Neighbors of Olympia’s sole urban village push back on housing code amendments
The Olympia Planning Commission has had two public hearings regarding code amendments aimed at relaxing commercial development requirements and increasing housing density in an area that already has more than 800 housing units and only a handful of nearby amenities.
When the plan for Briggs Village, located off Henderson Boulevard and north of Yelm Highway, was adopted more than 20 years ago, residents were promised a grocery store would be built in the “urban village” neighborhood. Now, at the property developer’s request, the city is considering relaxing requirements around the size of a grocery store, and some worry the changes will mean no store will ever fill that space.
Specifically, the amendments would result in increased multifamily housing allowances in urban villages, removal of maximum density limits, and removal of required commercial square footage per residential unit in urban villages.
Amendments would also set a new range of minimum and retain the maximum commercial square footage limit, increase the allowed number of stories for commercial structures facing the town square from three to four stories, and remove the requirement of a child care center.
Kyle Cronk, president of South Sound YMCA, said he’s concerned the zoning amendments could affect the balance of residential and commercial space in the area, potentially leading to increased parking issues and limited access to services at the Briggs Community YMCA at the corner of Henderson and Yelm Highway.
Cronk told The Olympian on April 7 that reducing commercial space is also going to reduce the parking that would come with commercial spaces.
He said he’d like for the Planning Commission and City Council to conduct independent studies on the impacts of the potential code changes to residents and businesses.
“Let’s talk to some of the business owners, you know, at both the Briggs Taphouse, at the children’s dentistry that’s got a space right over there,” Cronk said.
He said members of the Y have reached out as well looking to be a part of the conversation. As far as he knows, none of the business owners in the area have been included in discussions about the code changes.
Cronk said he knows there’s a housing crisis, and more affordable and workforce housing needs to be built. He questioned how to ensure more housing is built while maintaining the original concept of Briggs Village, where people who live in the community can shop, work and more in their neighborhood.
He said before any of the apartment buildings surrounding the Y were built, there was overflow parking for when the main lot at the Y was full. Cronk said the previous owner of the Briggs development had an agreement with the Y to keep the lot available to them until commercial development came in.
Once a grocery store and other commercial development took place, 48 parking spots were to be available for the YMCA. But more peoples are moving to the area and coming to the Y, and spots to park are few and far between.
Cronk said he’s lived in Olympia for 10 years now, and his family bought a house in Briggs Village. When they did that, he said it wasn’t necessarily with the hope of a nearby grocery store, but it was still part of the plan.
“Every time that you hear about Briggs Village, you hear grocery store,” he said. “Then people say that there’s not a market for a grocery store. And I don’t know if that’s true or not. I mean, that nobody has built a grocery store here tells me something.”
He said one of the things the Planning Commission has been trying to explain is that there are two processes to this issue, the zoning and the master plan. However, he said if you change the zoning, you change what can happen in the master plan.
“They’re trying to make these separate things, but they’re not really separate things. They’re connected,” he said. “And to not acknowledge the connection between the two seems disingenuous to the process of getting people to say, ‘Hey, this is really going to impact us in a negative way or in a positive way.’”
Concerns from Briggs residents
Franklin Wilson told the Planning Commission March 3 that the commission had just discussed how about the city needs more affordable housing. Wilson said that need will surely require a broader approach than building more apartments at Briggs Village, which, on average, will be more expensive than most Olympia apartments.
Wilson said it seems to him and his wife the developer’s proposed zoning changes would bring increased traffic and decreased village livability, especially for young children who play in the area.
“Mr. Gill’s (the developer) proposals would do next to nothing for affordable housing, next to nothing for increased livability, and a great deal toward the increase of his profits at local, community expense,” Wilson said.
Lahela Peterson lives in Briggs Village. She said she grew up hearing about the importance of mixed-use, low-rise, high-density city planning and community-based development from her dad, who was an urban planning professor in Hawaii. She said the exposure to her dad’s knowledge and her experience abroad are reasons why she wanted to move her family to Briggs.
Peterson is opposed to the code amendments that reduce commercial space by 45% and increase residential units by more than 50%. She said she has serious concerns about the amendment that seeks to increase the number of multi-family homes to single-family homes from 50/50 to 85/15.
“I am okay with more residents and more people in the neighborhood and increasing housing availability,” she said. “But I don’t think this is the right way to do it.”
She said the amendments will lead to “a glut of market-rate apartments that cost more than what I’m paying for my monthly mortgage and property taxes.”
“Reducing commercial space will reduce how often my family and my neighbors can handle our outings within our own neighborhood, without relying on driving all over the city and increasing congestion and pollution,” Peterson said.
She said she and her family are active members of the YMCA, as well as regular patrons of the village’s small businesses such as Humble Cow Ice Cream, Fika Coffee and Briggs Taphouse. She said they’re excited by the possibility of a grocery store and other businesses building on the success of the existing commercial spaces.
The amendments have not been added to a future Planning Commission agenda yet, but they will be discussed once again before they’re reviewed by City Council and a public hearing is conducted.
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