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Tumwater reports sharp employment gains, 77 new childcare slots and planned‑action EIS for brewery site
Summary
Economic development manager Jean Angel told the council Tumwater saw a 23% increase in total employment from 2020–2025, highlighted 77 new childcare slots funded with city grants, and described a planned‑action environmental impact statement to clear the brewery brownfield for redevelopment.
Tumwater’s economic development office presented data the council described as a ‘‘dramatic graph’’ showing fast growth over the last five years.
Jean Angel, the city’s economic development manager, said total employment in Tumwater increased 23% between 2020 and 2025, and she pointed to the Thurston Economic Development Council’s work supporting 37 local businesses and a city grant program that helped create 77 new childcare slots. Angel also highlighted recognition from Pew Research and the Milken Institute for local middle‑class strength and income equality respectively.
Angel described a planned‑action environmental impact statement (EIS) that is intended to reduce environmental unknowns on brewery brownfield parcels, align transportation and capital‑facilities projects, and make sites more bankable for private investment. She said staff created two advisory teams — a technical advisory team for engineering, transportation and utilities, and a policy advisory team for strategy — and indicated the next meetings for those groups are being scheduled in early 2026.
Council members asked about the geographic scope of the employment figures and whether military installations contribute to local demand; Angel said the figures presented are for the City of Tumwater and that Joint Base Lewis‑McChord contributes to consumer demand that supports local employment. On the noted decline in agriculture/forestry figures, Angel said staff had not spoken to enough local producers to attribute that change to climate effects.
The presentation concluded with a staff request to create economic‑development dashboards and to continue business outreach as the city implements the comprehensive plan and related elements.
