Build Up, Not Out
FAQs
UGA Swaps Explained
Do you like trees? Then you should be a big fan of infill housing. That means building up, not out, and putting houses where we’ve already cut down all the trees. “UGA” stands for Urban Growth Area. An Urban Growth Area is like a belt around a city. The belt holds in development so that it doesn’t spill into the rural areas. The purpose of a UGA is to keep urban sprawl from paving over rural lands and creating endless strip malls. A county and city are generally not allowed to expand the city's UGA, or belt, until it has run out of land to accommodate population growth projections for the next 20 years. A UGA swap is an exception to this rule. It's supposed to be used to allow minor adjustments in one situation only: where one area of the UGA is built out and there is not anymore available land in that part of the UGA, while another part of the UGA is not getting built out and there is plenty of land in that area. In those cases, if all the other swap law criteria are met, the county can move the belt so that it surrounds new, undeveloped land in the part where development used up all the land inside the UGA, as long as the county then takes other land out of the UGA where development has not been happening. In the end of the swap, there can't be more land inside the UGA than there was before the swap. That's how it's supposed to work. However, because the law is new, some county elected officials, some county planning commissioners, and potentially some city or county planning staff appear to be misunderstanding the law and heading toward approving swaps that do not meet legal criteria. The first of these is Bar Holdings. If the Board of County Commissioners approves the Bar Holdings swap, the concern is that they will continue approving swaps that are not legal. This endangers rural and natural resource lands everywhere.
Bar Holdings UGA Swap
Bar Holdings is an LLC owned by two developers: Rob Rice and Mike Brewer. Rob is one of the richest home builders in the county. Mike owns American Pump and Drilling. Their LLC owns 33 acres of forestland on the corner of 93rd and Old Highway 99 (a mile south of the Olympia Airport). Because the land is outside Tumwater's UGA, nothing can be built on it except 6 houses. So they bought it on the cheap. The developers are trying to get it into the UGA so they can put a mini-city on it and make a killing. But this would violate the law. It would also degrade groundwater quality and salmon habitat in the nearby Deschutes River and would be inconsistent with the county's Climate Mitigation Plan. Read below for more details.
The proposal will result in a net loss in water protections.
The Bar Holdings UGA swap would be detrimental to groundwater, river water, and salmon runs. The forestland on which the developers want to build a mini-city has a very high water table and extremely permeable soil. The aquifer most likely flows into the Deschutes River nearby. Additionally, several important documented springs emerge nearby to feed baseflow in the Deschutes River. Depending on the springs’ capture areas, the flow to these springs has the potential to short-circuit (accelerate) the movement into the river of any contaminants in stormwater, leaks, and spills. Along with contamination risk, there are instream flow impacts. The Deschutes River near these parcels frequently fails to meet Minimum Instream Flows. As with all rivers, adequate streamflows must be maintained for water quality and aquatic habitat. The Deschutes Watershed is classified as “high risk” by Ecology. Yet, stormwater management requirements at the BAR Holdings parcel would possibly further reduce Deschutes River discharges. This would exacerbate the river's already lower-than-required Minimum Instream Flows.
The project would also put development pressure on surrounding rural and natural resource lands, further impacting the river. This is because extending sewer service to the parcel is a de facto encouragement of land development around the parcel. Many developable parcels south of
the proposed site are also very close to the river and would be subject to similar water supply limits, stormwater design limitations/costs, leaks/spills and streamflow reductions. The multiple hydrologic liabilities of the proposal suggest that other locations further from the Deschutes River and closer to existing water/wastewater utility service might be superior development alternatives.
Additionally, the swap would result in a net loss in groundwater protections because the parcels that would be swapped out of the urban growth area near Black Lake have far less permeable soil and/or have a deeper water table compared to the Bar Holdings parcels. Specifically, the Bar Holdings parcel is zoned "Critical Aquifer Resource Area-Extreme" while the parcels that would be swapped out are zoned merely "Critical Aquifer Resource Area-Moderate."
The proposal would result in the paving over of the Cowlitz Trail.
The developers have named their development "Salish Landing" because they are aware that it would destroy a remnant of the Cowlitz Trail, a historical tribal trading route, and they want to whitewash this. The Cowlitz Trail is potentially 9,000 years old. It later became a spur of the Oregon Trail. According to Dave Welch, Oregon Trail historian, there is no other known remnant of the Cowlitz Trail that remains unpaved, other than on the neighboring properties immediately to the south of the Bar Holdings parcel. Under RCW 36.70A.020(13), land use planning must “identify and encourage the preservation of lands, sites, and structures, that have historical or archaeological significance”.
Overlay map showing Cowlitz Trail (yellow line) running through Bar Holdings. Map courtesy of David Welch.
The parcel was owned by Chief Leschi's executioner.
Who owned this parcel originally? The Nisqually people. Who took the land originally? The very man who kicked the pin from the trap door on the gallows that hung the Nisqually Tribe's Chief Leschi. (Leschi was exonerated in 2004). Leschi's executioner was William H. Mitchell, a 24-year-old sheriff's deputy who in later life callously boasted of sending Leschi to "the happy hunting grounds."
Painting, Nisqually Chief Lesch (1808-1858), created 1904, Public Domain.
