2009 Vision – Introduction
In early May of last year, our group formally began our work by writing our vision for downtown – a combination of a high-level sketch of what downtown should become melded with specific positions and issues for our group address in the year ahead. In that paper we first laid out our initial position on the isthmus rezone.
Though little has changed from last year to this year in terms of our future vision for downtown Olympia, our 2009 vision paper is written in terms more general than our vision paper of a year ago – more vision, less position. Our future positions and work will be based on the platform established in our annual vision paper.
Our Downtown Vision for 2009 will focus on four key items: Housing, Parking & Transit, Economic Vitality and Arts & Entertainment. The work OLY 2012 will engage in over the next year will be directly linked to these issues.
Housing
Housing remains at the top of our list of key issues for downtown. In order for downtown to thrive economically, people – all kinds of people – must be there at all times of the day and night. In this day and age, getting people into historic urban cores in the numbers necessary to make them economically vibrant requires housing – offices and retail establishments alone don’t work.
As our region faces a substantial projected growth in population, downtown must provide for more housing if suburban sprawl into our agricultural and rural resource lands is to be stemmed. Plus, denser downtown housing supports other city-, county- and state-wide goals for reducing automobile trips and greenhouse gas emissions. We are excited about the possibility of a community where the walls of suburban segregation are taken down and where a diverse mix of community members can live, communicate and collaborate with one another in close proximity[i].
Maintain the existing low income housing
We envision a downtown full of housing for all income levels. Currently, downtown housing is almost exclusively low income or subsidized housing, and we fully support the maintenance of this housing type. It is an important source of housing for downtown workers, the elderly, artists, musicians and students, and it lends considerable vitality to downtown today.
Ensure the availability of affordable workforce housing
Downtown should also be an important source of affordable workforce housing for our teachers, police, firefighters and civic servants. As housing costs continue their long-term trend of increasing[ii], it is important that we provide adequate housing options for these key members of our community.
Build market-rate housing
Perhaps most essential for downtown is the development of market rate housing, of which there is hardly any today. It is the pent-up demand[iii] for market rate housing in walkable urban neighborhoods that will attract new housing development dollars into the core. Market rate housing can also be an important source of subsidy dollars for the development of low income and affordable housing[iv]. By focusing on market rate housing, the other forms of housing will come more easily.
Plus, market rate housing will bring larger disposable incomes into the urban core. Providing opportunities for people with above median incomes in our region to live downtown will help support downtown businesses, bolster the arts community, and add significantly to the city’s tax base.
Support housing projects already in the pipeline
There are many notable projects for housing on the horizon as well as some in the works already. Colpitts has a 120+unit mixed use apartment complex in the heart of downtown planned and could break ground as early as this summer. City Council has prioritized attracting a project from Art Space, which would provide live/work spaces for professional artists. The Port of Olympia just unveiled the initial development proposals for its East bay property and housing proved to be a major component of the proposals. The Union Heights project, currently under construction at the corner of Capitol Way and Union, is slated to have several market-rate condos above retail and commercial space. Barney & Worth, a consulting firm hired by the City of Olympia recently issued a report encouraging the city to work towards building a large, mixed-use development on the corner of Fourth & Jefferson. And of course, Triway Enterprise’s mixed-use project on the isthmus, despite numerous ongoing challenges from its opponents, remains alive and well.
We will continue to advocate for all of these mixed-use projects and look for ways to attract new ones.
Parking & Transit
The most heavily walked – and shopped – block in downtown is bordered by Capitol Way to the west, Washington Street to the east, Legion Way to the south, and Fifth Avenue to the north. One of the main reasons for this is that this block is the only block in all of downtown that provides a “continuous” street uninterrupted by any surface parking lot.
As the below map shows in pink, the reality is that most of downtown is dedicated to surface parking. (Click here to download entire map.)
