Black Alliance of Thurston County Celebrates Work, Progress

Above: Dr. Karen Johnson, center, acknowledged the collective power of many individuals at the second annual founding celebration of the Black Alliance of Thurston County at Risen Faith Fellowship Church on Saturday afternoon. Left to right: Nat Jackson, Dr. Thelma Jackson, Barbara Clarkson (hidden behind Johnson), Rev. Charlotte Petty, Clinton Petty, Crystal Chaplin, Andre Thompson, and, standing with the assistance of a walker, Bryson Chaplin.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Community singing, thoughtful commentary, powerful testimony, and good food was plentiful at the second annual Black Alliance of Thurston County founding celebration at Risen Faith Fellowship Church on Saturday afternoon.

“It doesn’t take an awful lot of people to get a lot of work accomplished, but it does take a lot of heart,” said Dr. Karen Johnson, chair of the Alliance, who served as mistress of ceremonies for the event.

While the westside shooting of two, young African Americans, Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, by an Olympia police officer in May 2015 was the catalyst for the group's formation, their work with law enforcement and the community has taken on a life of its own with a lot of effort and hard work by many individuals.

Special awards were given to Kathy Baros Friedt and Leslie Cushman, for their efforts organizing the Olympia Coalition for the Reform of Deadly Force Laws, the YWCA of Olympia’s Stand Against Racism efforts, Senator Karen Fraser and Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts, and Olympia High School’s African American Alliance, which has held several conversational meetings about race.

Lacey Police Chief Dusty Pierpoint, who was not in uniform, addressed community questions and concerns about the crisis training and psychological testing of police officers, progress regarding fair and impartial policing, and how training about implicit bias can be effectively measured.

In law enforcement for over 30 years, Pierpoint acknowledged that police officers are dealing with difficult, community issues.

“We, as law enforcement, are being tasked with things we should not be. We are not mental health professionals, we’re not drug addiction professionals, we’re not marital counselors, we’re not homelessness experts, but that is who gets called. We are being tasked with things that the community should be dealing with, and it’s not happening. That’s why 30 percent of our jails hold those with mental illness who do not belong there,” Pierpoint said to a round of applause. 

Pierpoint also gave recent examples in which officers have used de-escalation techniques when responding to a call, but described how those incidents don’t get recognized or acknowledged in the media.

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Erin Jones gave a powerful, personal talk about education and her first experiences with racism, and Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall spoke about voting and the importance of civic engagement. 

Hall assured the audience that vote tabulation is a safe and transparent process in Thurston County and across the country. She said there are nearly 175,000 registered voters in Thurston County, a record high. She also expects an 80 to 85 percent turnout rate in Thurston County. Ballots will start to be scanned on Monday. 

Part of the work of the Black Alliance resulted in the eventual passage of a bill that created the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Use of Deadly Force in Community Policing. That group's final meeting, which will include proposed recommendations to the governor, is November 21, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., John L. O’Brien Building, House Hearing Room A, at the Capitol Campus.

Among other activities, beginning in February 2017, the Black Alliance will collaborate with The Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation (OUUC) and The United Churches of Olympia to host a monthly film series and conversations about race. Films will be held the third Thursday of each month, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., at the OUUC Sanctuary, 2315 Division St. NW, Olympia.

Perhaps the most poignant part of the afternoon, moving some to tears, was witnessing Bryson Chaplin standing, and then walking to the stage with the assistance of a walker, to be recognized with his family. Bryson still has the officer’s bullet lodged near his spine.

“This is a celebration of what faith and love and hope and determination can do,” said Johnson.

“I just want to say he came in a wheelchair, I prayed for him after church….Oh, give thanks up to the Lord for He is good,” praised Rev. Charlotte Petty.

For more photos and information about the Black Alliance of Thurston County, Karen Johnson, the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Use of Deadly Force in Community Policing, the Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations, Andre Thompson, Bryson Chaplin, and local groups working for racial justice, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

For more information about the Black Alliance of Thurston County, go to www.blackalliancethurston.org.

Above: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Erin Jones greets Drs. Sherman and Eve Beverly of Olympia at the second annual founding celebration of the Black Alliance of Thurston County on Saturday afternoon, where Jones gave a powerful, personal talk about education and her first experiences with racism.

