Title
Briefing on OPC's Neighborhood Center Outreach - Phase 2
Report
Issue:
Review of the Planning Commission's previous work on neighborhood centers and discussion about Phase 2. In this phase, the Commission will create a presentation and hold 2-3 neighborhood meetings about Olympia's neighborhood centers.
Staff Contact:
Amy Buckler, Senior Planner, abuckler@ci.olympia.wa.us, (360) 570-5847
Presenter(s):
Amy Buckler
Bob Bengford, MAKERS Architecture
Chris van Daalen, Education Coordinator, NW EcoBuilders Guild
Brian Hovis, citizen sharing some data analysis about Olympia's neighborhood centers
Background and Analysis:
Neighborhood Centers are small walk and transit-friendly business clusters within residential neighborhoods that serve the day-to-day retail and service needs of local residents and foster community interaction. These are important to community-wide goals to increase walkability, reduce our carbon footprint, improve human health, and foster neighborhood connections and resiliency.
The City has had a policy of encouraging neighborhood centers for over 20 years, but with some exception these have not developed as described in the Comprehensive Plan. The Plan identifies 17sites for neighborhood scale retail and mixed uses. A recent policy update would also allow for medium density residential uses in or around centers. Most of the 17 sites are located where the primary surrounding land use is single-family residential. The conditions of these sites vary from thriving mixed use center to vacant.
To implement the Plan, the Olympia Planning Commission (OPC) and staff are working to inform public dialogue and identify appropriate revisions of Olympia's 'neighborhood center' and 'neighborhood retail' development codes. This is Phase 2 of the Planning Commission's work.
* In Phase 1 (2014 Info Gathering), the Commission gathered input about the public's desires as well as barriers to neighborhood center development. With ...
Click here for full text