Site of controversial West Bay Yards needs more environmental cleanup, state says
.jpg "The former Hardel Mutual Plywood site on West Bay in Olympia.")
A West Bay site in Olympia, which is planned to be the future home of a mixed-use development called West Bay Yards, needs more environmental cleanup, the state Department of Ecology has announced.
The site off West Bay Drive was once the site of Hardel Mutual Plywood, which operated there from 1951 to 1996. The wood milling activities released hazardous substances into the environment, according to Ecology.
The Hardel operation was destroyed by fire in 1996.
Hardel officials signed a legal agreement with Ecology in 2007 and cleaned up the site in 2010. In 2012, Ecology listed the cleanup as complete, according to a news release.
West Bay Development Group, the business behind West Bay Yards, then bought the property in 2021. Ecology says they discovered areas of contamination in soil and groundwater that were not found after the earlier cleanup work.
The result is a new legal agreement between Ecology and West Bay Development Group to clean up the site. The agreed order, according to Ecology, requires West Bay to do the following:
▪ Conduct a supplemental remedial investigation. This study will build on previous sampling work to find out what contaminants remain in soil, groundwater, and marine sediment.
▪ Analyze and compare different options for how to clean up the site in a feasibility study. After that, West Bay will suggest an option to clean up the site up in a preliminary draft Cleanup Action Plan.
How to access documents and comment
To see the agreed order and other items, go to the Hardel Mutual Plywood webpage. A comment period is open until 11:59 p.m. June 2.
The comment period is about the cleanup, not the proposed development of the site, Ecology officials noted in a news release.
To comment, use an online form or email comments to Steve Teel with the Toxics Cleanup Program at steve.teel@ecy.wa.gov.
Open house
An open house about this effort is planned for 3 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 12, at the Olympia Timberland Library meeting room, 313 Eighth Ave. SE, Olympia.
This story was originally published May 4, 2025 at 1:11 PM.