We envision a downtown with:
(a) Many more continuous streets bordered by mix-use buildings;
(b) Strategically placed parking garages and peripherally placed street & surface parking for commuters and residential tenants (along with public shuttles if necessary);
(c) Street parking that is effectively and economically designed for easy, short-term access by the consumer; and,
(d) An improved regional transportation system that makes the use of the automobile a choice, not a necessity.
Build a Parking Garage
City Council recently voted 7-0 to establish a parking enterprise which will attempt to accomplish many of these things, beginning with managing parking so that it is more accessible to the auto-based consumer who wants to shop downtown. A key project of this enterprise will be the eventual construction of the city’s first parking garage. We enthusiastically support this important step.
Work with existing downtown tenants and the development community to ensure parking garage success
Not only will a parking garage help provide better access to downtown for consumers by “putting the right cars in the right spaces”, but it will also provide a level of infrastructure needed to spur residential housing development and make locating a business in downtown more viable. One of the biggest cost barriers to residential development is parking. A public parking garage could help mitigate the costs of well-designed, dense residential development by enabling developers to satisfy the market’s demand for long-term parking by leasing garage space for their tenants. Likewise, in order for downtown office and commercial space to be viable for many businesses and organizations, dependable parking options must be readily available to employees and clients.
We encourage the city and its parking enterprise to mitigate the risks of investing in a parking garage by working with existing downtown residential and commercial tenants and with the development community – both of which have substantial interest in a successful garage.
Build a more robust public transit system
Longer-term, a more robust public transportation system will mitigate the need to use the automobile. We envision a downtown in the future where people live, work and play without the need to own a car. Access to more frequent bus routes, free shuttles in key arterials, and a regional rail improvements are important steps towards achieving this vision[v].
But this will take time, patience and substantial public dollars. In the meantime, we must make meaningful efforts to better accommodate the automobile in our urban core as a bridge to this future vision.
Economic Vitality
Housing and parking will be two large components to achieving economic vitality in both the retail and commercial arenas. But there are other steps that should be taken as well.
Work more closely with the state, the port and the private sector
We encourage the city to look hard at its assets and its relationships with the state, the port, and the private sector. The city owns property in the urban core that can be strategically used to attract the right kinds of development. Just as the Port is in the process of doing with its East Bay development project, the City of Olympia should take renewed look at developing its own real estate. Where it makes sense, we encourage the City to consider land swaps and other exchanges of strategic assets with the Port, the State, and the private sector to help stimulate the right kinds of investment in the core. We applaud the City Council’s recent effort to consider contracting a private sector consultant or broker to more forward on this issue.
Continue to pursue Capitol City District
We continue to support the concept of a city-state tax revenue sharing program through the formation of a Capitol City District. Currently, the City of Olympia’s revenue base is inordinately funded by sales tax dollars because the city’s largest employer and land owner – the state – pays no property tax to the city. A Capitol City District revenue-sharing program would help Olympia become the model capitol city that our great state deserves.
Improve regulatory barriers to development
The city must also look hard at its regulatory barriers to development to ensure that it is creating the right kinds of incentives and avoiding the wrong kinds of obstacles. It is imperative that the city be viewed as an amenable place to do the right kinds of development. The days of the development community being wary of doing business in our city simply must come to an end.
Capitalize on industrially zoned real estate in the downtown core
Further, the city should make the most of its industrially zoned properties. With the economy retooling itself for the green era, downtown Olympia has the assets to become a model urban core that accommodates and embraces the industrial segment of the economy – not just the residential and commercial. We envision a downtown that provides more wage level jobs in the non-service sector of the economy.
The working Port of Olympia and the LOTT Alliance are good examples of how downtown real estate can be used for purposes other than housing, retail or office space while co-existing alongside other uses (LOTT will be adjacent to residential and commercial development planned in the Port’s East Bay development). We encourage more of this kind of balanced use of areas of downtown.
