Title
Olympia School District’s Response to PRAC’s School Co-location Concerns at Yelm Highway Community Park
Recommended Action
Provide a recommendation to City Council on whether to co-locate a secondary school 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 (School District) with a request to consider allowing the School District to utilize a 20-acre portion of the park site for a future secondary school to be constructed in ten years or more. The School District 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 16, 2020, OPARD and the School District 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 6, 2020. PRAC met on December 17, 2020, to review the survey results and designated a subcommittee to study the co-location proposal. At their January 21, 2021, meeting PRAC discussed eight concerns associated with the proposed co-location of a secondary school at the park site. A motion passed 4-3 to not recommend continuing to explore a partnership with the Olympia School District to locate a secondary school at the Yelm Highway Community Park site based on the eight concerns presented by the PRAC subcommittee.
Based on their familiarity with the site, Berger Partnership was hired by the School District to perform an analysis of the concerns raised by PRAC. The presentation materials developed from that analysis are attached and will be presented to PRAC at the December 2nd, 2021 meeting.
Options:
1) Recommend partnership with the Olympia School District to locate a secondary school at the Yelm Highway Community Park site.
2) Do not recommend a partnership with the Olympia School District to locate a secondary school at the Yelm Highway Community Park site.
3) Do not provide a recommendation but provide City Council a list of important issues to consider should this partnership be realized.
4) Do not provide a recommendation and provide City Council a reason why PRAC does not have a recommendation.
Attachments:
City Council Response Letter
Presentation
Project Webpage: <https://engage.olympiawa.gov/yelm-highway-community-park-plan>