Note: The official minutes list the meeting date as April 23, 2026, but the summary uses the date provided in the instructions (April 24, 2026).
The Land Use & Environment Committee met on April 24, 2026, at 4:00 PM. The committee discussed the Downtown Commercial Vacancy Study and the Affordable Housing Emergency Declaration, and received updates on upcoming agenda items and a tenant opportunity to purchase stakeholder engagement process.
Downtown Commercial Vacancy Study: Consultants Chris Zahas and Jennifer Shook (Leland Consulting Group) presented findings from a study of downtown Olympia's commercial vacancy. Key findings included: Olympia is not an outlier compared to peer cities; vacancy rates are on par with others recovering from COVID; the city's permitting improvements are noted; challenges include high construction costs, tenant improvement costs, and street improvement requirements that are unusually restrictive (trigger at 20 additional trips). Recommendations included eliminating the half-street improvement requirement for downtown, creating a downtown plan update, exploring a loan program for tenant improvements, and considering a parking garage study. Committee members discussed the importance of framing downtown's vitality positively, the need for a holistic downtown plan, and the value of engaging residents and businesses. No vote was taken; the information was received.
Affordable Housing Emergency Declaration: Housing Program Manager Jacinda Steltjes presented an update on the declaration adopted in December 2024. Six strategies are in place: prioritizing affordable housing in permitting, specialized staff assistance, waiving city requirements, permit fee grants, infrastructure assistance grants, and a 1033 tax exchange transaction. To date, five projects (538 units) have utilized priority permitting, and one project (Habitat for Humanity) had a city requirement waived. The declaration expires June 30, 2026. Committee members discussed the effectiveness of the declaration, with some noting that the term "emergency" may need careful communication. They expressed support for renewal.
All right. We are recording. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the uh Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 meeting of land use and environment committee. I'm Robert Vanerville, your chair. Introduce yourselves. Clark Gilman committee member. Member of the committee. All right. Do we have a do we uh can I get an approval of the agenda? I would move to approve the agenda as published. Oh yeah. We need it. We need to kind of get a modified agenda for the two items so we can flip the affordable housing and the uh downtown commercial consultant friends. Yeah. So I would move to approve the agenda reversing the order of items 6B and 6A so that we discuss the downtown commercial vacancy study first. Thank you. All right. So move or second. Okay. Guys, Mice. Hi. Hi. Hi. All right. We have an agenda. Do we have anyone signed up for public comment currently? Did you want to provide anything? Okay, thank you. All right. Can I get a um approval of minutes? Well I move to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Thank you. Good. I would second that motion. All right. Let's get some eyes. I on to the first item discussion of downtown commercial vacancy study. Good evening, Jenica Machado, Economic Development Director. Uh tonight we're bringing forward the downtown Olympia Vacancy Study for your discussion. Uh the observed vacancy in downtown has raised some interest to better understand the downtown market and the potential development and occupancy barriers. Um, as counsel may recall, I was there just a few days ago to talk about Olympia strong, and in that plan included an initiative that had intended to activate vacant spaces. Um and when I had come into this role, I had heard that that effort ultimately didn't gain um enough momentum to move forward. So rather than immediately developing a new action without a clear understanding of the problem, uh, we felt it was important to take a step back and have a better understanding of what is actually driving vacancy in downtown. Uh and this question led to this study. So we engaged Leland Consulting Group through a competitive process. And since October, they've conducted field work, stakeholder interviews, and data analysis. Uh the goal was to provide a data-driven understanding of vacancy and to identify practical, actionable strategies the city could consider. Um, importantly, this work also recognizes the strong connection between vacancy and vibrancy. Um, at this stage, we're not asking for adoption of specific programs or funding decisions.