Eleven Important Questions

The plans for a new water tower (aka “reservoir”) in the LBA Woods has been on the books for a while–since the time when this 150 acre woodland was to be cleared, graded, and planted with 800 homes. The City of Olympia purchased five acres of the former Trillium parcel expressly for the water tower and is now planning to purchase the rest of the Trillium property expressly for a park.  The LBA Woods Park Coalition leadership team hopes the following questions will answered in the public meeting tomorrow night–Wednesday, February 10, at 6:30 at Margaret McKenny Elementary School. 

Please bring your questions and concerns–staff from Public Works and Olympia Parks Dept. are hosting this informational meeting.

  • What mitigation is planned to recognize that the surrounding land will be a park and not a housing development?
  • How will you coordinate planning for both the park and the tank installation to reduce destruction of park values?
  • What is the rush to build now in view of an uncompleted park plan?
  • What was the process to determine the current proposed location vs.next to the Hoffman tower or other sites?
  • Is it possible to acquire additional land next to the Hoffman tower to build the second tower?
  • Could the access road be through the Wilderness development to reduce impact to the forest?
  • What is the expected SEPA/EIS process?
  • Why was the tank location chosen to be in a wetland? (Note: the presence and ecological function of the wetlands is highlighted in the Parks’ Conservation Futures grant application).
  • What is the expected actual acreage of the fenced site?
  • How will you mitigate for a tower that will be at least twice the height of surrounding trees?
  • How will you block unauthorized vehicle entrance to the park along the service road once construction is complete?