Chambers Prairie Grange Rezone Passes Tumwater City Council

Above: Long shadows are cast across the Chambers Prairie Grange No. 191 on Thursday morning. The Tumwater City Council passed a rezone for the property, which stands at the crossroads of Yelm Highway and Henderson Boulevard. Owner Tom Schrader is now looking for a suitable local business that will honor the spirit of the rezone, and accommodate a community service in the 106 year old building.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

“Within Grangers, ideas are born, and in the Grange, they become a reality,” reads a slogan in a vintage Washington State Granger’s guide. 

That slogan takes on special meaning now as Tom Schrader moves closer to his dream of converting the vacant 106 year old building into a vibrant place of community once again. 

Schrader and his wife, Tiffany, purchased the property last year and have worked with neighbors to address their concerns regarding its future use and traffic.

City of Tumwater council members passed a comprehensive plan amendment at their October 25 meeting, changing the zoning of the Chamber Prairie Grange, located at 1301 Yelm Highway SE, from single family low density (SFL) to community service (CS).

Under the SFL zoning, the former Grange could have been torn down to build four to seven homes or duplexes, among other uses. The zoning change to community service limits how commercial the site could be developed and protects the property from becoming a gas station, a mini-mart, or a five story commercial building.

Several spoke in support of the rezone, including Dave Nugent, president of The Farm homeowners association, an adjacent subdivision.

Nugent addressed the council, saying The Farm board is so confident in Schrader’s dedication to the Grange’s future that a developer agreement is no longer needed. To determine the project’s impact, Nugent asked for the city's assistance in monitoring traffic patterns before and after completion of the project.

Lloyd Flem of Olympia, a retired professional planner who served on Olympia’s planning committee in the 1990s, said the rezone was a perfect example of adaptive reuse to preserve an important piece of the community’s history.

Schrader announced at the meeting that he and his wife would most likely not sell the property as planned, but select and help manage the business that ends up there.

“We are really happy for everyone - neighbors, friends, family, and community - that we can now do something on that corner that will be a place for the community!” said Schrader after the meeting.

Schrader has tried to garner the interest of local businesses in his idea to convert the building, while retaining its historic character, into a coffee and sandwich shop and meeting place, but has found it to be a tough sell without knowing whether the rezone would pass.

“I have spoken with a lot of local businesses - Batdorf & Bronson, Meconi's, Vic's Pizza, Olympia Coffee Roasters, Budd Bay Cafe, Dancing Goats, Starbucks, Cutter's Point, and Royal Bean Coffee. I have also been contacted by Wendy's, Carl's Jr., Taco Time, and Chipotle too,” says Schrader, who quickly added that he is not interested in those latter fast food businesses.

“There wasn’t much teeth in my sales pitch or delivery before, but now I can move forward,” he said.

Before any further physical change to the building can take place, such as putting on a cedar shake roof, Schrader needs to have a tenant in place, so that changes are made to fit the specific requirements of the new business.

“In the next few weeks, my wife and I will decide the best fit for the property and our community. It's an important corner, and I want to be known as a responsible and sensible person. I want to see people there, and have it be a happy place!”

The Washington State Grange came into existence Sept. 10, 1889 as a protest by farmers against intolerable conditions – against poverty, extortionate taxes, freight rates and mortgage interest, and government control of state government by selfish interests.

The Chambers Prairie Grange, No. 191 Patrons of Husbandry principal place of business was the hall, located on what was then called Route #2 in Thurston County.

According to its nonprofit articles of incorporation, the Grange’s purpose was to “educate along the lines of social, moral, and educational betterment,” and “to inculcate into the minds of the membership the benefits of cooperation.”

Little did Grangers know that decades later, Tom Schrader, with his infectious energy and enthusiasm, would be saving their most treasured asset - their building - to become a place of community, cooperation, and commerce once again.

For more photos, history, and current information about the Chambers Prairie Grange, Tom Schrader, the rezone effort, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine. Previous stories are dated November 29, 2015 and May 28, 2016.

Above: Tom Schrader holds a Grange piece of history: an old Olympia Federal Savings and Loan Association check register, found in the Chambers Prairie Grange building after he took ownership of it last year.

Olympians Stand with Standing Rock Water Protectors

Above: Benjamin Sitting Bull, Oglala Lakota Sioux, a sixth generation grandson of Sitting Bull, spoke to Olympians in solidarity with Standing Rock Water Protectors on Saturday afternoon in downtown Olympia.

Clothing Donations Accepted in Olympia for Water Protectors

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

At the southernmost tip of Puget Sound, the direct descendent and grandson of Sitting Bull, Benjamin Sitting Bull, Oglala Lakota Sioux, spoke to Olympians on Saturday afternoon in downtown Olympia.

