Title
Downtown Strategy Update and Direction on Final Review Process
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve the proposed steps for Planning Commission and City Council review of the Downtown Strategy (Attachment 1).
Report
Issue:
Whether to move forward with the proposed steps for Planning Commission and City Council review of the Downtown Strategy (Attachment 1). Request for this direction will follow a brief staff presentation on the status of the public process to form the Downtown Strategy and related code updates.
Staff Contact:
Amy Buckler, Senior Planner, Community Planning & Development, 360.570.5847
Presenter(s):
Amy Buckler, Senior Planner, Community Planning & Development
Background and Analysis:
The public process to form Olympia's Downtown Strategy (DTS) is in step 4 of 5 (Attachment 3.) Over 3,500 people have engaged in workshops and online, and City staff has met with over 30 organizational groups to discuss this community effort.
Major elements of the strategy include:
* Urban design focus with recommended updates to design guidelines, streetscape, historic preservation and view protection
* A housing strategy
* Business (retail) enhancement strategy
* Recommended tools to encourage private investment in line with community goals, including SEPA exemptions
A report of Step 3 is provided in Attachment 4. In summary, by the end of step 2 unique character areas to be enhanced had emerged from the iterative process of public engagement and analysis. Using these character areas as a thematic basis, the DTS team sought feedback from the public on concepts for design guidelines, historic preservation and streetscapes at an event in May and subsequently online. Pulling from this feedback and further technical analysis, the team is working to finalize these recommendations.
In April, the DTS team, along with the Economic Development Council, hosted a Business & ...
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