Olympia Council of Neighborhood Associations
June 12, 2023; 6:30 p.m.
By Zoom
Facilitator: Larry Dzieza, Chair
Notetaker: Charlotte Persons, Secretary
Attending: Larry Dzieza (Nottingham), Charlotte Persons (Bigelow), Tim Smith, Deputy Director, Community Planning and Development, City of Olympia, Bob Jacobs (Gov. Stephens), Judy Bardin (Northwest), Karen (Clemens) Sweeney (Eastside), Dana McAvoy (East Bay Drive), Martha Worcester (Redwood Estates), Jeffrey Showman (Wildwood), Melissa Allen (Bigelow Heights), Justin Belk (Southwest), Bob Jones (Goldcrest), Jenn Wulf (Downtown Neighbors), Leslie Wolff (Northwest), Roger Horn (Eastside), Bruce Coulter (Eastside), Karen Messmer (Olympia City Councilmember), Jim Lazar
Neighborhood Updates:
Justin Belk, Southwest: Garage Sale is this weekend.
Melissa Allen, Bigelow Heights: August 1 is Block Party for National Night Out, and they will register voters; she offered to create an email for CNA as a listening board.
Bruce Coulter, Eastside: They will also have an Aug. 1 Block Party.
Jenn Wulf, Downtown: Demolition of Union Building has begun, to be replaced with a 70-unit apartment complex. Recent City Council discussions on new parking regulations have been followed with interest as parking management is important downtown.
Bob Jones, Goldcrest: Garage Sale will be first weekend in August. They just had their annual meeting and have new board members.
Karen Sweeney, Eastside: At the end of June the spray park will be open, so they are planning a celebration. In July they will have 5 block parties, and in August the annual picnic.
Jim Lazar: He will speak later in the meeting on funding sidewalks.
Charlotte Persons, Bigelow: Trees in the small orchard behind the Bigelow House Museum are looking better, probably due to trimming and fertilizing. Their annual picnic/meeting will also be Aug. 1.
Leslie Wolff, Northwest: They need to decide on their August party and find volunteers to work on their pocket park on June 25, July 30, and August 27. They will work with the city to remove blackberries and clear out the path.
Martha Worcester, Redwood Estates,: They had a discussion with five HOA’s in the Fones Road area – Maria’s Vineyard, Kensington Downs, Greenfield, Kings Court, and Redwood Estates. It was informative to find out the different HOA’s dues, management policies, volunteers, etc. (i.e., how we get things done). Two major discoveries were that RCW’s are looser than HOA covenants and that Dupont has a sidewalk “sucker” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpLFZDH-6po) that pulls blocks to remove tree roots so the block can be replaced. This is cheaper than breaking up and replacing sidewalks.
Roger Horn (Eastside): He is working with Karen Sweeney and other Eastside board members to put on a talent show on October 14 at the Armory.
Dana McAvoy (East Bay Drive): They will have an annual picnic soon; there now is a speed sign that shows car drivers their speed. They hope this will slow down traffic to the posted 30 mph on East Bay Drive.
Larry Dzieza, Nottingham: They had a successful ice cream party.
Justin Belk, Southwest: Their next meeting will be on Thursday, in person for the first time since Covid 19 restrictions were imposed two years ago.
Oly CNA Chair’s Updates – Larry Dzieza
1. Zero Parking Minimum and Reduced Maximum Update – The City Council voted 4 to 2 to eliminate the requirement for new residential development to provide off-street parking for about ½ the city (all areas within .5 mile of a major transit route, downtown, and the Capital Mall Triangle). Outside that zone, the minimum went from 2 to .5 required spaces per unit with no maximum, with multi-family projects going from 1.5 to .5 required parking spaces per unit.
Accessible parking units must be 1 per project if there are 5 or more units– if less than 5 units, no accessible parking is required.
The reasons given for the reduction in parking spaces for new residential development were that housing will be less expensive, more density will lead to more public transportation, and the new requirements will discourage car use.
When will this take effect?
Tim Smith said that the new parking space requirements will take effect 30 days after the first reading before the City Council.
The map provided for the areas that will be covered by the new regulations is from InterCity Transit.
Bob Jones commented that no money from developers’ savings is required to be passed onto buyers or onto renters.
Larry added that if no parking is provided, then there will be no requirement for accessible parking.
Olympia CNA asked that the City Council consider an analysis block by block of where reduced or zero parking requirements will be possible without adverse impact, but this proposal was not taken up by the City Council.
2. RNA Listening Session with Planning Commission – Oly CNA asked for a meeting with the Planning Commission, but recently learned that this will be in late fall after a lot of decisions have already been made.
3. SE Urban Growth Area Annexation – The defeated Regional Fire District would have helped defray most of the City’s (but not Olympia’s taxpayers) cost of the annexation, although not all the funding necessary for police and fire services, including a new fire station. It is possible that state revenues will help with the first 10 years of this annexation’s costs. Since currently revenues exceed costs, the 2025 budget decisions will be when this topic could be finalized. The Land Use and Environment Committee has asked for help from the Finance Committee. This will be a topic at a City Council work session in August. Note that there is no legal obligation to do the annexation now.
4. Multi-Family Tax Exemptions – The City is looking to expand these. There are 11 to date—all are for 8 years, which allows market rate housing development. Olympia is the city which most uses 8-year exemptions. A 12-year exemption would require some affordable housing units. The City loses no revenues from MFTEs as the tax burden is shifted to other property taxpayers. The current proposal is to expand the area for MFTEs to Capital Triangle, Eastside, major corridors and areas around neighborhood centers.
