The state has released plans for Capitol Lake. Here’s your chance to weigh in
The decades-long process to improve and manage Capitol Lake took a significant step forward last week when the state released a draft environmental report on the lake’s future.
Although the lake is best identified by the reflective body of water that was created when the Fifth Avenue dam was installed in 1951, the actual project area stretches from the end of Tumwater Falls, through a series of basins near the Interstate 5 overpass to the north basin, which is flanked by Marathon and Heritage parks, and finally to West Bay in Budd Inlet.
The report, which was released by the state Department of Enterprise Services, is officially known as the draft environmental impact statement for the Capitol Lake Deschutes Estuary long-term management project. Its release has triggered a 45-day comment period through Aug. 13.
Why do any of this? That long body of water is struggling.
DES officials held a press conference Wednesday and Tessa Gardner-Brown, a senior environmental planner with Seattle-based Floyd Snider, the principal consultant to DES, offered a synopsis of the lake’s history and issues.
When the dam was installed in 1951, it turned the former estuary into a freshwater lake that was part of the long-term Capitol Campus plan and offered recreation for the area. Water quality monitoring began in the 1970s, and the water quality deteriorated to the point that the swimming beach was closed in 1985.
Now the lake and its surroundings are home to 15 invasive plant and aquatic species, including the New Zealand Mud Snail, which cut off public access to the lake in 2009.
The Deschutes River also delivers 35,000 cubic yards of sediment into the basin each year. In some areas, 13 feet of it has collected, making the lake much shallower, Gardner-Brown said.
“Many of these environmental conditions persist today and active use of the water body continues to be restricted,” the report reads. “The long-term management project would address the diminished beneficial uses of the water body, caused by accumulating sediment, historically poor water quality, algal blooms, and invasive plant and animal species.”
The draft report
The report is more than 500 pages, so The Olympian focused on the three key proposals for the lake, as well as the cost estimates, which are significant.
The three options for the lake were borne out of earlier planning processes: a group called the Capitol Lake Adaptive Management Plan Steering Committee spent 12 years studying Capitol Lake. Those options are: a managed lake that requires dredging; an estuary, which would remove the dam and let the lake rise and fall with the tides; and a hybrid of the two.
Managed lake
“The managed lake would retain the Fifth Avenue dam in its existing configuration,” according to the report. “The dam would be overhauled to significantly extend the serviceable life of the structure. The reflecting pool within the north basin would be maintained, and active recreational use would be restored in this area. Sediment would be managed through initial construction dredging and recurring maintenance dredging in the north basin only. Sediment from construction dredging would be used to create habitat areas in the middle basin to support improved ecological function, habitat complexity, and diversity.”
Estuary
“The dam would be removed, and an approximately 500-foot-wide opening would be established in its place,” according to the report. “This would reintroduce tidal hydrology to the Capitol Lake basin, returning the area to estuarine conditions where saltwater from Budd Inlet would mix with freshwater from the Deschutes River. Sediment would be managed through initial construction dredging in the Capitol Lake basin and recurring maintenance dredging within West Bay. Dredged materials from construction dredging would be used to create habitat areas in the middle and north basins to promote ecological diversity, though tideflats would be the predominant habitat type.”
Hybrid
“The dam would be removed, and an approximately 500-foot-wide opening would be established in its place,” according to the report. “Tidal hydrology would be reintroduced to the western portion of the north basin and to the middle and south basins. Within the north basin, a curved 2,600-foot-long barrier wall with a walkway would be constructed to create a 45‐acre saltwater reflecting pool adjacent to Heritage Park. A freshwater (groundwater-fed) reflecting pool was also evaluated for this EIS. Sediment would be managed through initial construction dredging in the Capitol Lake basin and recurring maintenance dredging within West Bay. In the middle and north basins, constructed habitat areas would promote ecological diversity, though tideflats would be the predominant habitat type.”
All three options are proposed to have boardwalks, a Fifth Avenue pedestrian bridge, a fishing dock, a boat launch for non-motorized vessels and decontamination stations to help limit the spread of invasive species, Gardner-Brown said.
Cost estimates
The report also lays out some estimated costs for all three scenarios, which assumes that the majority of construction costs would be paid by the state.
The costs of the periodic maintenance dredging that would have to occur in West Bay under the estuary and hybrid plans due to the removal of the dam would be shared by the creation of a funding and governance work group. About a quarter of the costs would be funded by the Army Corps of Engineers under the estuary and hybrid models, according to the report.
One possible model identified for the funding and governance work group is one that could be organized through an interlocal agreement similar to the LOTT Clean Water Alliance, which is an agreement among Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County to manage and treat wastewater.
One of the estimates combines construction and maintenance dredging costs over a 30-year period. It shows the following:
▪ Managed lake: $337 million to $607 million. And if there was a lapse in funding after construction, the report warns that it could result in reduced recreational opportunities and a lake that looks no different from today.
▪ Estuary: $179 million to $336 million. And, again, if there was lapse in funding after construction, the report warns that up to 6 inches of sediment per year would be deposited near the Olympia Yacht Club at 201 Simmons St NW, next to Bayview Thriftway, while less than 0.1 inches of sediment would accumulate in the federal navigation channel in Budd Inlet.
▪ Hybrid: $249 million to $463 million. And, again, if there was a lapse in funding after construction, up to 7.5 inches of sediment per year would be deposited at the Olympia Yacht Club with 0.1 inches in the federal navigation channel.
What’s next?
DES officials emphasized that public comment is a key part of advancing the environmental impact statement into its final form, which is expected in 2022.
“We really want to hear from people,” said Bill Frare, assistant director of facility professional services at DES.
State officials ask that the public do more than just vote on one of the three options. Frare said they are looking for substantive comments that “increase the depth and strength of the analysis.”
Public preferences will be incorporated to determine which option is recommended in the final EIS. After that, design and permitting could take an additional 3-5 years, followed by a construction timeline of 4-8 years.
How to comment
▪ The draft environmental impact statement can be found at https://capitollakedeschutesestuaryeis.org/
▪ To comment by email: comment@CapitolLakeDeschutesEstuaryEIS.org.
▪ To comment by online form: https://comment-tracker.esassoc.com/CLDE/index.html#/21/welcome
▪ To comment in person: An online public hearing is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. July 27. To comment you need to register.
▪ To comment by mail: Department of Enterprise Services Capitol Lake – Deschutes Estuary EIS, P.O. Box 41476, Olympia, WA 98504-1476.
