December 2008
by Janet Blanding
“It ain’t over until it’s paved over,” declared Bonnie Jacobs of Friends of the Waterfront at a recent citizens forum to save the isthmus. Thought it was a warm, sunny Saturday morning, the Columbia room in the Capitol basement was filled to capacity, standing room only. Event organizers made several trips to the cafeteria to retrieve more chairs to accommodate the nearly 180 people who wanted to know what could be done to stop the unpopular proposed rezone of the isthmus. Among the crowd was newly re-elected Senator Karen Fraser. Sponsored by the Friends of the Waterfront, . . .
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December 2008
by WIP
The legal battle will begin if and when the City adopts an amendment to its Comprehensive Plan and Shoreline Master Program (SMP) raising the height limits on the isthmus. The SMP amendment would be sent by the City to the Department of Ecology for its review. In the meantime, the Comp Plan amendment could be appealed to the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board (WWGMHB). If and when Ecology approved the SMP amendment, that approval could be appealed to the WWGMHB, which would probably consolidate the two cases into one for purposes of briefing and hearing. The WWGMHB would . . .
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December 2008
by Gerald Reilly
A majority of the Olympia City Council appears ready to vote to approve a re-zone of the downtown Isthmus to permit the construction of high-rise luxury condominiums. This column is focused on the politics of the situation more than on the arguments for and against the re-zone. These arguments have been widely discussed. Those in favor believe that developing very expensive housing in this unique and attractive location will be the catalyst for much desired “market rate” housing in Olympia’s downtown. Those opposed believe that the proposal will “wall off “ our waterfront, . . .
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August 2008
by WIP News Service
Works In Progress: I understand that there were two presentations regarding the rezone proposal made by City of Olympia staff to the Capitol Campus Design Advisory Committee (CCDAC)?
Fred King: The first time we were just told there was a rezone proposal, and CCDAC members said we don’t know what the effect of this will be, give us some graphic illustrations of how this will affect views. The second time, the city staff came back with some building block type illustrations that purported to show how it would affect views from several locations on campus, although it wasn’t . . .
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