Saving LBA Woods could be a defining moment for the Olympia City Council
In the next few weeks, the Olympia City Council will take a vote that could determine whether the LBA Woods remains a forested respite from increasing urbanization or a just another road with trees on either side.
The city will vote on whether to allow “business as usual” to continue to degrade our environment and Thurston County’s quality of life or to allow a citizens’ amendment to the Comprehensive Plan stop the plan to build a road through the middle of the LBA Woods.
The 133-acre park enjoyed by hikers, cyclists and bird watchers in southeast Olympia has become a cherished respite from traffic noise and a place to reconnect with the natural world.
On Nov. 2, the Olympia City Council heard from many citizens on why the road should not be built and why they should use the annual Comprehensive Plan Amendment process to remove it. But some on the council suggested that there is no hurry, that protecting the woods can wait until the state deadline for review in 2024.
In response, a citizen’s amendment to stop the road was submitted on behalf of our community and future generations to protect the LBA Woods from a busy road cutting through it. The proposed amendment must get through the council’s “screening process” to receive the full analysis of a comprehensive plan amendment. A “proceed” vote doesn’t guarantee that the council will ultimately approve removing the road from the plan, but it does allow the council to have the benefit of a full analysis and, importantly, the public a chance to weigh in.
Many things have changed since the road first entered the city’s plan decades ago. We now know that the cost estimate of alternatives to the road were wildly overstated. We now know from Thurston Regional Planning Council Director Marc Daily that “we cannot build our way out of congestion.” And we now know that addressing climate change requires action, not just words.
Despite these new insights, the city continues to employ a “long game” strategy of delay, defer and dismiss requests for stopping the road. They say now is not the time to stop doing business as usual. They say the city won’t proceed with the road for 10 years so there is no harm in leaving it in the plan. The long game counts on the public being distracted by crises real and manufactured, accepting the small, incremental degradations of the natural environment and simply forgetting until it’s too late.
Coincidentally, with five council seats up for election this year, avoiding taking a stand for or against the road until 2024 may be appealing to those running.
While it may be politically attractive for today’s council to delay deciding, the LBA Woods can’t wait. We know the longer the road is in the plan, the more momentum there will be for it to be built. Do we believe a future City Council will be more environmentally courageous than the current one?
The LBA Woods is a local micro-study of how politicians’ “business-as-usual” approach made the slow march toward climate disaster inevitable, small decision by small decision. This small action of proceeding toward removing the road from its own plans would be proof that the Olympia council is pivoting away from business as usual and towards protecting the environment.
Now is the time for the council to act on the overwhelming call from the public and groups like the local Sierra Club to stop the road through the LBA Woods.
Larry Dzieza has been an Olympia resident since 1990 and recently retired from a public service career. He is a member of The Olympian’s 2020 Board of Contributors. Reach him at larryboc2020@gmail.com.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 5:45 AM.