Above: The long
vacant Trails End horse arena is facing demolition by the City of Tumwater. The city proposes to
use the 22.4 acres it owns near the Olympia Airport for its new operations and
maintenance facility.
- The Gopher in the Room
- Large Garry Oak Could Be Removed
By Janine Gates
Little Hollywood
In its
heyday, there was no place like the Trails End arena and event center for horse
shows, rodeos, 4-H activities, country western concerts, dancing, fine dining
and good times.
Located in Tumwater near the Olympia Airport off Old Highway 99, the long vacant site is an integral piece of priceless memories for generations of South Sounders.
Horse culture
runs deep in Thurston County and many children grew up there, riding
and showing their animals and yes, mucking out horse stalls. Tens of horses were boarded there year round, and for many adults too, it was home away from home.
Now, as
local 4-H groups and equestrian clubs struggle to find open space to meet and
practice, the site that used to foster so much community is now covered with blackberry
brambles.
The boarded-up building fronts look like a ghost town set in an old western, but you can almost smell sawdust and hear horses snort and whinny.
Above: The Trails End in Tumwater near the Olympia Airport.
Community Meeting
The long vacant Trails End horse arena is facing demolition by the City of Tumwater. The city proposes to use the 22.4 acres it owns near the Olympia Airport for its new operations and maintenance facility.
Nearly 40 community members attended a meeting about the plan on Thursday evening in Tumwater’s new Warehouse District, an area near the Trails End that caters to small, startup craft brewing, distilling and cider industries.
Nearly 40 community members attended a meeting about the plan on Thursday evening in Tumwater’s new Warehouse District, an area near the Trails End that caters to small, startup craft brewing, distilling and cider industries.
Jay Eaton,
Tumwater public works director, fielded questions and addressed the proposed
project’s impacts on the environment and surrounding neighborhoods. Joining him
were representatives of TCF Architecture who planned and designed Tumwater’s new
Peter G. Schmidt Elementary School.
The city
first put the new operations and maintenance facility into its capital facility
plan in 2012. The city’s current facilities, which include
100 vehicles, are crammed into two locations: one behind city hall and the
other at the corner of Israel Road and Capitol
Boulevard in the old fire station.
Taking into
consideration the future expansion of city hall, additional staff and parking
and more urban amenities, city staff began looking for properties that would
accommodate growth of the city and their needs.
Built in
pieces between the 1960s and the 1990s, the Trails End property had fallen out of the bankrupt hands of housing developer Tri Vo and his company, Triway
Enterprises.
In 2014, the City of Tumwater purchased the property for the purpose of creating a new operations and maintenance facility. The property is zoned light commercial.
Eaton said
vandals have stripped the property clean of plumbing, electrical wiring and
other features of value. Structurally, he said the beams in the arena are
failing.
“It’s kind
of sad. It used to be a happening place and now it’s in poor condition. It’s
not suitable for any purpose. It’s much easier to build new space much more
efficiently than (keep) the existing buildings. If we were to bring it back…it really
doesn’t function for the intended use we have,” he said.
Above: City of Tumwater Mayor Pete Kmet welcomed community members to a meeting about the future of the Trails End property on Thursday evening. Many questions were asked and the meeting lasted over two hours.
Site Alternatives
The city presented
a series of site alternatives, all ranging in cost from $30 to $46 million.
The road now
leads to a housing development called Sterling Crossing. Increased Old Highway
99 traffic at 79th Avenue SE comes from new developments with streets named after equestrian terminology like Stable Court, Arab Drive, and Derby Lane and subdivisions like Bridlewood.
The city also wants to designate
an area that could be used for a permanent park. That aspect of the plan would
be handled by the city’s parks and recreation staff.
Some
community members of nearby subdivisions are eager to have the property
cleaned up and used by the city. Others are concerned about noise associated
with operations.
Dan Venable said
he frequented Trails End for about 20 years and once operated the restaurant and
lounge. Venable, owner of a residential demolition firm, agreed the city needed
a new facility but wondered if the site was the most cost effective place to
put it. Eaton said the city looked at different properties but preferred to
have property that was in city ownership.
Doug Woolen
asked about the liability of a fuel facility near a residential community. Eaton
said that the city did examine that, but felt the city needed
access to immediate fuel in order to respond to emergencies. He said the
facilities would be state-of-the-art.
The Gopher in the Room
Addressing
the gopher in the room, Eaton acknowledged that the site will be subject
to environmental review as it is home to the federally protected and endangered
Mazama pocket gopher.
Eaton said
the city has built up “credits” to mitigate the impact of destroying the Mazama
pocket gopher habitat, but will still have to address it in a habitat
conservation plan.
“The gopher
issue will be an issue no matter what happens on this property…it still doesn’t
make it easy to get through the process.”
A large Garry
Oak tree is also on the property. Garry Oaks, also known as Oregon white oaks,
and its related prairie ecosystems are vanishing rapidly in the South Sound due
to development pressure.
Asked later
about the future of the oak, Eaton says it depends which site alternative is
selected.
“Alternative
A, with the development on the west parcel, wouldn’t impact the tree. Alternative B, in its current configuration
with the development on the east parcel, would impact the tree unless the site
could be rearranged to avoid it, which would appear to be difficult. As the
project progresses the alternatives could change. The demolition project wouldn’t include
removal of the tree,” he told Little Hollywood.
“It is still
our intent to move forward with demolition this summer and construction a
couple years from now… with the caveat that we’ll be dealing with the gopher
and related environmental issues,” said Eaton.
Alicia
Phillips boarded her horses there, participated with cattle events, and briefly
ran a cafe at Trails End during weekend events.
Phillips attended
the City of Tumwater’s council meeting on Tuesday evening to express her passionate
feelings about the Trails End complex. She also attended Thursday night’s meeting.
“Why is there no consideration for the spirit
for what this place has been? There is history here. The city is missing out on
a huge opportunity to preserve history. When you say none of it is salvageable,
I don’t believe it,” she said at Thursday's meeting.
Later, she spoke with Mayor Pete Kmet, who stayed for the entire meeting. She asked him to find a way for the existence of the Trails End to somehow be commemorated.
“I was more
than a bit disheartened by everyone’s willingness to demolish and pave over its
history. This site has a rich history and has housed thousands of events,” she
told Little Hollywood.
Above: A tiny green space for the Sterling Crossing subdivision consists of a single piece of plastic playground equipment. It sits in stark contrast to the 22 acres of adjacent open space. A large outbuilding that used to board horses sits on the other side of the subdivision’s fence on the Trails End west parcel.
