By Peter Stroble
Global Warming. Geo-Political Conflict. Epidemic Disease. The Rising Cost of Living. Famine. Obesity. Classism. Racism. Political Polarization. Social Entrenchment.
The root cause of virtually every problem in our world today is Suburbia – enabled by our 20th century car culture. It’s easy to simply blame it all on George W., kick back, and wait for Obama to make it all better. But until we take responsibility and change how we live at the community level, we shouldn’t be pointing our fingers at anyone but ourselves.
Density is the answer. It mitigates the threat of war and global warming by reducing our reliance on the oil-dependent automobile. It lowers our transportation costs, which lowers our overall cost of living. It enables us to eat more healthfully because less sprawl equals more local farmland. Read the rest of this entry »
Olympia has several tax incentive tools to encourage development of multi-family housing in Downtown Olympia.
What Are the Tax Incentives?
The Historic Properties incentive provides a 10 year tax exemption on improvements to historic properties when the cost of the improvements is equal to at least 25% of the property’s current assessed valuation. The incentives apply to both residential and commercial space. The owner must make a written commitment to preserve the historic nature of the building.
The Non-Profit Housing incentive provides an ongoing exemption for properties owned by non-profits dedicated to housing or serving the poor, disabled, aged or veterans. The non-profit owner must apply for the exemption each year. The Boardwalk Apartments are an example of housing developed using this incentive. Read the rest of this entry »
The proposed Capital City District is a tool to help revitalize downtown Olympia without raising any local or state taxes. Olympia is a company town. Unfortunately, that company (state government) doesn’t pay property or B&O taxes.
How would the Capital City District work? Within the district, one cent of the sales tax currently collected by the state would be retained by the city to be spent on revitalizing downtown by making public investments to attract private capital to redevelop downtown.
What would be the boundaries of the district? The City Council and ultimately the Legislature, will decide on the boundaries. OLY 2012 is suggesting that the District extend from the southern edge of the State Capital Campus to the tip of the Port peninsula and from Eastside Street to West Bay Drive. This is the area frequented by Legislators and visitors to the State Capital. Read the rest of this entry »
The Oly2012 Steering Committee (SC) is thrilled that the downtown housing proposal from Colpitts Development Company (Colpitts) is moving forward. Colpitts recently submitted a land use application to construct a seven-story, mixed-use buidling with 126 market rate apartments near the corner of Columbia Street and Fifth Avenue as soon as 2009. The Oly2012 SC has emphasized the importance of getting a developer to “go first” in order to jump start market rate housing. Downtown needs a blend of housing stock options from low-income to high-income, and the Colpitts project should be the first step in meeting the significant middle-income housing needs. Although some people have legitimate concerns related to parking and access, the Oly2012 SC is confident these concerns will be creatively addressed over time, and believe the benefits of the project will greatly outweigh any long-term impacts. For these reasons, the Oly2012 SC urges citizens to support this important pioneering project. Read the rest of this entry »
