Olympia neighborhoods unite to help shape future planning
Five neighborhoods have come together to form the Olympia Northeast Neighborhoods Alliance to ensure that residents, landlords and business owners have a say in future development.
The neighborhoods have been working with the city since 2013 to establish a sub-area plan, which the Olympia City Council approved Tuesday. This planning process describes a collaboration between residents and the city to help shape how their neighborhoods grow.
The alliance includes the Bigelow Neighborhood, which has 297 residences and is the city’s oldest neighborhood; the Bigelow Highlands Neighborhood, which has about 550 homes; East Bay Drive Neighborhood, which has about 270 homes of mostly retirees; the Upper Eastside Neighborhood, which has about 400 single-family homes; and the Northeast Neighborhood, which has about 1,800 homes, making it the largest of the five neighborhoods.
The alliance compiled three top areas of concern based on a survey of residents in the five neighborhoods:
▪ Safety: The goal is to reduce crime rates by 20 percent by 2021. They will be creating more block watch programs, increasing police patrols and improving outdoor lighting, for example.
▪ Mobility: The goal is to add sidewalks, pathways and bike routes to promote nonmotorized transit. That includes developing a walking route along 26th Avenue between Bethel Street and Priest Point Park.
▪ Land use: The goal is to research development options for a neighborhood center by December 2017. That includes establishing a committee of city and neighborhood representatives and purchasing the former gas station property at 1400 Bethel St. NE.
The sub-area plan stems from Olympia’s comprehensive plan that was passed in 2014 and outlines the city’s policy vision for the next 20 years. One of the stated purposes for sub-area planning is to allow residents to work with the city on decisions that affect neighborhoods.
The sub-area formed by the Olympia Northeast Neighborhood Alliance has about 7,134 residents who live northeast of downtown Olympia. It is bordered by East Bay Road to the west, rural areas to the north and east, and Fourth Avenue and Martin Way to the south.
This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Olympia neighborhoods unite to help shape future planning."