Title
Explanation & Attachments
Report
Staff Contact:
Amy Buckler, Senior Planner, Community Planning & Development, (360) 570-5847, abuckler@ci.olympia.wa.us <mailto:abuckler@ci.olympia.wa.us>
Background:
Most of the changes that will occur in downtown over the next 6 years will happen through private sector investment. The City's role will include: making strategic investments to enhance streets and sidewalks; ensuring our development & design standards align with community vision and are clear and realistic; forming partnerships and determining whether certain protections, development or business incentives are needed to help achieve goals.
In May, the Stakeholder Work Group and then City Council will review and provide direction on the draft guiding framework. The guiding framework will reflect all the engagement and analysis completed thus far, including expressed strategic priorities. This framework will inform subsequent steps to complete the strategy, including what is ultimately recommended for street and sidewalk improvements, updates to City design and development standards, and any programmatic initiatives. Formation of the guiding framework will mark a major milestone in this process; at the same time significant work will continue to determine the most strategic, realistic and impactful steps necessary to move our downtown vision forward over the next 6 years.
Since the February workshop, the MAKERS and City staff team have been focused on:
• Analyzing the existing downtown transportation network and identifying potential public investment options to enhance streets and sidewalks in downtown
• A viewshed analysis
• Planning a business and developers forum (coming up April 28)
• Conducing outreach to various community groups
At the meeting, we will discuss these efforts and what comes next.
To prepare for the meeting, members are asked to review the following:
• Attachment 1: Updated timeline of public participation
• Attachment 2: Online Survey #2 - Copy of the full survey: The City hosted Public Workshop #2 on February 20, 2016. Results from the workshop were used to develop an online survey that was open March 17-27. The survey asked more specific questions about ideas supported at the workshop as well as questions to inform our viewshed study.
• Attachment 3: Online Survey #2 - Results of Quantitative Questions (open-ended questions are still being collated)
• Attachment 4: Maps of proposed options for downtown transportation (will be further explained at the meeting)
• Attachment 5: Process for the viewshed analysis
• Attachment 6: Draft viewshed map
• Attachment 7: Answers to questions posed by the public for MAKERS and staff at Workshop #2 (from index cards)
• Attachment 8: Draft Bio for Stakeholder Work Group (Thank you for this. Final version will be posted online April 11. If you haven’t already, please let Amy know if you’d like to add your photo or bio information.)
Other News:
We are still waiting for a few work group members to submit their signed technology policy.
We have heard loud and clear that we must address the following issues in order to move downtown forward, and here is how we plan to address them:
• Parking: In a few months, the City will kick off a parking strategy that will be aligned with this effort
• Homelessness: The draft DTS will propose next steps for how the City can improve its coordination with regional partners to address homelessness, street dependence and related impacts to downtown
• Sea Level Rise: The City plans to begin a comprehensive sea level rise strategy in about 9 months; Meanwhile, we plan to raise floodproofing requirements (raising finished floor elevations is one way to do this) - staff will present further information to the Council’s Land Use & Environment Committee on April 21, 5:30pm, City Council Chambers