Title
Yelm Hwy Community Park & Secondary School Co-Location Recommendation
Recommended Action
Provide a recommendation to City Council on whether to pursue partnership with the Olympia School District at the Yelm Highway Community Park site.
Report
Issue:
Whether to locate a secondary school at the Yelm Highway Community Park.
Staff Contact:
Laura Keehan, Planning & Design Manager, Parks, Arts and Recreation, 360.570.5855
Background and Analysis:
In late 2018 Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation Department (OPARD) purchased 83 acres located at 3323 Yelm Highway for a future community park. The property is located next to a previously purchased 3.54-acre park parcel also on Yelm Highway.
The park master planning project was delayed in March of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Shortly thereafter, OPARD was approached by the Olympia School District (OSD) with a request to consider allowing OSD to utilize a 20-acre portion of the park site for a future secondary school to be constructed in ten years or more. OSD would either purchase the property outright or trade an as-yet-to-be-identified parcel for the 20-acres.
In a joint public meeting, hosted over Zoom on November 16th, OPARD and OSD described the concept and answered questions from the community. Following that meeting an online public survey was posted to the project's Engage Olympia webpage and was open through December 6th.
At the December 17th meeting staff provided an overview of the proposal and the online survey results. Following discussion, PRAC chose to form a subcommittee to further study the issues and impacts and bring a recommendation back to the full committee's January 21st meeting for further discussion and recommendation to Council. Council will make a final decision in early 2021.
Options:
1) Continue exploring a partnership with the Olympia School District to locate a secondary school at the Yelm Highway Community Park site.
2) Do not continue exploring ...
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