Olympia Hearings Examiner grants shoreline permits, denies appeal, for West Bay Yards project

The City of Olympia Hearings Examiner has approved shoreline permits for the proposed West Bay Yards development at the site of the former Hardel Plywood facility, with some conditions. 

The hearings examiner has also denied an appeal of the project’s State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) determination of non-significance. 

The ruling and the conditional shoreline permit will both be forwarded to the state Department of Ecology for final review. 

Both decisions were made following a June 8 public hearing on the project, which was combined with the appeal hearing. 

The development is being proposed by West Bay Development, LLC, and would be located at 1210 West Bay Drive. 

West Bay Development first submitted an application for the project in 2021. 

The project includes a mix of uses across five buildings, including 478 residential units, 823 parking stalls, cafes, restaurants, public amenities, an elevated public plaza, public access through and around the site, shoreline restoration and a waterfront trail. 

Shoreline restoration project components would include placement of granular fill over the existing hard armored shoreline to create a naturally functioning intertidal beach. 

The project will also replace the existing degraded nearshore with native vegetation, convert approximately 0.5 acres of aquatic land to upland, and extend intertidal restoration to 150 feet beyond the existing ordinary high-water mark. 

More than 20 individuals gave public comment during the June 8 hearing, adding to five years worth of written and verbal testimony related to the project. 

Most of the June 8 testimony was opposed to the application for a variety of reasons, including concerns about traffic impacts, the large scale of the project, impacts of future sea level rise, impacts to local treaty rights, impacts to stormwater and impacts to wildlife. 

Public commenters also expressed concern that the project was not well integrated with the Deschutes Estuary Restoration project, and did not include adequate shoreline restoration or maintenance.

Many also voiced support for the appeal filed by local environmental advocacy nonprofit OlyEcosystems. 

In the appeal, OlyEcosystems which argued that the City of Olympia did not have enough information about the development’s environmental impacts when it made the SEPA determination, and that the determination of non-significance was improper because the project didn’t fully mitigate the possible significant adverse environmental impacts of the development. 

The City of Olympia did determine in January that the project met all the SEPA requirements, and the hearings examiner found that OlyEcosystems did not meet the burden of proof required to reverse the decision. 

The conditions set by the hearing examiner for shoreline permit approval are:

• The site plan must be modified to show all public amenities, mark the fire access lane, and add a note indicating that the expanded waterfront trail is a fire access lane.
• The project must adhere to the 2021 Development Agreement and be designed to achieve the restorative agreements of the 2016 West Bay Restoration Assessment. The hearing examiner approved the conceptual restoration approach outlined in “alternative three,” , and the final design must be consistent with that proposal. 
• Before they can apply for construction permits, project organizers must compile documents showing all of the shoreline restoration work and waterfront trail construction to be completed during phase one of construction.
• Before they can apply for construction permits, project organizers must update the construction timeline to account for shoreline permit review and modify the conceptual images to show the updated designs.
• All applicable maintenance agreements and easements must be submitted with the application for construction permits — specifically for shared use areas like the pedestrian plazas, waterfront pedestrian trail and conservation easement. Project organizers also have to provide a vegetation maintenance bond. 
• Olympia City Council must approve a vacation of 17,052 square feet of property along Farwell Road before project organizers can apply for construction permits. 
• Project organizers must receive approved engineering permits for each construction phase, and the engineering permit plans must show specific details outlined by the hearing examiner. 
• Building plans must show bird-friendly glass or window treatments on all exterior windows. 
• Project organizers can use non-structural, or soft, shoreline stabilization methods as proposed. Structural stabilization, such as new bulkheads or seawalls, is prohibited. 
• Soil volume at the site must be able to sustain a native plant community that includes a mix of native trees, shrubs and ground cover. Building plans must also be modified to show a minimum tree density of 217 trees. 
• The project must follow all building codes for developments within special flood zones and floodplains, and must obtain relevant permits from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Ecology and Department of Army for shoreline construction. 
• The City of Olympia will collect impact fees during each stage of construction. 
• Project organizers have to provide a suitable buffer to prohibit easy access onto the Reliable Steel property. 

The construction of the buildings is currently scheduled to take place in three phases. Phase 1 includes the two mixed-use buildings, Phase 2 includes two of the three single-use residential buildings, and Phase 3 includes the third  residential building. 

Abundant pedestrian plaza and amenities will be constructed during all three building construction phases, according to project organizers. 

The development of the site will be undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 of site development will include development of the shoreline, waterfront trail and partial frontage improvements, having accessible pedestrian, vehicular and fire access paths around the site with connections to West Bay Drive.

During this phase, all the required utilities for the Phase 2 residential buildings and infrastructure for future buildings will be laid. 

In Phase 2 of site development, all utilities and amenities required for the five buildings will be completed.

Project documents can be accessed online at: https://www.olympiawa.gov/info/construction_in_olympia/west_bay_yards.php 

Questions related to the shoreline permit review can be directed to the City of Olympia’s Community Planning and Development Department by phone at 360-753-8314 or by email at cpdinfo@ci.olympia.wa.us.