Letters to the editor - Aug. 1

The Olympian • Published August 01, 2008

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I hope that our City Council will realize this as the wake-up call it surely is and choose a different path that can actually lead to downtown revitalization. Isn't it time for a city/state partnership that will fund a full-throttled, community-based planning process?

Given the calamity we're flirting with here, let's think about engaging a top-notch planning and design team — one with a track record of working with disparate citizen groups, stakeholders, bureaucracies, and investors — one with the proven expertise to move our downtown toward becoming among the most beautiful and economically vibrant in the Pacific Northwest.

Kris Goddard, Olympia

Condos won't do muchto revitalize downtown

The red herring season has returned to Olympia, and clever distractions are spawning and pooling around the isthmus. A flashy compromise pretends to spawn a new vision but stops short of a realistic plan for the future of the city because it only focuses on the advantage to one developer who hopes to exploit the views.

The good intentions are questionable because the developer who wants to build 140 lucrative downtown condominiums has already published plans on the Web for as many as 1,233 new housing units in other parts of the city.

According to its Web site, Triway has completed 264 housing units (lots) in Olympia and publishes plans for an additional 633 lots. In addition, it holds acreage that at an average of six houses an acre could add an additional 336 lots. This is a total of 1,233 new housing units in Olympia that would be typical residential sprawl doing nothing to resolve downtown housing needs.

Those 140 condos on the isthmus will not do much to rejuvenate downtown unless the market for babbles and bicycles increases dramatically. There are also plans for one Tuscany-styled mansion set on 20 acres. The Triway Web site states, "Our past projects have been primarily residential developments, where we have provided basic neighborhood infrastructure — utilities, roads, parks and open space — and then sold the improved lots to various home building companies." What is the connection between the land developer's promises and what may actually be built after approval has been gained?