3 things you need to know about Monday’s Port of Olympia commission meeting
Monday’s Port of Olympia commission agenda is busy, but if you attend in person or watch the meeting from home, here are three things to keep your eyes on.
The most high-profile item on the agenda is the pending vote on a long-term lease for a Coca-Cola bottler called Swire that wants to do business on port-owned land in Tumwater near the Olympia Regional Airport.
Under consideration is a 95-acre ground lease with Swire, a regional bottler of Coca-Cola products that operates in 13 western states. The business is based near Salt Lake City, Utah. Swire officials have said the proposed site southeast of the airport near Old Highway 99 could employ as many as 600 people.
The proposed transaction is considered the largest in port history, and although it has won support from port officials, some in the community are opposed to it.
“We urge commissioners (Bob) Iyall, (Amy) Evans Harding and (Joe) Downing to say ‘no’ to the Swire Coca Cola lease in Tumwater. Further research, public input and a SEPA environmental review should be carefully considered to protect our land, air, water and ecosystems,” Maureen and Kent Canny of Olympia wrote in a recent letter to the editor.
Also happening Monday:
▪ The commission will vote on whether to accept a new commission district map for an expanded commission. Voters approved expanding the number of port commissioners from three to five, which means new maps needed to be drawn to incorporate two new districts — Districts 4 and 5.
District 4 covers a wide swath of southwest Thurston County that includes the communities of Rainier, Tenino and Bucoda. District 5 is an Idaho-shaped area that runs north from about Yelm Highway to Johnson Point.
▪ Under “pending issues or business” is a discussion about some architectural contracts tied to a proposal called the Marine Center, which would be built where the Swantown Marina office is today on East Bay. It’s a 6-acre site that also includes parking and a dry storage area for boats.
The proposed center would contain port commission meeting space, port administrative offices, the marina offices and the nonprofit Puget Sound Estuarium. The estimated cost, for both site development and construction, is $11.4 million, the port commission learned at its Nov. 14 meeting.
Commissioner Amy Evans Harding was not impressed with the proposal and shared some sharp comments about it at the November meeting.
“We are embarking on spending funds we don’t have,” she said, noting the port’s operating budget for next year shows increasing costs and decreasing revenue.
“I don’t understand. Why would we spend more money to office ourselves when we have completely adequate office space?” she said, adding that to “continue with his project is a non-starter unless there’s an adjustment to the scope of what we’re undertaking.”
Just building an estuarium and marina office could be a different conversation, she said, “but spending money on planning a building that we haven’t discussed how we’re going to pay for is not a good use of taxpayer funds.”
“We’re not fulfilling our fiduciary obligation by spending money to plan something that we may or may not be able to do,” she said.
The port commission meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12 at Percival Plaza in the Olympics Room, 626 Columbia St. NW Olympia. Or watch the meeting online.
