$15.1 million vision of Percival Landing's future

Envision a Percival Landing boardwalk with mostly concrete and metal instead of wood, and most of it not over water. Picture shorelines restored with native plants. Imagine rustic pavilions providing momentary shelters from the rain or sun.

Those elements are included in a detailed design just released to rebuild Percival Landing, Olympia's downtown waterfront park, which has a decaying wooden boardwalk that has been partly closed because of structural decay.

It is expected to cost $15.1 million in 2008 dollars to build the first phase of the project, from the Oyster House restaurant to the edge of the greenspace block at Thurston Avenue, said Parks Director Linda Oestreich. Associate Parks Director David Hanna said it would be possible to complete the project in 2011 or 2012.

The department proposes to pay for the first phase with $4.8 million from the city of Olympia, $3 million from the state, $3 million from the federal government, $1.2 million in grants, $700,000 from private foundations and $500,000 from community fundraising.

The city needs to find $1.9 million for the project, and might need to find more than that if other funding sources don't come through.

An additional proposal to rebuild the adjacent moorage area is estimated to cost $5 million more because dredging is necessary. But the city could do the first phase without the dredging.

"We need to replace what's falling down and that's our No. 1 priority," Oestreich said.

Olympia City Council members were briefed on the plan Tuesday, and they'll discuss how to pay for it in the next two months before adopting a 2009 budget. The city is planning a public meeting for early November to get input on the design.

Design on all phases of Percival Landing is 30 percent complete, which gives city leaders firmer cost estimates and helps them break the project into phases. It's unclear how many phases would be needed or how expensive the entire project will be.

The city already has spent $1 million on the 30 percent design, from Anchor Environmental of Seattle. It includes engineering, field surveys, soil testing and design features — including building materials.

The design also is meant to be more environmentally friendly. Hundreds of creosote pilings would be removed. Shorelines would be restored with native plants. Trees and flowers would be planted around part of the park's edge.

The design is meant to accommodate "as much as possible" an expected sea-level rise of up to 2 feet. Scientists generally agree sea-level rise will occur but are not sure how much and when.

The marine elements have eaten away at the boardwalk, which was built in three phases between 1978 and 1988. A 2004 structural report showed more deterioration than expected on the boardwalk, and the city since closed small sections of boardwalk, banned cars on a wooden vehicle path and shut off electricity at the moorage.

Hanna said the city sets aside $100,000 a year for an annual inspection and repairs.

"If it's open, it's safe," Oestreich said.

Unfortunately for the parks department, its Percival Landing proposal came on the same night that City Manager Steve Hall proposed budget cuts that could delay the project. Hall, forecasting revenues to decline by more than 1 percent next year, has proposed cutting 21 full-time positions and one part-time position next year and moving more than $1 million from the capital projects budget to the operating budget. That could delay the Percival Landing project.

Also unknown: the effect of a proposal to make a park out of most of the strip of land between Budd Inlet and Capitol Lake, which would likely cost more than $14 million. The City Council agreed this week to hire a consultant to study the feasibility after the Olympia Isthmus Park Association gathered more than 5,300 signatures, according to the group. Oestreich said she wasn't sure how that would affect the Percival Landing plan.

But parks officials made a case for building a public amenity in lean times. People tend to stay closer to home during an economic down time, and that means using the city's parks. And construction projects boost the economy, Oestreich said.

"People are recreating in their backyards," she said.