Aid and support local businesses
We support the efforts of Sustainable South Sound and its Buy Local campaign as well as the efforts of the Olympia Downtown Association and the PBIA to help existing local retailers – many of which are in the downtown core – thrive in a struggling economy. We also encourage the city to look into public financing programs and tools to further aid small local businesses.
Enhance Olympia’s creative and knowledge-based professions
We encourage Olympia to maintain and enhance its reputation as a tolerant community that encourages creativity and supports education. This is key to supporting artists, musicians, and performers in our already vibrant arts community as well as to attracting new talent, including more professionals in knowledge-based sectors of the economy. The city and downtown community must embrace both the private sector and the higher education institutions to accommodate more of these kinds of jobs in Olympia. Attracting more creative and knowledge-based professions to its core will be an important component in developing a vibrant downtown economy for the twenty-first century.[vi]
Arts & Entertainment
Provide better access to shorelines
As we stated in our Vision paper from last year, the waterfront is Olympia’s most prized public amenity. The City of Olympia and the State of Washington have set aside significant public space and public access on Capitol Lake, West Bay, East Bay, and almost all of the downtown Olympia shoreline except the working port. While residents and visitors now have access to much of the waterfront, they will eventually have free access to almost all of the shoreline and its water views in downtown Olympia.
But we must not take this for granted. Percival Landing and its underlying sea wall need repair or replacement. West Bay needs to be developed from its industrial past to its future that includes a mix of commercial and residential uses as well as public parks and trails. These projects – including Rotary Point Park – will take considerable public funds to complete and deserve our support.
Create new, appropriately-scaled public spaces in concert with new development
In concert with the development of structures and buildings, we must ensure that new public space is created as well. While downtown has plenty of open park space in Sylvester Park, Heritage Park and Percival Landing, we encourage the continued development of outdoor public spaces appropriately scaled to the new built environment. Wide sidewalks for sitting and dining, enclosed plazas, and modestly-sized parks that are woven into the daily comings and goings of downtowners will help create an appealing downtown environment. We support the efforts of H2Oly to create a park to accommodate an Artesian Well, a unique natural amenity in downtown.
Preserve downtown’s rich culture and character
We also must support Olympia as a cultural and artistic center. Downtown Olympia has long been recognized as home to a richly unique and diverse culture with an internationally-recognized music scene, four theaters, and scores of independent coffee houses, galleries and book and record stores. We don’t want this to change! It is vitally important that downtown retains its character, and supporting the arts community is critical. We encourage the support of Olympia’s long list of non-profit arts organizations and events.
Support Hand’s On Children’s Museum
Finally, the successful development of the new home for the Hand’s On Children’s Museum is absolutely imperative to our vision. The Museum is a hallmark of our community and its new facility will be a hugely important anchor to The Port’s East Bay development. We whole-heartedly encourage all forms of support to this project.
Conclusion
It is under the banner of these four items – housing, parking, economic vitality and arts & entertainment – that we will focus our time and energy in the year ahead. We encourage the community to rally behind our mission and help our already wonderful downtown become even better than it is today. As always, please contact us if you would like to receive information about how you can help us accomplish our mission of taking downtown from dreams to reality.
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[To download a pdf version of this paper, please click here.]
[i] For more about the importance and benefits of housing density in urban cores to the environment and society at large we highly recommend reading work by outspoken critic of suburban sprawl, James Howard Kunstler: Home From Nowhere (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996); The Long Emergency (New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005).
[ii] Source: U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/values.html
[iii] Leinberger, Christopher B. The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, Chapter 5, pp. 86-112. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008).
[iv] Leinberger, Christopher B. The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, Chapter 7, pp. 138-144. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008).
[v] Leinberger, Christopher B. The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, Chapter 1, pp. 12-30, Chapter 8, pp. 163-171. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008).
[vi] For more about the theory of the creative class and economic development, we highly recommend reading the definitive work of Richard Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2002).