Staff Recommendation is to have the developers make a 5% donation for low-income housing for MFTEs in the Downtown and Eastside and 25% in the Westside.
Although the City contracted EconNorthwest consultant’s modeling claimed no downtown building would occur without an MFTE, the market-rate multi-family buildings building receiving the MFTE have increased in value by 128% from 2020 to 2023.
Bob Jacobs commented that rental rates are what is most important.
When will the new MFTE proposal go to the City Council? Tim Smith said he would look into that.
4. Missing Middle Court Case – no update
5. Capital Mall Triangle Subarea Planning – Study Sessions will be June 13 and one June 15 at SWONA, 1215 Harrison Ave NW at 7:00 p.m. The late Dan Leahy organized people to make comments at listening sessions last year.
6. Other topics coming up– Potential revenue increases, including a levy lid lift for sidewalks and GIS access for interactive mapping for Neighborhood Associations. June 17 is the midyear City Council retreat.
Council Member Update – None
Note: Jim Lazar and Karen Messmer noted in the meeting “chat” that they were leaving the meeting because it was going over time.
Tim Smith’s Update on Development – Tim Smith
There is lots of construction. 99% of permits are still in review. He sent a list of 44 development projects. Notable ones are:
1. Stoll Road and Martin Way – 58 units of cottage apartments
2. Hearthstone at Franz Anderson Road
3. Tiny house project on South Plum near I-5
4. Water and 10th – 18-unit condos will be built after demolishing the old Heritage Bank.
5. On the Westside, by Highway 101/Kaiser Road, there will be a development of 70 lots on 12 acres. Part is in the city and part in the county.
6. NE State and Central, there will be Hector’s Tacos, a new restaurant,
7. On the Capitol Campus, the former Neuhaus Building and Visitors Center are being demolished for a new 60,000 square foot building.
8. 401 Union, between Jefferson and Adams, is in demolition in order to construct a 70-unit project.
Melissa Allen asked how the public could learn about MFTE for a project?
Tim Smith said that developers usually apply for MFTE last in the permitting process.
Report on Dues ideas – Melissa Allen
For Bigelow Highlands, Melissa said that dues are optional. Instead, they put out a hat at the annual picnic/party and receive more money that way than when they asked for a dues payment.
Karen Sweeney said that they have a project in process on how to do outreach for dues. This will be a topic for how RNA’s function.
National Night Out Tips – Karen Sweeney and Melissa Allen
Use the CNA website as a resource.
Bob Jones stated that he would provide information on Egg Hunts since Goldcrest has so much experience.
Website Grant Planning – Dana McAvoy and/or Bob Jones
Less than full funding was provided for Oly CNA’s application to the 2023 Neighborhood Matching Grant program to develop a pilot website that could be used by all CNAS. The task force will be meeting this week to decide how to proceed with the available funds. Possibly get contributions from CNAS? Or do part of the project this year and part next year?
MOU Update – Larry Dzieza
Tim Smith, Melissa Allen, Larry Dzieza, and the city’s consultants have been meeting. They are close to finishing the new draft. The proposal of addition to the MOU of a meeting with city council has been sent to city council members for their discussion.
Sidewalks – Larry Dzieza
See slide presentation on Sidewalks attached to this meeting agenda email.
This presentation was given by Swanson to the Planning Commission. They want to look at new approaches to sidewalk repair. See minute 1.5 on the city meeting video. The city has $300,000 from prior funding.
Larry’s proposal is to do a GIS survey first to pinpoint location of most important repairs.
In terms of funding, one possibility is to expand the Transportation Benefit District’s tax. Now it is $40/year. It could be $50/year. An alternative is to impose a small sales tax like the ones for the Arts and the Homeless. Jim Lazar was prepared to do a presentation on the previous history of sidewalk repair funding.
Bob Jones – When his RNA wants to do a sidewalk repair, they look for a contractor who is already doing a big concrete job in the city. Then they ask for their small concrete job/repair to be done on the side.
Melissa Allen – She proposes that the City contact RNAs about the most important streets for repair in their neighborhoods.
Proposal for Quarterly Neighborhood Forum – Larry Dzieza
Part of the MOU update is to revitalize NA forums. The first topic suggested is “Sidewalks”. Consensus among attendees was a resounding “YES!”
Bob Jones – Before the forum we need estimates on costs. Also keep in mind that some NAs and some neighborhoods do not want sidewalks.
City Council Candidate Questionnaire
Jeffrey Showman – Last year we had candidate forums on TCTV (Thurston Community Media), but that was a lot of work and other organizations such as the League of Women Voters Thurston County also have candidate forums. This year we propose to have a questionnaire for candidates instead. Last time we had 11 questions.
Should we have a questionnaire for city council candidates for the August primary election?
The consensus was yes.
Larry will distribute the questions to Oly CNA members to discuss at the July meeting.
Approval of Minutes – as amended by Bob Jones
Consensus was to approve the minutes.
Items for Next Meeting on July 10th
—Bob Jones suggested that we invite back Jim Lazar to give his talk on history of sidewalk funding since he was not able to do so this meeting.
–Judy Bardin suggested that we make sure that other guests, especially city council members/staff, when invited are early in the agenda.
–Charlotte Persons announced the City of Olympia’s Economic Planning Open House on June 14.
–Explore in-person or hybrid meetings. Tim Smith will look into possibility of using OWL in city room. He will also check into an outside meeting place in a park. Consensus that for outside meeting we should start earlier.
8:48 – Adjourn.