Tumwater reviews community-center designs and site options; council seeks more outreach and due diligence

TUMWATER, Wash. — At a Sept. 23 work session, the Tumwater City Council and consultants from BRS (Barker Garcia) and partners reviewed design options, programming and six potential sites for a proposed community recreation center and a smaller standalone senior center. Council members asked for additional neighborhood outreach, more detailed cost estimates and environmental due diligence; they did not select a site.

Consultants presented three facility types: a multigenerational recreation center (programmed for all ages and abilities), a larger regional recreation/field-house model and a standalone senior/active-adult center. The consultants described a typical “day-in-the-life” schedule, flexible room uses and adjacencies designed to support seniors, youth, families and athletics. The recreation-center test fit that the team discussed included roughly 77,000 square feet (two floors in the model shown), a multiform gym area (presented as four high‑school‑size courts that could be subdivided), fitness and aerobics spaces, indoor turf, an elevated walk/jog track and space reserved for a future aquatic expansion.

Why it matters: siting, contamination, transit and infrastructure change the cost and timeline. Two of the six sites — properties owned or controlled by the Port of Olympia — appear unlikely without a commercial sale at market value; the consultant flagged a WSDOT “washout” site that has been the subject of environmental investigation and a 24‑acre Kimmy Street site (referred to in the meeting as "Site F") adjacent to a middle school that the Port indicated could be available under a low‑cost partnership or lease. Council members and staff said infrastructure needs — notably a planned roundabout on Capitol Boulevard for the washout site — and potential groundwater/wellhead protections at the Kimmy Street site are key constraints.

Design and programs - Multigenerational recreation center: Consultants said…