Title
Status Report on Opportunity Areas
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Receive report on Opportunity Areas. Briefing only; no action requested.
Report
Issue:
In ECONorthwest’s 2013 Investment Strategy Report prepared in conjunction with the City’s Community Renewal Area efforts they identified five opportunity areas. This oral report will provide a status report on each of the five areas and provide an overview of Focus Areas included in the Comprehensive Plan.
Staff Contact:
Keith Stahley, Director Community Planning and Development Department 360.753.8227
Presenter(s):
Keith Stahley, Director Community Planning and Development Department
Renee Sunde, Economic Development Director
Background and Analysis:
As part of the Community Renewal Area process in September of 2013 ECONorthwest prepared a report titled, “Investment Strategy: City of Olympia Opportunity Areas.” This report identified and analyzed five possible areas that have development or redevelopment potential and is included as Attachment 1. This oral report will provide a status report on each area as well as touch on the Focus Areas identified in the Comprehensive Plan.
The five areas included as opportunity areas are: 1. Headwaters (Martin Way/Pacific), West Olympia Commercial (former landfill), former K-Mart, Division/Harrison and Kaiser/Harrison. Downtown was treated as a separate and distinct area with its own separate highly focused market study (Attachment 2) and planning work.
Focus areas are described in the Comprehensive Plan as:
Urban Corridors. This designation applies to certain areas in the vicinity of major arterial streets. Generally more intense commercial uses and larger structures should be located near the street edge with less intensive uses and smaller structures farther from the street to transition to adjacent designations. Particular nodes or intersections may be more intensely developed. Opportunities to live, work, shop and recreate will be located within walking distance of these areas.
• Areas nearest downtown along Harrison Avenue east of Division Street and the upper portions of the State Street/Fourth Avenue corridor to the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Pacific Avenue should blend travel modes with priority for pedestrian, bicycle and transit systems. These areas should provide for a mix of low-intensity professional offices, commercial uses and multifamily buildings forming a continuous and pedestrian-oriented edge along the arterial streets. There will be a 35-foot height limit if any portion of the building is within 100 feet from a single-family residential zone, provided that the City may establish an additional height bonus for residential development except in areas adjacent to a designated historic district.
• The area along Harrison Avenue west from the vicinity of Division Street to Cooper Point Road - and the portions of Martin Way and Pacific Avenues from Lilly Road to the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Pacific Avenue - will transition away from cars being the primary transportation mode to a more walkable environment, where bicycling and transit are also encouraged. Redevelopment of the area will create more density and new buildings that gradually create a continuous street edge and more pedestrian-friendly streetscape.
Focus Areas
The City prepares plans and studies to help guide the future of targeted areas within our community. Leadership for plan preparation will vary by location and purpose, and priorities depend on funding availability and the potential for appropriate development or redevelopment. Generally, these plans feature the location, size and type of land uses; residential and employment density targets; pedestrian amenities; street system and parking location and quantity; and other public improvements. A few specific areas have been identified; more may be identified in the future.
Several of the city’s commercial and industrial areas have distinct roles, opportunities, and limitations. This section provides further guidance for the future of some of these areas. The City envisions some areas, such as the vicinity of Capital Mall, as areas that will gradually convert into urban neighborhoods with a mix of land uses. Others, such as the Auto Mall area, will be reserved for one or two primary uses. In cooperation with landowners and others, the City will be focusing its planning efforts on three of these urban corridor ‘focus areas’, possibly in the form of a 'master plan' that addresses issues such as land use, infrastructure and design.
In addition to the focus areas described below, the City works with the State of Washington in its preparation of the Capitol Campus Master Plan <http://www.des.wa.gov/services/facilities/CapitolCampus/Pages/CapitolMasterPlan.aspx> and with the Port of Olympia in its planning of its properties including the Port peninsula. Included in these efforts is the continuing goal of integrating these areas with downtown Olympia. The Future Land Use Map <http://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Olympia/compplan/pdfs/Future_Land_Use_-Geodatabase_010116.pdf> frames all of these planning efforts.
Neighborhood/Community Interests:
Opportunity Areas and Focus Areas have generated substantial neighborhood interest and there will be significant and ongoing public involvement in planning for these areas.
Options:
1. Provide feedback and direction to staff on opportunity area and focus area and focus area planning.
Financial Impact:
None at this time. Future planning efforts for opportunity areas will have financial impacts.