Approximately 100 people packed the council chambers and outside waiting area for the Tumwater City Council meeting on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 3, at Tumwater City Hall.
Of those in attendance, over 60 signed up to speak during the meeting’s public comment period.
The majority of them were there to express either support or opposition to an item that was originally only on the council’s meeting agenda consent calendar, but was pulled out and placed on the agenda’s council considerations part for discussion during the meeting at the request of some residents, according to Tumwater Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff.
That item was a Thurston County-requested letter of support for the proposed BAR Holdings, LLC Salish Landing urban growth area (UGA) land swap for the City of Tumwater’s UGA.
Following close to two hours of public testimony — with around 40 public commenters speaking in support of Salish Landing and around 20 against — the council approved signing an amended version of the letter of support by a vote of 4-1, with Councilor Joan Cathey being the lone opposition.
In addition to the Salish Landing letter of support, the council also unanimously approved a resolution supporting the ballot proposition for a Tumwater School District Replacement Safety, Technology and Capital Improvements levy, which will be on the ballot in a few days during the Tuesday, Feb. 10, special election.
For more information on the replacement levy, visit the Tumwater School District’s website at https://tinyurl.com/4zs8tn3f.
Also on special election ballots in the region on Tuesday are replacement levies for the Olympia, Centralia and Tenino school districts. For more information on all the school district levies along with viewing preliminary election results on Tuesday night, visit Thurston County’s website at https://tinyurl.com/mry5vd94.
Councilors also approved the purchase of a Champion Homes Center manufactured five-bedroom home to be located at the Tumwater Fire Department’s North End Fire Station, located on Linwood Avenue Southwest.
Once delivered, the manufactured home will provide living quarters for a new full-time Thurston County Medic One crew now assigned to the fire station.
The cost of the new living quarters — which will come fully furnished with appliances inside the 1,813-square-foot house — was $161,690.82 according to the council’s agenda report. The city had previously agreed to pay for the housing as a part of their interlocal agreement (ILA) with Thurston County Medic One.
Salish Landing letter
The Salish Landing development is a planned mixed-use project by BAR Holdings located at the southeast corner of Tumwater, on 18 parcels of land around the intersection of 93rd Avenue Southeast and Old Highway 99 Southeast.
The land swap will see those parcels, totaling 65 acres, removed from Tumwater’s UGA in exchange for three parcels of land totalling 46 acres at Tumwater’s northwest city limits edge at the intersection of Black Lake Boulevard Southwest and Black Lake Belmore Road Southwest.
In addition to the land swap, BAR Holdings is also requesting rezones and land use amendments for the parcels being swapped to allow for more than one dwelling unit for every five acres.
For the parcels they plan on developing, they requested changing the zoning from rural residential resource 1/5 (RRR 1/5), and BAR Holdings is requesting they be changed to several different zonings including general commercial, mixed use and light industrial.
The land being incorporated into Tumwater’s UGA in exchange will be rezoned as well, with the parcels going from heavy industrial, greenbelt and single family residential to RRR 1/5.
Those in opposition included many residents already living in the area BAR Holdings wants to develop, who wanted to keep the land at RRR 1/5 zoning. They fear if the land is developed, property values might increase to the point where they will be priced out of the area and be forced to move.
Currently, the area is rural with mostly low-income residents in mobile homes.
“There are about 90 mobile homes near this project. People who live in mobile homes are often seniors, people with disabilities and low-income workers,” Olympia resident Ana Rumsey said. “When land values go up, investors buy mobile home parks. When investors buy mobile home parks, rents go up, people are forced out. This is called displacement.”
Another in opposition was South Sound Sierra Club Chair Dr. Ed Humble, who while he understood the want for development, was worried about future damage to the Deschutes River, which lines the proposed development area.
“This land has been identified as a critical discharge into the Deschutes River. And the Deschutes River is threatened right now, we don’t need to keep reducing the water flow,” Humble said.
As for those in support, some included residents in the development region who liked a proposed YMCA which could be built. South Sound YMCA President Kyle Cronk was one of those who spoke out in support of BAR Holdings, saying that the existing YMCA facilities in the region are filled to capacity and if another pool is built, users will flock to it immediately.
However, one public commenter, and the lone council opposition vote, Cathey, both pointed out there was no concrete guarantee or official contract signed to get a new YMCA built in the region.
A number of local Coldwell Banker real estate agents also spoke out in support of the development, along with representatives of the Thurston Economic Development Council and Thurston County Chamber of Commerce.
As for how the council felt about it, the majority were in favor.
“Tumwater is rapidly growing, and this growth is not temporary,” Councilor Angela Jefferson said.
According to the last U.S. Census in 2020, Tumwater had 26,143 residents, with an additional estimated 17,363 residents expected to move in by 2045 according to the city’s Comprehensive Plan updated last year.
Jefferson added the development includes plans to incorporate public transportation, add employment opportunities and expand the city’s tax base.
“Voting no will not stop growth, because people like me will continue coming to Tumwater, because Tumwater is a great place to be, to live and retire,” said Jefferson. “They’re moving into our urban growth area, right there, and it’s going to continue to move from rural to urban. So it’s just a matter of time.”
Cathey expanded on why she opposed it, aside from the fact there was no guarantee a new YMCA would be built.
“I’m really concerned about lower income residents, and what we’re saying to them,” Cathey said. “I doubt that anything that they’re building out there house-wise, or whatever, is going to be reasonable and able to be purchased … by low-income people. That’s just not the focus of this.”
She also did not “even want to hear the number of trees” which will be cut down to make way for BAR Holdings’ Salish Landing development.
With Councilor Eileen Swarthout and Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Von Holtz having excused absences from the meeting and not present to vote, the amended letter was approved 4-1.
The amended letter included an additional phrase which stated both Dahlhoff and the council supported the county commissioners keeping the proposal in consideration, “so that the amendment may be studied in a comprehensive, public manner under the State Environmental Police Act (SEPA) and the Thurston County Comprehensive Plan amendment process. The Tumwater Mayor and City Council believe that completing this process will provide the board of county commissioners, the city and the community with a better understanding of the potential benefits and impacts of the amendment and allow the board of county commissioners to make an informed decision on the amendment application.”
The amended letter also stated, “the mayor and the city council recognize that amendments such as this are complex and require comprehensive public analysis to allow both decisionmakers and the community to understand all the potential consequences before a final decision is made.”
The next steps
As for what happens next, with the letter signed and sent back to Thurston County officials, the Thurston County Board of Commissioners will now consider whether to keep the proposed UGA land swap in the county’s Comprehensive Plan docket by the end of March.
BAR Holdings originally proposed the land swap in 2022 after UGA swap rules were changed by the state Legislature according to Tumwater Community Development Director Brad Medrud. He added another set of UGA land swap rules was adopted in 2024, and state lawmakers may finalize and once again change UGA land swap rules by the end of the current Legislative session.
If the county commissioners choose to keep the proposed land swap on their Comprehensive Plan docket, a new ILA between the city and county would be drafted to lay out each entity’s responsibilities for reviewing proposed land use amendments and rezoning, along with annexation, revenue sharing and outlining public engagement procedures.
BAR Holdings must also still submit a completed SEPA environmental impact statement for the proposed development.
Ultimately, the proposed UGA land swap will be reviewed by the Thurston County Urban Growth Management Subcommittee, who will make the final recommendation on whether to approve the land swap to the Thurston County Commissioners, who will have the final word on whether the land swap, rezoning and land use amendments are approved.
For more information on BAR Holdings’ proposed UGA landswap, visit Thurston County’s website at https://tinyurl.com/2s4ypay7.
