitol: They are planning their annual picnic on Sept. 8 at 4 pm at Lincoln Elementary. They will have a band.
Evergreen Pointe HOA: Their annual meeting will be Aug. 20, focused on issues around architectural controls. If any group has experience dealing with artificial turf issues, please contact Michele at 510-330-9640.
Bigelow: Their 25th annual meeting is coming up.
Nottingham: Their NNO event was a success, including a pie contest and bouncy houses for children.
Councilmember Update – Clark Gilman:
Regarding city staff at neighborhood night out events: The city divided into 3 teams, so staff and councilmembers were able to attend 18 events. Firefighters are more available to meet the community at such events because of a change in how the City of Olympia responds to medical emergency calls, using two aid trucks rather than ladder fire trucks.
The June 25th listening session about Capitol Way/Boulevard traffic (with South Capitol and Wildwood) generated good ideas for a range of possible solutions. Staff has been distilling these ideas and will be briefing the Council next week.
Regarding homeless issues in Burbank: Clark suggested that this could almost be a case study of how to respond across departments, including police, parks, and code and parking enforcement. It’s also been an opportunity for staff to learn from the community, and for the community in how to document issues so as to bring attention.
Upcoming Council agenda items:
A briefing on human trafficking status and prevalence.
Deschutes estuary: Working on an interlocal agreement with the state Department of Enterprise Services, the Port, tribes, and the Yacht Club.
Mayor from Katō, Japan, will visit three days starting Aug. 20.
Land use committee will hear about rental registry implementation challenges. This will be round four of renter protection discussions.
City Development update – Tim Smith; Focus on West Bay projects:
West Bay Marina has begun a pre-submittal process to totally change the footprint of the site.
Dredging to clean up old contamination is in the works.
Hardel lumber site is in third round of review regarding shoreline restoration.
West Bayview Landing project will be primarily senior housing.
Question: Will it impact the creek? Too early to tell.
Q: What’s next step? At the first review, developers will hear what they must do to meet code requirements. They will have six months to reply.
Q: Are other agencies involved? Yes, they are receiving notice.
Q: Budd Inlet has poor water quality now, will it get worse? A requirement will be to make it no worse.
Airport/aircraft issues – Jan (handout: “Olympia Neighborhoods at Risk”):
She lives in Southeast Olympia, which is only two miles north of the airport, and has noticed a steady increase in aircraft noise over ten years. The Port of Olympia owns and operates the airport in Tumwater. The Port said it wouldn’t expand the airport, but has in fact incrementally expanded both the physical footprint (e.g., expanding the south runway) and operations (e.g., hosting 18 helicopters.) When Tumwater had an issue with aircraft noise, the Port diverted traffic over southeast Olympia.
The Port will soon be releasing an update to the Airport Master Plan, which envisions new commercial aviation passenger terminal, 500 parking spaces, and increasing capacity through reconfiguring taxiways.
The Port appears to be expanding airport operations incrementally to accommodate growth. Although Port Commissioners are elected officials, the Port’s mission is to maximize economic benefits, not consider impacts on people living nearby. Studies indicate that airports may have adverse impacts on health and property values. The city of Olympia should attempt to regain local control of airport use and expand the definition of stakeholders in planning meetings to include the voice of people who may be adversely affected by growth.
Comments:
Larry commented that this seems to be a classic case where benefits go to a small group while costs are imposed on the general population, i.e., us. Larry understands that the new Port Director of Operations flies into work and is a former airport specialist. [Follow up research confirmed that Warren before coming to the Port of Olympia, was the Pierce County airport planner, the Washington Airport Management Association Executive Director, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Regional Manager, and most recently the Port of Bremerton’s Director of Airport & Industrial Facilities and is an active general aviation pilot and aircraft owner.]
We contacted the FAA about low-flying helicopter noise and learned that helicopters don’t have minimum flight altitudes.
JBLM helicopters are a separate issue, but compound the aircraft noise in SE Oly.
There may be a case brought by the Attorney General about Whidbey Island aircraft noise, arguing the Navy should have considered noise as a health issue.
There have been seven flights into Olympia Airport while we’ve been meeting.
A longer-term issue is a regional need for SeaTac airport overflow. The first attempt at siting failed; there is a new initiative underway that seems stacked with industry interests, not citizens.
Tree ambassadors – Lynn [handout: “Be a Tree Ambassador”]: Our focus is on large trees in Olympia, and to help educate people about the many benefits of trees. There will be training on Sept. 21 for anyone who is interested in being part. Comments:
Maybe focus on tree ordinances? Yes, we are working with each local government (County, Tumwater, etc.) as their ordinances come up for review.
Bob Jacobs said that Old trees can be dangerous. Yes, having a tree is good, but maintaining it properly (e.g., not mal-pruning) is also necessary. Connecting tree owners to resources (such as Plant Amnesty) seems like it should be a component of the Ambassadors program.
Housing Forum – Larry and Tim [handout: “Housing Forum Discussion Handout”]:
The original idea was too large, too much to cover. How do we focus?
Group Comments:
Focus on what’s timely, e.g. what’s coming before the Council soon.
Don’t spend time on things we can’t meaningly affect such as the overall operation of the housing market or where the city’s role is indirect or ancillary.
Regarding affordability: there are risks for small landlords because of more requirements, which leads to fewer rentals available; Likewise, ADUs. We need creative solutions about how to mitigate risks on the supply-side of housing. We considered converting an out-building to an ADU. Permit and application fees would have come to $40,000.
Tim: we talked with housing staff and came up with three possible topics for the Forum: (1) What’s the impact of affordable housing on neighborhoods? (2) Where could the city have the biggest impact? (3) What’s the city’s role in affordability?
A nice, crisp problem statement would be better than a vague, open-ended questions.
Question: How much of this is really open for change, versus what has the city already adopted in policies?
It would be great for the city to say, “We can’t change/move/affect the housing market.” However, the city could adopt policies that shape the market.
Co-housing, sharing housing for seniors, addressing fear of sharing homes with unused bedrooms that could help seniors contribute to their rent and provide needed affordable housing.
One person suggested looking at Air BnBs and suspects that there may be many ADUs in the city that are not registered. Could we consider an amnesty to bring them onto the tax rolls?
We heard that Lacey has three approved ADU designs to help speed permitting. Could Olympia do that? Clark: yes, Olympia has approved designs, plus has (kind-of) amnesty. It would be nice to have housing staff provide data about current ADU status since the ordinance passed.
Perhaps have housing staff give a presentation on the current state of housing affordability, schools of thought about the problem?
Larry and Tim will take back input to consider.
Comp plan participation chapter – Larry: He has prepared comments, will circulate to CNA for review.
Minutes – approved
Meeting adjourned.
Council of Neighborhood Associations 