The Olympia City Council, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, approved the use of the interlocal agreement and the city's participation in it with the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, the Squaxin Island Tribe, Thurston County, Tumwater, the Port of Olympia, and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance for the Deschutes Estuary project that aims to restore Capitol Lake to its natural state.
The resolution was part of the consent calendar that unanimously adopted by the councilmembers.
"The interlocal agreement is historic," said Mayor Dontae Payne. "It is an example not only to the state of Washington but to the nation on how local government partners can come together with sovereign governments such as the Squaxin Island Tribe.
We have all formed this agreement to return Capitol Lake to its natural state as an estuary, benefiting our ecosystem, the entire Puget Sound, and protecting Washington State's environment," the mayor continued.
The project, nearly a decade in the making, involves removing the 5th Avenue Dam, reintroducing tidal flows, and restoring over 260 acres of vital habitat. The collaborative effort also aims to improve water quality, address sediment accumulation, and revive critical ecosystems.
The Deschutes Estuary restoration project includes plans for a new 5th Avenue Bridge to replace the existing dam.
The bridge will feature an oculus, a circular opening in the bridge span that will allow visitors and students from nearby schools to observe the returning salmon and other aquatic life. This will transform the estuary into an educational and recreational asset for generations to come.
Once construction is completed, the 5th Avenue Bridge will become an asset the city owns.
The ILA outlines the shared funding and management responsibilities for maintaining and operating the estuary, including a commitment to maintenance dredging West Bay through 2050. This provision will ensure the navigational areas remain clear, allowing the marinas and port to continue operating and preserving the vibrant waterfront.
Olympia would contribute an estimated $11.5 million for long-term sediment management costs.
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bhalverson
I have been very vocal on my support for the Estuary Project and just as vocal about the mechanism developed by the Deschutes Estuary Steering Committee (DESC) made up of elected leaders from each of the partners to fund the dredging of West Bay after removal of the dam. The dam was built in 1951 as a vanity project for the State Capitol. As early as the 1990's the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) recognized they had a huge environmental problem with the lake and as the years went by the problem became worse resulting in the lake being closed to all recreational activities. DES was responsible for the lake as part of the Capitol Campus but did little to resolve the numerous environmental problems. For years DES has been working on a solution. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) identified a solution that would rehabilitate the area by removing the dam and returning the area to an Estuary. A good thing. But then DES had to find a way to fund this $350 Million dollar project and knew that by removing the dam more sediment would be washed down the river through the estuary and into the bay area where marinas, the yacht club and the Port of Olympia were located. All but one Marina had existed prior to the construction of the dam, and they were all dealing with sediment removal (dredging) up to the dams’ construction. Once the dam was constructed the amount of sediment washing into the bay area was reduced significantly and this became the norm for the past 75 years. If the dam had never been built they would have continued to pay for maintenance dredging all along. They had a 75 year hiatus of not having to dredge as often. The legislature had requested DES work with local jurisdictions and come up with a plan that could possibly include funding to deal with the dredging. Our local elected leaders followed the lead of DES. Lambs to the slaughter in the hands of experienced bureaucrats. All the right buzz words were used to entice our elected leaders to buy in to the program and offer to spend our tax dollars. Do you know what those tax dollars will be used for? Most taxpayers don't know, and I would suggest most of the elected leaders that voted to approve the ILA for their jurisdiction don't know either. The millions of dollars alluded to in this article (11.5 Million) and millions more from the other partners will go to help pay for the dredging of the Port of Olympia Vessel Berths and the access areas for the private marinas and the yacht club so these private marinas, the yacht club and the Port of Olympia will not need to pay as much to maintain access to the deeper water from their boat slips. Why should our taxpayers pay to reduce costs to the richest people? They shouldn't. But you can't make the marinas and yacht club pay all of that money, right? Well, they did prior to the dam being built. However, inflation has increased the cost of dredging to a point where the state (Department of Natural Resources) who owns the leases to the shoreline where these marinas are located doesn't feel they could reasonably increase the cost the marinas lease the property for to a level that they could afford. Okay. Who created the problem? The state. So why are local jurisdictions being asked to pay? They shouldn't. Yes, a couple, like the City of Olympia should be paying something into the fund because the City owns one of the marinas and draws income from it. They also collect a lot of taxes from all the waterfront properties along the bay. But even Olympia should not pay 11.5 million. Why are we being asked to supplement the cost of dredging the Port of Olympia? We all pay a tax to the Port of Olympia already. That tax is supposed to include dredging the port when necessary. All ports in Washington State pay the full amount to dredge their Vessel Berths. Why is the Port of Olympia different? All our elected leaders need to excerpt their leadership and push back on DES. Redo the ILA. Some jurisdictions should pay some, but the state should pay for most of it. As I have just explained, they created the problem, allowed the problem to fester and get worse year after year and did little to take care of the increasing environmental issues that now include 12 invasive species. I realize most of the local jurisdictions have already voted to approve this ILA and stick it to their respective taxpayers, but it’s not too late for them all to stand up and tell DES to start over with the funding mechanism. That is what they should do. We will see what they do.
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Esther
A lawsuit has been filed against the Agreement in Superior Court claiming it is written in a way that lets the parties avoid their legal responsibilities under the State ENvironmental Policy Act, the Open Public meetings Act and the Public Records Act. You can read more about it here -https://olywip.org/lawsuit-challenges-implementation-of-deschutes-estuary-project/
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