Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read thepacket and agenda yourself.

This week, the city council will move forward with how quickly and exactly how to dial back the increased building heights along the so-called isthmus (which is really a peninsula). In the packet this week is a staff report and proposed ordinance spelling out exactly how the city can move forward.

I've embedded the staff report below (which is always more interesting) and here is the ordinance on scribd. 

What struck me is the long process even making a temporary (on the way to permanent) rollback of the comprehensive plan. In addition to a public hearing within two months, it has to get onto the docket of the planning commission, which won't be able to pick it up until late summer. It will go into effect immediately, but the city council will end up also justifying its actions at some point.

Here is part of the staff report that deals with the process itself: 

 

Surprised this hasn't been posted already, but the co-op is looking to bring a third location online, this time downtown (apologies if it has):

On December 17th, the Co-op Board of Directors authorized the expansion team to pursue negotiations to acquire our preferred property in downtown Olympia, with the intention of opening a third store.

We are doing this to make good food accessible to more people.

In order to make this project successful we will need to increase the prices of some products.

We will be continuing to assess the financial viability of this project in order to ensure the long term health of the business.

We are also making operational improvements to ensure the sustainable management of a larger organization.

Prior to a final decision we will be seeking member feedback.

Anyone have a clue where exactly they're going to expand to?

From the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife tonight:

Scientists have confirmed that Capitol Lake in Olympia is infested with aquatic invasive New Zealand mudsnails, prompting state agencies to seek the public’s help in containing the destructive invaders.

The state Department of General Administration, which manages the 260-acre lake, has temporarily closed all three boat-launch areas until further notice. Signs have also been posted asking visitors to stay off the lake to avoid spreading the destructive snails to other waters.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), which is leading the state’s response, agreed that a temporary closure is needed to help prevent further spread of the snails while research continues to assess how best to deal with the infestation.

 An Olympian is the hero of the story:

Olympian resident Bert Bartleson, president of the Pacific Northwest Shell Club, discovered the first evidence that mudsnails had reached Capitol Lake during a bird-watching trip there last month. He found 16 tiny black shells inside a larger shell, and reported his suspicions to a snail expert who contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and WDFW.

Two independent experts in invasive species confirmed this week that additional samples collected by WDFW around the lower basin of Capitol Lake are, in fact, New Zealand mudsnails.

Probably one of the best things about the nearby Olympia, the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail opens this Saturday at 10 a.m. The trail will be open throughout November and is the best local opportunity to see salmon spawn.

Here's a page from the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group that has more information about the trail.

By the way, its almost November out there, so if you go, wear some boots!

I'll be honest, neither of these candidates particularly excite me. Both have thin experience. They have also seemed to approach campaigning in a way that frustrates me.

Also, I can't tell if these candidates offer much differences for other people out there as well. They entered the primary as both anti-isthmus development candidates, and once Amy Tousley lost in the primary, that aspect of the election became irrelevant. 

But, I am going to vote for one of them so, which one will it be?

Last year I asked the olyblogosphere advice about the really crowded judge election and it helped out a bunch. So, Olympia, which candidate should I vote for and why?

A few weeks ago I helped out with a committee that gave some input on the county's current website and how they might go about building a new one.

I wrote a handful of posts about my broader thoughts on the website project (the website the county doesn't have, the website they need and why we don't have it). I'll let you click through to see more of what I was taking away from the process, but if you have any of your own thoughts, you can go to this link and fill out the survey.

The last I heard, county staff will start making some changes to the website in the next few months, but that the real effort that needs to be made isn't being held behind because of a lack of funding and coordination across offices.  This is an important process, and if you have any thoughts about it, please let the county know. 

I've been hearing about the cruising local  Orcas this week at work, so here is the digest of stuff.

The Squaxin Island Tribe natural resource's office posts a couple of pictures from Green Diamond and Taylor Shellfish staff of the whales' visit to Oakland Bay.

Orca in Olympia via youtube:

And, Orcas followed some folks home from the San Juans, apparently:

Thad Curtz submitted a meeting report in the comment thread of an earlier post of the port's discussion about what to do at North Point. Very much worth reading the the entire thing, but here's a part:

Most of the meeting was spent on what to do about developing a 2.4 acre site at the end of the Port peninsula, just east of the new Anthony's restaurant, directly back of the shore from the KGY station, and immediately north of the Cascade Pole cleanup site. (In fact, roughly the south-east half of the area is within the slurry wall of the clean-up, and according to some comments of Commissioner Telford's can apparently not actually be built on because of that, but only used for parking or a bus turn-around.)

Plan A, supported by Commissioners Telford and MacGregor, called for issuing an already prepared RFQ to developers immediately, giving them ten working days to apply, picking a short list of developers, giving the ones chosen six weeks to submit a response to a Request for Proposals, and then negotiating a final agreement exclusively with one of those developers.

Plan B, supported by Commissioner Barner, called for a lengthy public process to decide what the public and the Port wanted there (including hiring a consultant for $150,000), and then looking for developers who were interested in doing what the Port wanted done. (There wasn't any discussion of why a public process would have to be this long and this expensive.)

Is the next isthmus controversy brewing at the Port of Olympia?

George Barner, an Olympia Port Commissioner, spoke at the regular meeting of the Thurston County Democrats, encouraging people to show up at a special meeting of the commission on Wednesday afternoon.

The issue on hand are issues being brought up by Barner about the redevelopment of North Point. Currently, the port is aiming to build a hotel and spa at the current site of KGY Radio, forcing out the long time tenant. Also, according to Barner, the development of the Point will cut off public access to what he calls "the jewel of Thurston County."

The situation was presented as a comparison of a hotel owned by people outside the community to a park that would be enjoyed by the community.

"I'm trying to prime the pump," Barner said. "I'm pissed off. I want to tell them to slow down." The meeting will take place at 2 p.m. this Wednesday (August 26) at the Port of Olympia office.

Barner calls the current proposals a "hardening" of the point, while he wants more public access. He says port commission is already asking for consultants to tell them how to develop North Point.

"(North Point) is public access, its public property," Barner said. "You should be able to take the bus down there and enjoy the view. It should be inclusive, not exclusive."

To me, this emerging debate sounds similar to the debate around the isthmus and Larida Passage. While it lacks a specific building proposal, it does include the possibility of a large building near the waterfront.

A couple of days ago, I took a boat ride with some folks from the Nisqually Tribe around the mouth of the river. The tribal staff were assisting on a big research day for the ongoing estuary restoration effort.

A USGS researcher reaching into the rising tide to survey eal grass:

Another researcher reaching into the same rising tide, pulling out a sediment core sample:

The pulled sediment core sample:

Part of the actual restoration project, removing some of the dike along the river:

A side trip upstream to pull an accoustic reciever that was being used to track juvenille steelhead: