Olympia School District may sell land to city for mixed-income housing developments
The Olympia School District school district could end up selling vacant land to the city to build mixed-income housing as a way to provide more housing for families and boost the district’s enrollment.
The topic came up when the Olympia school board met earlier this month with the Olympia City Council to discuss a number of topics, including housing affordability and future potential property partnerships.
School board member Scott Clifthorne said there appears to be a demographic shift happening in Olympia. He said there are more older people and people without children or plans to have them, contributing to the district’s steady decline in enrollment over the past several years. He said it feels like the district and city don’t have many options for tackling who’s moving to the city, other than bolstering affordable housing for families.
Darian Lightfoot, the city’s Housing Program manager, said since the city started its rental housing registry, she’s heard from a number of homeowners who plan to sell their rentals. But she doesn’t see that as a bad thing; it gives another family an opportunity to become homeowners, she said.
Lightfoot said the city can’t do mixed-income development right now, but it can build housing of different types for different income levels to diversify neighborhoods. She said the two entities can only do that if they strategically land bank.
“So if we say, ‘OK, there’s a deeply affordable project here, then let’s be mindful and not put four more here,’” Lightfoot said. “’Let’s do market-rate homeownership in this area, and we’ve just saturated this neighborhood.’”
Lightfoot said they can only do these types of neighborhood projects if they have enough land options. It would be more difficult with only a few sparse parcels, she said, but if there are four or five near each other, it could be enough.
Superintendent Patrick Murphy said the district would love to work with the city to figure out where more large multi-family housing projects could go. The district has a number of vacant properties, some with future construction plans and some that could stay vacant for a number of years, unless housing is built on them.
School district land that could be housing
The Olympian was given a list of vacant land owned by the district that includes potential future school sites, future site acquisition plans and other vacant properties. However, declining enrollment and declining revenues not only have moved new schools to the back burner, they were the reason the district considered closing two elementary schools earlier this year.
Among the district’s vacant parcels is a 16-acre parcel adjacent to the Mud Bay Road and U.S. Highway 101 interchange that is currently undeveloped. The site is earmarked for a new school when enrollment warrants it. In the interim, the district is partnering with the city to turn it into an off-leash dog park.
There’s also a nearly 15-acre undeveloped site adjacent to Centennial Elementary School, northeast of the intersection of Yelm Highway and Boulevard Road, that the district purchased in 2006. It’s currently being used by Olympia High School’s farm and science program.
Developing this property is contingent upon the district or city having an approved formal plan to mitigate loss of habitat for Mazama pocket gophers, which are listed as a threatened species.
The district also owns a 27-acre undeveloped site at Harrison Avenue and Kaiser Road. The property was purchased in 2020 as a potential future school site.
There’s also a 2.25-acre tree farm at Henderson Boulevard and North Street across from Ingersoll Stadium.
Lastly, the district owns a 14.24-acre property at 2001 26th Ave. NE, the site of John Rogers Elementary School until the school was demolished in 2020. District Communications Director Susan Gifford said the property is vacant other than a portable building.
The district had plans to co-locate a new high school on a large city park property near Yelm Highway, but that has been scrapped. Gifford said there were also plans to purchase a 10-acre property somewhere on the west side and another 10-acre property on the east side to build two new elementary schools, but that’s no longer a priority.
Changes in district demographics
Director Darcy Huffman said she’s lived in Olympia for 28 years and has seen an incredible amount of change, especially in the last four or five years. She said she has seen an influx of seniors downtown. But she said she and many others are not moving out of single-family homes and into senior housing because their children are moving back home because they can’t afford housing.
“We may be all ready to move out of our three-bedroom house and move into downtown Olympia with the water view,” Huffman said. “And yet we can’t because our kids are moving back in or grandkids are moving in with us.”
Huffman said it would be great if the district could come up with a plan to let go of some of its vacant land.
“I would be shocked if we ever needed to have that land to build other schools on, and I know that there is only a small amount of land available, but I think that possibly it could be really beneficial for the school district as well as the city,” she said.
Gifford said construction of school facilities on these sites isn’t included in the district’s six-year planning and construction plan. She said the district will start looking at properties and future district goals in the fall.
