Olympia Council advances Capitol Mall Triangle rules, approves permit-fee grant for affordable housing; proclaims Heritage Month

The Olympia City Council on May 20 moved forward two sets of land‑use regulations for the Capital Mall Triangle subarea on first reading, approved a funding plan for a permit‑fee grant program to support affordable housing projects, proclaimed May 2025 as Olympia Heritage Month and heard public comment on park renaming, sidewalks, tenant relocation assistance and tree removal.

The council voted, by voice roll call, to forward for a second reading an ordinance adopting revisions to the city’s engineering design and development standards specific to the Capital Mall Triangle and to approve on first reading a separate ordinance establishing a planned action for the same subarea. David Ginther, the city’s senior planner, told the council the engineering changes "are actually quite simple" and said they implement the subarea plan adopted in July 2024. The planned‑action ordinance sets a process to do upfront environmental review tied to a trip cap for new traffic from redevelopment in the subarea; Michelle Swanson, the senior planner for transportation, described the cap as a negotiated way to manage SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) impacts and WSDOT concerns.

Why it matters: the two code packages are intended to make redevelopment of the mostly commercial Capitol Mall area more likely to produce a denser, walkable mixed‑use neighborhood by allowing smaller block sizes, raising maximum building heights in portions of the subarea, creating an affordable‑housing height bonus overlay and relaxing parking minimums for…