A Starting Point - Current Vision

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OLYMPIA'S VISION in 1994

Here is an excerpt from the current Comprehensive Plan vision that was developed more than 15 years ago.  A vision provides a compass and road map for policy makers to follow.  Is this vision still relevant for us today?  Does it describe the values that we share as a community?  Tell us what you like or what you would change.  Your input will help us understand what you value for your community.

Taken from the Comprehensive Plan  adopted by City Council on July 12, 1994, page 20

This Comprehensive Plan makes some difficult choices. Our modern lifestyle based on suburban sprawl is not suitable for carrying us into the future. Accommodating more population within our City and its Growth Area means that the Olympia of tomorrow will be a higher-density City than the Olympia of today. It will not be adequate merely to build higher density housing; we must take advantage of growth as a tool to reshape our community into a more sustainable form. In order to grow gracefully and remain a healthy and desirable community, tomorrow's higher-density must also be accompanied by improved amenities for urban life. It will be difficult to strike the right balance.

How we deal with these challenges today will determine what kind of City Olympia will be tomorrow. What is our vision for tomorrow?

Olympia will be a showcase in the years to come, fulfilling its potential as the Capital City of the Evergreen State. This role will be reinforced by more pedestrian-oriented streetscapes, livable and affordable neighborhoods, safe and meaningful street life, and high-quality civic architecture.

Growth and change in Olympia and its Growth Area will be accommodated in a sustainable manner. A sustainable community is one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Decades of commitment to the philosophy of sustainability will pay off by maintaining Olympia's healthy environment, healthy economic base, and healthy social and cultural systems. The City will view every major decision in light of the consideration, "How will this affect not just us, today, but the next seven generations? And the next seven after that? Are we moving toward a pattern of living that can be sustained indefinitely?"

Our future City will be compact; in that respect, Olympia's fine new neighborhoods will be a lot like our fine older neighborhoods. And they will be just as satisfying places to live. People will still know their neighbors, talking over back fences about kids, politics, gardening, or sports. They will look out for eachother; neighborhoods will still be safe places to raise our families, and good places to grow old.

Olympia neighborhoods will offer housing for people of all ages and incomes. The compact development pattern will make it easy and cost-effective to provide a high level of urban utilities and other services. We will also develop other strategies to keep housing costs affordable. Older neighborhoods will be rejuvenated as historic homes are renovated and attractive new homes and townhouses, apartments and condominiums replace deteriorating structures or are built on infill sites.

Historic resources will be valued and preserved. Historic buildings will be adapted to new uses, rather than bulldozed. New development next door will be designed to complement historic buildings, rather than clash with them. All our citizens, young and old, will be able to see reminders of our community's heritage, and take pride in it.

Because our City will be compact, the rural areas outside it will still be rural, instead of being consumed by low density suburban development. The rural countryside will still be just minutes outside of town. Farmers will still raise animals and crops; many will still sell their products at the Farmers Market in Olympia.

Our future growth area will have a balance of types of development. There will be single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, commercial areas, and job centers. This balance and mix of uses will make it a lively and healthy community. People will be able to meet their daily needs close to home. This mix will also enhance the opportunities for people to walk, bicycle, or take transit to the places they go. This will minimize air pollution from cars.

New development will fit in comfortably with existing neighborhoods. The qualities of neighborhoods that brought people to live in them will be respected and protected. Even though some parts of the area will be set aside for the healthy bustle of commerce, residential areas will remain calm, buffered by natural features, landscaping, or other means.

Trees of all kinds and sizes will be growing in all parts of town. Evergreen trees will be a visual reminder of the special character of the Pacific Northwest. Deciduous trees will mark the seasons, connecting us visually with the passage of time. Their graceful branches will arch over busy thoroughfares and quiet residential streets. Shady areas in public places will welcome citizens on a summer's day and provide shelter from the rain. These trees will help ensure that this Olympia of the future will remain a most livable City.

Each neighborhood will contain a "center" that has service uses, a transit stop, and a neighborhood park or neighborhood common. All residences will be within a 15-minute walking distance of the neighborhood center, so people can run errands in their own neighborhoods. Viewpoints from which the magnificent views of Mt. Rainier, the Olympics, and the Black Hills can be seen, will be provided at various places throughout the City so that all citizens can appreciate Olympia's superb location.

With more people living in this area, there will be more traffic on the roads. But because there will be alternatives to the auto, traffic will not be unbearable. The auto will still be with us. But it will not dominate our community. Major roads will be designed to be more than just barren strips of asphalt, crowded with rushing cars and trucks. They will be stately tree-lined boulevards, proper entry-ways into our City and neighborhoods. Even most major roads will be two-lane facilities rather than four-, six-, or eight-lane monsters. The transportation network will rely on a larger number of small arterials rather than a small number of large ones.

