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But today’s grand-opening celebration is not about deterioration; it’s about the rebirth of a community icon after years of public input, design and cobbling together funding. The finished product is the first of three phases and a demonstration of how the city wants the rest of it to look.
“I think the public will be very pleased and impressed with what we were able to accomplish,” said Mayor Doug Mah, the only member who has remained on the City Council throughout the boardwalk-replacement project.
The public will get its first close-up look at a large portion of the park that was fenced off for a year – from just behind the Les Schwab store on State Avenue to Thurston Avenue.
And what a sight they’ll see. They’ll walk through lighted gateway signs on Olympia Avenue welcoming them to Percival Landing. Where rotting wooden railings once partly obscured views of the water, neutral colors and light metal railings seem almost to disappear, allowing much improved views.
The old boardwalk that extended over Budd Inlet on wooden pilings is gone – but its spirit lives on. Workers saved the old floorboards, flipped them over and used them to “pave” the new walkway, which was built on land, with a concrete foundation.
In addition, a paved walk runs along the new boardwalk, making it easier for people in wheelchairs – or high heels – to negotiate.
Three major features of the new landing are still over water – a large, covered wooden pavilion with moveable heavy-duty patio furniture, a smaller pavilion and a footbridge that passes over a newly created cove, where visitors can view the workings of the tides.
Having pavilions “enables people to use Percival Landing during all times of the year,” Mah said. “I think that’s really a special element that people will like.”
Another new feature is the Harbor House, featuring restrooms, showers for boaters and a maintenance facility, plus a new meeting room that looks out over the water and includes a fireplace and small kitchen. It will be available for rent by the public.
Interpretive presentations, including songs and voices, are planned for the pavilions, said Parks Director Linda Oestreich.
The park is designed to be more environmentally friendly, too. More than 200 creosote pilings from the old boardwalk were pulled up and disposed of, replaced with sturdy concrete piers.
“We want this to last at least 50 years,” said David Hanna, associate director of parks. “Hope it lasts longer than that.”
Debris was removed from the shoreline and replaced with pebbles; invasive species have been replaced with native plants including pickle weed and salt grasses, said project manager Kip Summers.
The Harbor House has solar water heaters and skylights to reduce energy use, he said. It also gives a nod to history; the rear of the building was designed to look like the office of Sam Percival, the namesake of Percival Landing, who built the original dock there in 1860, according to the city’s website. Its architecture also recalls a Native American longhouse.
Then there are the 13 plinths – a fancy word for a raised platform. Some will feature artwork on a rotating basis.
A large grassy field prized by the public also will stay, but it will be roped off for a while as the new sod takes hold.
There are a few other finishing touches for the first phase, including a new playground that will be added later this year.
Oestreich said the city paid attention to detail, right down to light poles in a shape patterned off old pilings. Summers said almost all the lighting is LED, which is energy-efficient.
YEARS OF WORK
The original Percival Landing park’s boardwalk was built in three sections from 1978 to 1988, and the revamping addresses the oldest and most deteriorated section.
City leaders have had a sense of urgency in replacing the boardwalk since a 2004 structural assessment showed more deterioration than expected: 30 of the 588 pilings needed replacement. Since then, sections of the landing have been closed, cars were banned on the wood vehicle path off State Avenue, and power was cut off to the public boat docks.
“We needed to balance the public safety as well as address what needed to be fixed in a reasonable amount of time,” Mah said.
Parks officials envisioned a complete replacement.
“Do we want a Band-Aid, to keep putting wood pilings in the water and try to leave it to the next generation of council members to deal with it?” Oestreich asked in 2005. “If we pull it off the water, we have a better ability to maintain it.”
The city asked the public: What do you want to see? It received more than 1,000 public comments in its design process. Some people weren’t wild about the idea of walking on concrete instead of wood.
“They really liked that wooden feel,” Hanna said.
So the city retained the wood walkway. People said they wanted the project to be open, without a lot of things blocking views of the water. That was maintained.
“It’s really hard to redo a place when people so love it,” Oestreich said.
Meanwhile, the city cobbled together a variety of funding sources for the project, which cost $14 million, including construction, design and other costs. It appropriated $9.3 million in city dollars for the project. Other sources include $3 million from the Legislature, $1 million from a federal grant, $555,660 from the Washington State Heritage Capital Projects Fund and $164,075 from a Washington State ALEA Grant.
In addition, people will have a chance to contribute and have their names etched on plaques to be placed on the railing of the landing. The city hopes to gain $500,000 from that.
FUTURE PHASES
Though the opening of the revamped Percival Landing is a milestone, it is but the first phase in a three-phase project to replace the landing. Other phases will redo the boardwalk near Fourth Avenue and the Olympia Yacht Club and north toward Port Plaza.
Hanna estimates – and this is a ballpark estimate – that the other two phases will cost $40 million.
The city hasn’t yet found the money for that.
“Our job is to just keep going,” Oestreich said. Some of the prerequisite design work for the other phases is done, and the city plans to use similar materials and design elements. Plus the work already done should help the project qualify for more grants, she said.
Hanna adds that “there’s nothing really compelling” that needs to be repaired in the old boardwalk that is left.
That buys the city some time.
In the meantime, parkgoers are in for a late-summer treat.
“This has been a real team effort, and I’m pretty proud of everybody,” Oestreich said.
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869 mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
