A short-lived Port of Olympia proposal to lease land for a homeless mitigation site is the latest example of the challenges posed by coordinating homeless response among Olympia’s multi-tiered assortment of governmental agencies.
The port plan, which was hastily proposed several months back amid public criticism over the port’s removal of a tent encampment on its property in Tumwater, was quickly scrapped after port staff discovered that nearly all of the agency’s 550-acre holdings in Tumwater are bound by federal grant restrictions that prohibit residential land use near airports.
The port is now looking for other avenues to support homeless response, including donating money — but Port staff are not sure if they are allowed to do that, given the port’s status as a “special purpose district.”
On Sept. 14, Thurston County Sheriff’s Deputies removed a small group of people who had formed an encampment on the port’s New Market Industrial Campus, after the Port filed a trespass affidavit with the sheriff’s office.
At the Port Commission meeting that same night, Commissioner Joe Downing proposed that the port locate parcels that could be leased to the city of Tumwater for a sanctioned camping site, which all three commissioners approved.
That plan appeared shaky from the start, with commissioners disagreeing about the criteria for a site and a timeline for the project. Less than a month later, it was dead in the water.
The reason, according to Executive Director Sam Gibboney, is because all of the port’s Tumwater property is encumbered by grant and deed requirements from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Documents supplied by the port show that FAA grant assurances prohibit “residential uses” on property attached to airports such as the Olympia Regional Airport. Although two hotels currently exist on that 550-acre campus, hotels are not considered “residential” uses.
Olympia Regional Airport director Rudy Rudolph reached out to the FAA, and predicted that violating that clause could risk the port losing federal funding or potentially having to return $22 million in funding already received.
The only land not encumbered by those FAA rules is a forested 5-acre parcel outside Tumwater city limits near 93rd Avenue. The port offered it to the Regional Housing Council, which was not interested in the parcel either.
At an Oct. 7 meeting, which began with an argument about whether the commission’s previous direction for locating a parcel was clear, Port Commissioners continued to disagree about whether to pursue FAA-encumbered property. Commissioner E.J. Zita supported the idea while the other two did not.
That effectively ended port staff’s inquiry, Gibboney said.
“The commission tried to come to a common direction or understanding on what the criteria [for a site] should be,” Gibboney told The Olympian. “They did not do that.”
Commissioners Downing and Bill McGregor were open to pursuing the 5-acre site, but Zita argued it was inappropriate because it was inaccessible, lacked utilities, and would require chopping down trees. The idea of using port property in Olympia was floated, then quickly dismissed, with commissioners noting that Olympia likely wouldn’t be eager to create yet another tent city downtown, since the city runs its own mitigation site not far from port operations.
According to Gibboney, the Port is still considering a monetary donation to support homeless response efforts, which was first floated at the October meeting, but is unsure of whether the port is legally allowed to do so. The port’s legal counsel is looking into it and will provide a briefing at the next commission meeting.
The port is donating warehouse space to the city of Olympia to build microhouses, as The Olympian has previously reported.