About 65 people gathered in solidarity with the water protectors blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline route at Standing Rock, North Dakota.

A harbor seal in Budd Inlet approached Percival Landing beneath The Kiss statue near Sitting Bull, also wanting to listen.

Sitting Bull lives in Olympia, and said that he is choosing to raise his two year old daughter, Josephine, here because it is safe and warm. As she sat on a little scooter wearing a monarch butterfly costume, he acknowledged the wide range of emotions community members are feeling about the tense situation at Standing Rock. 

“....Those feelings are valid…. That’s why we’re standing up as indigenous people, because we’re called upon. Our grandparents that are no longer living - our elders - have tapped on us and come to us in our dreams and are saying, ‘Get up and say something to the people around you. These songs and these ways that are given to you – put them out in the public right now....’”

As her father spoke, Josephine listened. When he began singing a prayer song, she closed her eyes, put her head back, and started bouncing to the beat of his drum.  

Although the protest in Standing Rock continues to be ignored by corporate media, a wide variety of social media sources and Native news sites feed constant, live streaming videos and disturbing updates. Reports of police brutality, including reports of intrusive bodily searches of the protesters, called water protectors, are rising.

The proposed 1,172 mile long pipeline would move 470,000 barrels of domestic crude oil a day through four states and run through the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, threatening water, the environment, and Native American burial and prayer sites.

Law enforcement has escalated their response and have arrested at least 141 protesters. Efforts by journalists to document what is happening is being hampered and criminalized.

A local prosecutor had charged Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! with rioting after her crew filmed an assault on protesters on September 3. A judge threw out the charges against Goodman on October 17.

Documentary producer Deia Schlosberg was arrested for filming protesters who broke into a pipeline valve station near Walhalla, North Dakota on October 11. She was charged with three felony conspiracy counts, and could face as much as 45 years in jail.

The Society of Environmental Journalists wrote law enforcement officials at the state and federal levels on October 19, objecting to the prosecution of journalists who have been covering the protests.

Recent visits by the Reverend Jesse Jackson and actor Mark Ruffalo and others have helped raise awareness of what is transpiring, and several Olympians have traveled there, will travel there, or are there now, experiencing police brutality.

Caro Gonzales of Olympia has been at Standing Rock since August as an organizer for the International Indigenous Youth Council, and was arrested and released on Friday. All her gear has been impounded.

“They snatched me while I was praying…then dragged me to the burial grounds to handcuff me and stomped on my arms till I dropped the tobacco offering and sage. They kept us in dog kennels. We were put in solitary and refused medical attention,” she wrote on social media.

She reports that she was charged with a felony and released. She is currently seeking anyone who may have video of her arrest to prove she was praying while taken away by law enforcement.

Amnesty International USA issued a press release on Friday saying they have sent a delegation of human rights observers to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, to monitor the response of law enforcement to protests by indigenous communities.

AIUSA also has sent a letter to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department expressing concern about the degree of force used against the protesters. The organization will also call on the Department of Justice to investigate police practices. 

Sitting Bull continued:

“....Don’t hold hatred in your heart for those officers (at Standing Rock) because that’s not what we do in the Sun Dance way. I want to say, turn that around on them, just hope that they start looking at their human consciousness that’s been stolen from them…that they may have a spiritual awakening, a personal experience. They might say, ‘What am I doing? What am I doing to this person, this human being that I’m pulling out of prayer, pulling his naked body out of the womb. What am I doing? What am I doing? I can’t do this anymore, for money….’ In that way, he might transition back to those birds, those trees. All the natural things around him might start talking to him again. The birds might say, ‘Hey, come back, come back and talk to us, stop what you’re doing. Let’s live together in hope....’”

Above: As rain clouds loom, Rebecca Cesspooch, Northern Ute, Nakota, of Olympia addressed the group gathered in Olympia on Saturday.

Lydia Drescher, California Band of Mission Indians, Tongva, of Olympia, has already been to Standing Rock and said she will leave again on November 20 to deliver much needed community donations gathered in Olympia.

There are three locations where individuals can make clothing donations. Although there was an initial abundance of clothing sent to Standing Rock, those items, including tents and teepees, have recently been taken away by law enforcement.

The request is being made now to donate earplugs, goggles, heavy socks, long underwear, gloves, and other warm items that are not too bulky.

A donation box is located at the Westside Co-op at 921 Rogers St. NW, but donations can also be taken to the Eastside Coop at 3111 Pacific Avenue SE. Other donation box locations are at The Longhouse at The Evergreen State College, and Traditions Fair Trade, 300 5th Avenue, in downtown Olympia.

Financial donations made at either branch of the Olympia Food Co-op will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $1,000. In addition, the Co-op is asking patrons to “round up” their grocery bill to the nearest dollar or more to donate to the Standing Rock water protectors.  

Above: Rebecca Cesspooch, Northern Ute, Nakota, of Olympia, held an Honor Treaty Rights sign, addressed the group gathered in Olympia on Saturday.

“This is a long fight that has been happening. This fight is old. It never stopped. It’s been going on forever…It’s our turn now to be strong in the way our ancestors have been strong…It is our time to go back to the old ways. Now is the time to reclaim them because the Mother Earth needs you. Your ancestors are singing to you. Now is the time to unite and remember our ways….It will be hard…but we have to be strong. Talk to the land, talk to each other….Pray for accountability, pray for healing, justice, and long term systemic change. Pray. Take the time to remember the sacredness in you and around you. Love yourself unconditionally and love those around you unconditionally, even though we may not agree….Hold compassion in your heart…because that’s the only thing that will keep us strong and get us through this. All my relations….” said Rebecca Cesspooch, Northern Ute, Nakota, of Olympia. 

For more information, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at www.standingrock.org and is accepting financial donations online that will go toward legal, sanitary, and emergency purposes.

Owls Occupy Old Brewhouse Tower in Tumwater

Above: On a tour organized by the Old Brewhouse Foundation in October 2014, City of Tumwater councilmember Tom Oliva, in dark coat, stands on the sixth floor of the Old Brewhouse tower, and looks up at the photographer who is in an upper loft of the tower under the copper roof. Owl droppings litter the floor. It is anticipated that the owls will be relocated before the tower undergoes temporary repairs, window closures, and weatherization this winter.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Barn owls have occupied Tumwater’s vacant Old Brewhouse tower for years, but they will not rule the roost for much longer.

In a meeting last month of the Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission, commissioners approved, with conditions, a certificate of appropriateness so the city can begin temporary weatherization efforts of the tower.

The 110 year old Old Brewhouse is a historic landmark, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It has been on a watch list by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and is also in Tumwater's Historic Brewery District.

Obtaining a certificate of appropriateness by the commission ensures that any alteration, demolition, or new construction to the historic site is consistent with the property's character. The step is also necessary to move forward with permitting. 

The commissioners took their time at the September 8 meeting to express concern for the owls, ask extensive questions about the types of materials to be used in repairs and weatherization, the methodology for anchoring a temporary roof, and the appearance of the temporary fixes.

One of the conditions for approval was assurance from staff that they would learn more about the barn owls and figure out how to relocate them before installing a temporary roof and sealing up about 55 windows.

Barn owls are a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

After consulting with biologist Michelle Tirhi of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife after the meeting, city staff learned that they must place owl boxes elsewhere on the property in hopes that the owls in the tower will be convinced that they should go elsewhere.

Contacted by Little Hollywood, Tirhi said barn owls often seek out older, seldom used outbuildings for nesting, like barns and old buildings. Barn owls are done nesting for the season and this is a great time to construct and place nest boxes, and then seal them out of their current location.   

The boxes should be installed as close to where the owls currently enter and exit the building. 

Tirhi said she is hopeful the city or volunteers will continue to monitor the boxes so that they can be protected, repaired, or replaced over time, as needed, for the sake of the owls.

The City of Tumwater acquired the tower in an agreement with owner George Heidgerken in May. Heidgerken and his company, Falls Development LLC, owns the 32 acre area around the Old Brewhouse property, roughly bounded by Custer Way to the south, the Deschutes River to the west, Capitol Lake to the north, and the railroad to the east. 

As of this week, there is still no update on the placement of the nesting boxes.

“We’re working with George (Heidgerken) to get permission to install them on site in a variety of locations that are appealing to owls. Then, it will be safe to seal up the Old Brewhouse,” said assistant city administrator and brewery property manager Heidi Behrends Cerniway.

In the meantime, the building continues to deteriorate. In a process called “spalling,” bricks literally fly off the tower, as moisture causes the mortar to expand and contract with weather temperatures, thus dislodging the bricks. 

Behrends Cerniwey told the seven member commission that whenever she visits the site, new bricks are laying on the ground around the tower.

The city hopes to have the temporary protections and weatherization efforts complete by the end of the year.

Above: The southeast corner of the Old Brewhouse tower of the fourth floor shows a dramatic decay of bricks and exposure to the elements.

Regarding the appearance of the repairs, there will be no unsightly blue tarps, but a temporary roof is expected to stay put for one to four years while funding is secured for a permanent roof and window materials.

The windows could be boarded up with plywood from the inside, and perhaps shaped to fit the window, but some windows may have a clear weather resistant material instead, to allow in light. Some may stay open to allow for minimal ventilation. There is no electrical power or heating inside the building.

The city’s consultant, Cardinal Architecture, produced a detailed tower protection and renovation report in May. It estimated that a temporary roof structure would cost about $97,750, and temporary windows and door panels would cost about $21,250.

Because they will be temporary - immediate protections meant to reduce the rate of decay - the city says it will not go through a formal bidding process, and the work will be done with volunteer labor and donated materials.

This was another aspect of significant discussion, as commissioners did not want to find themselves in a situation similar to that of the City of Olympia when it attempted to use the donated services of Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers to demolish two blighted buildings on the isthmus in downtown Olympia last year.

One of those organizations donating services is the nonprofit Old Brewhouse Foundation.

Rob Kirkwood, president of the nonprofit, has already built four owl boxes, donated an additional owl box, and provides informal input on how to approach the project and what is needed to be done in terms of professional services.

The City of Tumwater will begin permanent restoration efforts as soon as funds become available through grants, capital giving campaigns, and other sources. The project, when complete, is expected to cost about six million dollars.

So far, the only funding the City of Tumwater has on hand for the tower’s restoration is $14,500, an amount earned from the Conservation Futures fund for trail easements that will be donated back to the city. Another $288,000 is coming through the city’s lodging tax funds.

“We’ve been doing our homework about a capital campaign, and working on a funding strategy to raise private and foundation dollars as a match for state grants such as the Heritage Capital Project Fund (HCPF). We did apply for a HCPF grant of $500,000 for the 2017-2019 biennium, but it requires a match of two to one to begin the first phase of restoration,” said Behrends Cerniway.

Above: Local naturalist Nancy Partlow of Tumwater holds barn owl pellets on a tour of the Old Brewhouse property and the tower in October 2014. Partlow documents and contributes many of her observations on a local blog, Bees, Birds & Butterflies, at www.olypollinators.blogspot.com and has known about the owls in the tower for many years.

“It's a perfect setup for them, protected, but with open and easy access to prey. Their nests are simply scraped together regurgitated owl pellets, which are the fur and bones left over after the rest of its prey has been digested. Nature's recycling at work, but also an interesting way for owls to raise young, on the remains of their victims,” says Partlow. 

For more interior and exterior pictures and information about the Old Brewhouse, Tumwater, the planned action for the historic property, George Heidgerken, Falls Development LLC, stop work orders, groundwatering monitoring, and other issues related to the property, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

For the benefits of owls in Washington and providing for them, go here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/owls.html

Owl nest box designs:  http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/projects/barnowl.html

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a page on installing barn owl nest boxes:

 http://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/birds/barn-owl/

For more about the Migratory Species Act, go to: https://www.fws.gov/birds/management/managed-species/migratory-bird-treaty-act-protected-species.php

Olympia Sea Level Rise Website Coming Soon

Above: When it comes to sea level rise, downtown Olympia is running out of time. Here, the waters of Budd Inlet reach the floorboards of the Olympia Yacht Club office at high tide the morning of March 10, 2016. Luckily, favorable weather conditions created a tide lower than expected, peaking at about 17.4 feet.

Sea Level Rise Language Clarified for Views on 5^th Plans

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

In light of a possible redevelopment of downtown Olympia’s nine story “Mistake on the Lake,” also known as the Capitol Center Building or Views on 5^th, Little Hollywood checked in earlier this week with City of Olympia's water resources director Andy Haub.

What progress has the Olympia City Council made about sea level rise issues since city staff dropped their sobering report about Olympia's vulnerabilities on the council last February?

The briefing by Haub and other staff last February was so frank, it caused one council member to throw into the conversation the consideration of abandoning downtown.

Council members have been updated on sea level rise issues informally since February, and adopted an ordinance on August 30 to raise finished floor elevations in downtown for new construction. 

Although the council’s Land Use and Environment committee hasn’t been updated on the topic since April, staff updated the city’s Utility Advisory Committee (UAC) on October 6. 

The UAC will be helping the city develop the scope of a sea level rise program plan. One goal will be to develop a formal community plan that prioritizes downtown investments. The city is working on establishing participation with the Port of Olympia and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance and looking at the sea level action plans of San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C.

