Here is the video from the September 30, 2008 Olympia City Council Meeting. The meeting included deliberation over a proposal to rezone an area of the "Isthmus" in downtown Olympia in order to allow the development of a mid-rise luxury condominium project. Original video (w/ better A/V synchronization) is available at the city website, City of Olympia. Video on the flipside.

About the rezone proposal, tonight's deliberations, and some recent interactions on OlyBlog:

I have recently been labeled and accused of such things as zealotry, fanaticism, extremism, and being unwilling to compromise (by people who post on OlyBlog.) This is a response. And let me tell you - I strongly object to being labeled with those terms. But if I am a zealot because I care about the environment, then that is OK with me. In fact, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Seattle PI:

Last updated September 29, 2008 9:51 p.m. PT

A building ban near rivers?

Feds call for moratorium in bid to protect salmon, orcas

By ROBERT McCLURE
P-I REPORTER

To protect salmon and orcas, federal fisheries managers are calling for a moratorium on development near rivers in the Puget Sound region.

In a potentially far-reaching decision for more than 270 municipalities, the National Marine Fisheries Service said the federal flood insurance program that protects homes and businesses built in flood plains is illegal. The reasoning: Flood insurance allows development that harms salmon and, consequently, the orcas that eat salmon. Both are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"It's a significant wake-up call to (municipalities) who might have begun to think the Endangered Species Act didn't carry a lot of implications for local land use," said Jan Hasselman, the Seattle lawyer who filed suit over the issue on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, which led to the Fisheries Service decision.

...

In November of 2002, the City Council adopted the Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan, which established the goals and policies of implementing new parks and selecting park and open space properties. This plan also amended the Growth Management Act ordinance, originally passed in 1994.

The plan inventoried existing city owned park land, and outlined future projects and estimated costs. The document also included an implementation schedule up to 2025.

In all, the inventory indicated that the City owns just below 900 acres of park land, of which 590 acres are undeveloped. This does not include state or federal lands. (Chp 6 p2)

The Parks plan projected their expenditures up to the year 2025. They estimate to spend about 5 million a year on land acquisition or development of current lands, using grants, taxes and levies. (Table 9 - Final Implementation Plan)

The document includes a huge push for the City to acquire the waterfront lands on the west side of Budd Inlet. Currently, the city owns about 32% of Budd Inlet shorelines within the city. [PAR 8.6: With the Port of Olympia, jointly improve public recreation facilities on the East Bay, West Bay, and the Port peninsula. (Ord. #5971, 12/14/99) Also: POS 4.4 An area from the 5th Avenue Bridge to West Bay Marina, from the west shoreline of West Bay to West Bay Drive is an important scenic waterfront that needs to be planned in a coordinated manner. Creating a vision for this area will involve a variety of stakeholders including property owners. Port of Olympia and other local, state and federal agencies and the public. A plan for this area may include recreation facilities, proposed changes in land uses and multi-modal transportation improvements. A planned waterfront from Percival Landing to the West Bay Marina will allow for predictable and organized public and private investments.

What is the normal course of progress? What does progress mean to you?

Ever since Peter's testimony last week, I have been thinking about the normal course of progress, and what it means in the context of the proposed Isthmus Building Height Rezone.

I am sorry, and with all due respect, I do not consider spending $50,000 in public money, on a study for a private luxury condominium development project (a development that has very dubious public interest merit) to be in the normal course of progress.

Okay - so the City spends $50,000 on a project that will of be of potential direct benefit to those who need it least. Meanwhile; regular, ordinary, average, normal Americans are losing their jobs and their home mortgages.

I don't consider spending $50,000 of public money on a private luxury condominium development to be good public policy. I don't consider the rezone proposal, the proposed Larida Passage, or the City's facilitation of the rezone to be anything like what I would consider to be the normal course of progress.

Also check out a poem I just weblogged: Empty Store Fronts.

- Whitlock

p.s. So then what is the normal course of progress, what would it look like? I am going to be thinking about that, and I'll get back to it. In the meantime, please discuss.

I am new to this blogging - and probably won't spend much more time in this realm. However I just feel the need to comment on something in your testimony that struck a very sore spot for me personally.

Video of the hearing is posted to the city website. It has been up since sometime last week, I think it was posted Wednesday or Thursday. Anyway, it's up there, and I think it's worth watching all 5 hours, if you haven't seen it yet. I am also going to work on downloading the video and posting it to the Internet for purposes of embedding and viewing right here on little old OlyBlog. (so stay tuned)

Here's the link to the City Government webpage where you can find a link to the video from the September 16th meeting, it's in 4 parts: Olympia City Council

Hope you're having a great weekend!

bert

The Olympia Capitol Park Foundation delivered the Isthmus Park Feasibility Analysis Petition to City Hall yesterday. Over 4,500 signatures were attached to the initiative petition. Petition signature gatherers will continue to work over the weekend in order to create a larger buffer for validation purposes, and to spread the message about the vision for a great public park on the Isthmus. I don't know about you, but it's pretty exciting to me.

Mayor Mah says that the petition won't affect the process for the proposed zoning changes. However, if the petition is proved to be valid, then it will be more likely that the City won't be able to go forward with zoning changes, or approval of any plans or permits to build, until the called for park study has been completed.

If the city instead opts for a referendum vote, it would cost $100,000, and it is likely that people - considering the overwhelming opposition to the zoning changes and building on the Isthmus - would approve the park feasibility analysis.

Here are some photos from the delivery:

I have a rezone proposal for the Isthmus and I am going to share it here. I hope that my proposal gets a $50,000 investment from the City, because it's worthy - and that's for sure.

Here's my proposal, and I am re-telling this from someone who testified at Tuesday's meeting:

Change the building zoning heights on the Isthmus to 10 feet. Yes, that's right. No new structures to be built on the Isthmus over ten feet.

I want to see the results of a $50,000 investment in that proposal.

Ten feet building height limit: now that's what I call vision for the Isthmus. What do you think?

(disclaimer: of course I would rather see the development of a public park.)