William Henry Mitchell, executioner of Chief Leschi, and a founder of the Mitchell, Lewis & Staver Company, dealers in mining and milling machinery, wagons and carriages, Seattle, Washington, USA circa 1900. The company still exists as of 2024, now based in Tacoma, Washington. Source: A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington, Including Biographies of Many of Those Who Have Passed Away, New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. 1903. Plate facing page 256. No photographer credited.
In the big picture, putting housing far from people's jobs increases vehicle miles traveled, increasing emissions. And cutting down a forest to build a mini-city removes carbon storage capacity and removes the cooling effect of the existing trees. Specifically, the project would violate the following goals of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan: T1.1 - Coordinated long term planning - future infill and urban sprawl reduction. Coordinate long-term plans with transit agencies to project where increased density would support more transit corridors. Then change zoning/ density that would support new transit corridors and variety of household incomes. Promote long-term equity and healthy communities by developing incentives such as density bonuses for development where a percentage of the units will be permanently affordable for household incomes. Look for opportunities to meet the Sustainable Thurston land use vision by reducing urban sprawl. T1.2 - Middle-density housing. Reevaluate and change zoning as needed to allow for a range of housing types to promote social economic integration of housing near our region’s urban centers or moderate-density zones. T1.11 - Land use efficiency. Set integrated goals to consider network efficiency and reduce urban sprawl in land use decisions, including how density in certain areas supports transit, increases efficiency of utility service, and other support facilities. Consider vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in identifying locations for large employment facilities.
The developers' application contains greenwashing.
The developers' application contains false statements and greenwashing (i.e., making an environmentally unfriendly proposal sound environmentally friendly). Here is a fact check of the application.
The proposal would pave over a wildlife corridor.
Bar Holdings is a wildlife corridor that would connect the Olympic Mountains with the Cascades if wildlife crossings were built over I-5. Watch this video on habitat connectivity by WDFW. Animals rely on movement to survive, in pursuit of food, resources, and seasonal habitat. As Washington's human population grows, the state's natural habitats grow increasingly fragmented. Habitat connectivity is about ensuring animals have the freedom of movement they need to thrive.
Google Earth, copyright 2024 Airbus
Google Earth, copyright 2024 Airbus
February 17, 2023, Olympian article, courtesy Mike Brewer, with added markups to show the river.
TURN SOUND UP. This pair of great-horned owls is living a few hundred feet from the Bar Holdings property. Their hunting grounds would be greatly diminished if the development goes through. In forested and semi-forested areas the owls need open fields, pastures, and forest clearings for hunting. Bar Holdings has abundant forest clearings because the replanted conifers are only 14 years old. This video was shot on 9/6/2024 by Ronda Larson Kramer.
The proposal would result in a net increase in development capacity.
The land near Black Lake to be swapped out of the Urban Growth Area is already protected by existing laws from urban development--it is steep slopes, BPA powerline easements, and FEMA floodway. The developers' application admits this. Therefore, removing it from the UGA will do nothing to protect it. All the swap would do is create more land that can be developed inside the UGA. This net increase in development capacity would violate the 2024 UGA swap law.
The UGA is not bursting at the seams as required by the swap laws.
The swap law requires the UGA in that area to be bursting at the seams before a swap can be done. This area of the Tumwater UGA is not bursting. All one needs to do is look at an aerial map to see this. Even the developers admit this in their application, which calls that area "underdeveloped."
The developers and county commissioners are advocating for this proposal using the "housing crisis" as their main selling point. But the discussion is too narrow if it only includes the rental or purchase prices for housing. Transportation is a large part of many household budgets. (The typical American household spends 12% of their budget on transportation.) When new housing is far from services and schools, the household ends up having two cars. Owning a car is expensive and it is not just gas. It is the initial cost, insurance, licensing, maintenance, tires, etc. When people live near services, schools and transit, they can choose to have no car, or only one car. That is a pretty big deal for a household budget. Locating housing outside of the urban area is also expensive for all of us. We end up paying for the roads, emergency services and school bus transportation. Sprawl eats up land that could be farms. It threatens water resources and bulldozes forests and prairies. Let's be real - sprawl is wasteful and costly.
The proposal would put development pressure on rural lands.
Extending sewer service to the parcel is a de facto encouragement of land development around the parcel. Also, a member of the Tumwater City Council has said that she supports the proposal because it aligns with her goal of extending services to rural residents. This is by definition encouraging urbanization of rural areas. This violates the swap law because that law prohibits a swap that puts development pressure on rural or natural resource lands.
The county needs to build up, not out.
If we are to build housing that allows people to live near services, we need to in-fill the existing urban growth area, not eat up more rural lands. Building up and not out also preserves the ecosystem services and climate mitigation ability of rural lands surrounding our cities. And that is what our county's own Climate Mitigation Plan calls for. Our commissioners need to follow the county's own pre-existing plans and not get sidetracked by false claims that UGA swaps will help solve the housing crisis. Solving the housing crisis means spending money where it will actually get results, not wasting time and resources on applications that don't comply with the law. The county and City of Tumwater will be throwing good money after bad by supporting an application that will be dead in the water due to legal challenges. Also, by law, the tax revenue and economic development goals of Tumwater and Thurston County are secondary to the Growth Management Act’s goals to keep urban growth compact and prevent sprawl. See CPSGMHB North Clover Creek/Collins Community Council, et al v. Pierce County, Case No. 10-3-0003c, FDO at 46 (finding that an expansion of UGA to add 5.2 acres violated the GMA).