Olympia will be known for healthy neighborhoods connected to one another by quiet, narrow streets with street trees, pedestrian-scale street lamps, and sidewalks on both sides. Residents will wander across them to drop in on neighbors. Our quiet residential streets will encourage neighborhood "block watch" programs, helping to prevent crime. Connected neighborhoods will be less isolated. There will be a greater sense of membership in the larger community. All our streets, large and small, will accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists in safety and comfort.

In addition, there will be a network of urban trails specifically for the use of pedestrians and bicyclists. People will be able to travel safely throughout the City without relying on the automobile, as well as to find a bit of the "country" at their doorstep. These trails will provide a variety of experiences in wooded areas, along shorelines, and in flat and hilly areas. They will link the neighborhoods with key destinations such as schools, parks, commercial areas, and centers of employment. This will contribute to reducing our dependence on the auto.

Although we are planning a City, it will be one that still respects nature. Not every corner of the City can support urban development. Places with critical environmental limitations--such as wetlands and steep, unstable slopes--will be off-limits to development. All development will incorporate appropriate measures to minimize environmental impacts. With environmental limitations directing our actions, new development also will be more cost-efficient than it otherwise would be.

Continual efforts to repair environmental damage from earlier development will also show great benefit. Improved stormwater management, improved sewage treatment, less-polluting vehicles, reduced garbage output per person, an ethic of resource conservation, and other advances will pay off. In spite of our increased population, Olympia's air and water will be cleaner than they are today. Seals, sea lions, orcas, and gray whales will roam the waters of southern Puget Sound in greater numbers than today.

The most important wildlife habitat areas will be preserved to maintain a biologically healthy diversity of species. Children will still find quiet places to hear the arguments of frogs around a pond at dusk, the rustle of the leaves of spring and the humming of insects' wings. On misty spring mornings, deer will still stand silently at the edge of the woods. When the leaves turn golden, salmon will still return to the same shaded, rippling streams where they were born, to spawn and to die, as they have for thousands of years.

Providing parks in every neighborhood will help to awaken a new neighborhood spirit in Olympia. These parks will provide for both active and passive recreation, with playground equipment, basketball hoops, tennis courts, play areas, horseshoe pits, picnic tables, and shelters. There will be places for children and adults to play, and quiet places to just relax on a sunny day. They will become the focal point of every neighborhood.

Community parks will also be enhanced. Our centerpiece will be Heritage Park, envisioned in 1911 by the designers of the original Capitol Campus. Stretching from Budd Inlet to the Temple of Justice, it will be a unique memorial to the lands, waters and people of our great state. Percival Landing will be extended. At Priest Point Park, hikers will find new twisting trails around our evergreen giants; nature lovers will stroll through a botanical garden that rivals Seattle's Arboretum. Other sites will be developed as well. The historic Bigelow House will commemorate our own local history of settlement.

To meet the recreation demands of a growing population, the City will develop new ballfields and soccer fields. These facilities will accommodate league play, along with friendly church, office, and family leisure competition, and programs of individual family fitness. The Olympia School District, private groups, and the City will join together to improve recreation and education activities in neighborhood schools. In addition, an aquatic center and outdoor volleyball courts will be built. The Olympia Center will be a hub for arts and crafts, teenage leisure activities, educational programs and citizen meetings. (Ordinance #6276, 09/23/03)

Olympia will remain the business and economic center of the region. A bustling downtown area with tree-lined sidewalks in front of attractive shops and offices will provide a full range of urban services and activities. Visitors and residents alike will walk the tree-lined shores of Capitol Lake and the boardwalks of Percival Landing and admire the boats moored in the harbor. Shipping facilities in the Port, manufacturing in our industrial parks, and vigorous retail and medical services in other parts of the city and its Growth Area will add to our economic base.

Olympia's capital facilities (parks, roads, sidewalks, schools, etc.) will be planned in advance and integrated with development and redevelopment throughout the City and its Growth Area. Capital facilities will be phased in along with new development. This way new growth will be accommodated without reducing the quality of service to existing residents. 

Olympia will be an increasingly united community which solves problems through full communication and community decision-making. The City and County will be partners in Capitol Campus and Port decision-making. We will work closely with our neighbors--Tumwater, Lacey, and others--in implementing solutions to common problems. Neighborhood groups will take an intimate role in the planning and decision-making affecting their neighborhoods. Area-wide interest groups will be closely involved as well. Each segment of the community will understand the larger picture and help determine the best interests of the whole.

This vision will not be achieved easily. It is an ambitious one.

But if we work together--the public sector, neighborhood groups, businesses, individuals--with effort and dedication, we can achieve it. In fact, our vision is already emerging in the steps being taken by creative, farsighted people in our community.