Western Trails multifamily project advances with design conditions in Olympia 

The Olympia Design Review Board recommended approval of the conceptual design for Western Trails, a proposed 228-unit multifamily development at 607 and 709 Sleater Kinney Road NE.  

The review board made the decision at a meeting on Nov. 5. The recommendation, which will be forwarded to the Olympia Community Development director for further review, includes three design conditions: 

• Revised perimeter landscaping to reduce the visual impact of driveways and parking areas.  

• A detailed lighting plan showing fixtures and their placement.  

• Landscaping, signage, architectural features or similar treatments to make 6th Avenue pedestrian entrance more recognizable.  

The proposal includes eight, three-story residential buildings, a leasing office, garage structures and pedestrian paths. A roundabout is also proposed near 6th Avenue and Sleater Kinney Road.  

The site is surrounded by single-family homes to the north and south, multifamily housing and medical uses to the west, and North Thurston High School and a child care center to the east.  

City Planner Paula Smith told the board that staff reviewed the proposal under Olympia’s multifamily design criteria and identified three areas needing further attention: perimeter landscaping, lighting and entrance identification.  

She said the plans lack perimeter landscaping, especially areas that were adjacent to the right-of-way.  

Smith said the building entrances should be adequately illuminated, and feature architectural or site design elements that make entrances easier to identify 

During a discussion, Commissioner V Hoy questioned whether the parking layout would make parking too prominent for residents of Buildings C and D. She described the buildings as appearing like “islands in a sea of parking" in the site plan.  

Hoy said the conceptual drawings made it difficult to determine how effectively landscaping would screen the parking areas.

She also pointed to the site’s proximity to Sleater Kinney Road and local bus routes as reasons to reconsider the development’s reliance on cars.  

In response, Smith pointed to design criteria intended to reduce the visual impact of parking on pedestrians and neighboring properties.  

Representatives of the Rockefeller Group and Sage Homes, the project development team, said plans include landscaped islands and a planted pedestrian connection between the garage structures.  

They added the parking placement was designed to limit views from surrounding streets. The team noted parking quantity is governed by separate code provisions.  

The board did not add a condition requiring a reduction in parking.  

The board adopted the staff recommendation without requiring changes to the overall site layout. The project is also under review by the Olympia Site Plan Review Committee for land use code compliance.