“We continue to make progress in 2016 and the plan is on schedule to begin in early 2017,” said Haub.

Haub also said that an interactive sea level rise webpage on the city website is scheduled to be up later this week. 

The link will be: www.olympiawa.gov/SeaLevelRise.

“The webpage will include a map of downtown. Folks can select various levels of sea rise and see how it affects downtown, degree of inundation, buildings affected, street impacts, and so forth. It should be helpful,” said Haub.

Above: High tide at Percival Landing earlier this month, with the nine story Capitol Center Building, the proposed Views on 5th, in the background. 

Language Clarified for Views on 5^th Plans

The community is in need of a sea level rise primer specific to Olympia. 

Recent verbiage used by staff in a meeting to describe how the proposed Views on 5th project must be raised to 16 feet, for example, caused confusion for readers of Little Hollywood.  Admittedly, Little Hollywood didn’t do a good job of explaining that the reference didn't mean 16 feet above the street, and added a note of clarification to the story.

Developer Ken Brogan showed city staff his preliminary plans to redevelop the nine story building and a nearby one story building at last Wednesday’s Site Plan Review Committee meeting. The one story building would be converted to a three story building. 

The elevation reference was in relation to mean sea level, and in the case of the vacant nine story building bordered by 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue, and Simmons Street and Sylvester Street near the Heritage Park Fountain, the sidewalk is 12 feet above sea level. This means the project would need to accommodate a four foot sea level rise.

This analysis is in keeping with the city’s projection of about four to eight feet of sea level rise in downtown Olympia by 2100. 

“....The construction of the project must be designed so that the lowest occupied floor is raised to 16 feet elevation. Alternatively, the applicant can dry flood proof the exterior walls to ensure flood proofing is accomplished with barriers or panels that close entrances, should there be a flooding event,” said Tim Smith, principal planner for the City of Olympia, in an email to Little Hollywood.

The 16 foot elevation is an incremental step toward preparing the city for sea level rise and adds one foot to the minimum finished floor elevation required by the current flood prevention ordinance for properties within Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mapped flood hazard areas. This would be two feet above FEMA’s coastal flood elevation, 14 feet, for downtown.

Parking is proposed under the new one story building, but not three stories. Smith says there is about a six foot differential shown on Brogan’s preliminary plans with regard to the lowest parking floor elevation.

“Staff believes it is very possible to design a foundation or other structure so that it is impermeable to water intrusion and the effects of buoyancy. The design for these considerations will be addressed and calculations performed by the soils and structural engineers based on the conditions and as these elements come together,” said Smith earlier this week.

“If water were to infiltrate or seep into the area, pumps could be used to remove the water. We see this often on a much smaller scale when we have a sump pump in a basement or subterranean garage with a hillside condition that may have a water infiltration issue.”

Above: The Oyster House restaurant prepared for the high tide on March 10, 2016 with a wooden barrier and a few sandbags.

Downtown Strategy

Many other downtown issues are ongoing through processes that have separate timelines and decision tracks.

Another city sponsored Downtown Strategy open house will be held on Saturday, October 29, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Olympia Center at 222 Columbia Street NW in downtown Olympia.

The public can review proposed actions related to housing, transportation, business, and urban design. Staff will ask participants about their priorities for what should be the most immediate actions the city should take within the six year implementation period.

A final draft report will be released later this year, leading to its adoption by the city council by the end of 2016.

“As we mapped and evaluated the downtown land uses, we were struck by how much critical infrastructure and how many emergency transportation corridors are encompassed by our relatively small downtown. 

“We all concluded that downtown needed to be protected in its entirety, or not at all. It’s all or nothing,” explains a descriptive flyer produced by the city for the Downtown Strategy process.

For more photos and information about the staff report to council in February, sea level rise, king tides, and flooding issues in downtown Olympia, Andy Haub, the Downtown Strategy, and more, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

For more information about the Downtown Strategy, contact Amy Buckler, Senior Planner, City of Olympia, at (360) 570-5847 or dts@ci.olympia.wa.us. 

A full description of the Dowtown Strategy goals and process can be found at http://olympiawa.gov/community/downtown-olympia/downtown-strategy

Above: Ryan Kang, general manager of The Governor Hotel, speaks with his tablemates at a Downtown Strategy meeting for developers and businesses on April 28, 2016 in city council chambers. Other businesses at his table represented the Port of Olympia, Ron Thomas Architects, Big Rock Capital, Olympia Federal Savings, Petworks, Prime Locations, Rants Group, and Adroit Contractors.