City Council

City Hall City of Olympia 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Information: 360.753.8447 Meeting Minutes City Council Saturday, April 5, 2014 9:00 AM Council Chambers Special City Council Study Session to Conduct Business as the Community and Economic Revitalization Committee to Hold a Workshop 1. ROLL CALL Present: 5 - Mayor Stephen H. Buxbaum, Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones, Councilmember Julie Hankins, Councilmember Jeannine Roe and Councilmember Cheryl Selby Excused: 2 - Councilmember Jim Cooper and Councilmember Steve Langer OTHER PARTICIPANTS Citizens Advisory Committee Alan Miller George Sharp Max Brown Rachel Newmann Kris Goddard Jim Neiland Erica Cooper Theresa Madden Craig Holt Dennis Bloom Jerry Reilly Jim Morris Donna Feddern Bill Robinson Thera Black Jerry Parker Property Owners Ray Laforge Tom Skillings Facilitators City of Olympia Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes April 5, 2014 Amy Buckler Leonard Bauer 2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS 2.A 14-0304 Community Renewal Area Urban Design Workshop Mayor Buxbaum welcomed everyone and acknowledged the work it took to get to this point in the Community Renewal Area (CRA) initiative. He introduced consultants Lorelei Juntunen, Scott Fregonese, and John Fregonese, to lead the workshop. Ms. Juntunen presented an overview of data gathered to date, why the downtown is a focus, and what is and is not happening downtown. Mr. Fregonese asked the group to consider the following items when discussing the future of the isthmus property:  Economic tradeoff  Public willingness to pay  Private sector willingness to partner  Needed tools Mr. Fregonese then led the group through instant polling. The group answered multiple choice questions and viewed buildings for visual preference. A brief discussion followed regarding:  How to regulate the look of buildings; and  How form-based code might be considered. The group began working in teams at their tables. At 11:15 the teams presented their ideas: Table 1: The main feature of the plan is to create a dynamic town on the isthmus around a central park. They envision combining park space, housing and mixed use buildings with work or retail below and housing above. To the east they saw potential for mixed used housing and retail overlooking Heritage Park. The idea is to live, shop, recreate, boat and take advantage of the great views. Suggestions included an electric trolley between the Capitol building, isthmus, and market; a restaurant where Imagesource is currently located; major walkways along Percival landing; an Olympia monument wall; a new residential neighborhood; and Stormans and the Yacht Club in current locations. Table 2: This team identified stable areas and suggested keeping Stormans and the Oyster House in the same locations and add a parking garage. Traditions would be converted to mixed used housing, restrooms, and retail. The entire portion of the isthmus should be public open space, park, and civic center. They emphasized the area to the east for residential and keep development off of the isthmus . This area could become an Art District. The team agreed to not have a library, but possibly a City of Olympia Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes April 5, 2014 museum. The goal is to create a great bike and pedestrian friendly area with public and civic open space except for the stable areas. Table 3: Emphasis in this plan is in locating housing close to grocery and other retail and establishing a non-motorized corridor connecting to Heritage Park. Percival Landing should be extended all the way around to Imagesource. They discussed a new connection from Deschutes Parkway to the roundabout to the west side and creating a public plaza area by Oyster House. Develop a boulevard treatment to the street and live / work areas by the Olympia Yacht Club (OYC) and a parking garage with housing on top and plans to move the OYC club house in the future. The Storman's store stays in the current location with a restaurant possibly built on the corner. The team suggested creating more park access by relocating Imagesource. More housing may be created by building condos that orient toward Capitol Lake and apartments at the Capital Center site. The library could be located east of the isthmus property. Table 4: The focal points of this plan were in a library area that took up one whole block with pocket parks on the corners. They would also have a restaurant that faces the lake. There would be a small plaza leading to Heritage Park with housing over retail or civic under housing. The parking garage would have retail on the bottom and provide opportunity for the OYC to expand. They suggest an amphitheater to show off the dome and next to the kiosks for retail, but small. The team was neutral about moving the Imagesource building but if it could be worked out, a large park and fountain could be placed in that location. Retain the functionality of the major thoroughfares and extend Percival landing, with a walkway under the bridge and over passes. Mr. Fregonese stated the teams had great ideas and he will create a couple options to represent their ideas. While 35 feet in current zoning becomes standard zoning, it could be higher on the west margin, maybe 40 or 45 feet; and suggested the CAC consider optional height limits. Currently, there is a state law that limits the height to 35 feet. Questions were asked regarding next steps and when the public will be engaged. Ms. Juntunen stated there is a follow-up CERC/CAC meeting planned for May 1 to consider the scenarios that Fregonese and Associates develop . The CERC will consider this input on May 29 and the full City Council will review their recommendations on June 10. There will be an open house in July to take the results of all this to the public. We will use the time between now and then to engage other public. On April 16 there will be another workshop for those who were not able to attend today’s event. The composites created by Mr. Fregonese and the feasibility study by Ms. Juntunen will be reviewed by the May 1 meeting with a very high level look at the costs related to the designs. City of Olympia Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes April 5, 2014 The Mayor closed the meeting and expressed his gratitude to the participants for engaging with one another, combining their knowledge and perspectives, and coming up with composites that might be part of downtown. The next steps include the larger community. We will add to our learning process by including the next steps from our consultants. The topic was discussed and continued to the Community & Economic Revitalization Committee due back on 4/16/2014. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m. City of Olympia Page 4