$10M ‘net-zero’ Capitol Campus Childcare Center officially opens in Olympia

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(The Center Square) – Holding a baby identified as Leo in his arms, Gov. Jay Inslee touted the benefits of a new $10 million “net-zero” child care center located at the state Capitol Campus in Olympia, Wash., during the facility’s Wednesday morning grand opening ceremony.

Net-zero refers to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests, for example.

“Leo has a couple needs,” the governor said to those assembled at the event. “One, he needs some good folks to help him grow here. Two, we need to make sure Leo’s parents, who are working with the state of Washington, feel secure with their child so they can serve the state of Washington. And Leo needs a child care center that doesn’t waste energy, so that climate change does not threaten Leo’s future. And today with this center, Leo has all three of those things.”

Turning his attention to well-behaved baby Leo, who fiddled with a pin on the governor’s lapel, Inslee continued, “And this child care center is a beacon of hope for Leo’s generation, where we can really have a future that we don’t waste energy, and we don’t inflict him with climate change.”

According to the state Department of Enterprise Services, the single-story, 9,600-square-foot Capitol Campus Childcare Center operated by KinderCare has been designed to conserve resources, ensure air and water quality, and reduce waste. It is the first net-zero building at the Capitol Campus. 

The facility, located at the Maple Park Avenue Southeast and Capitol Way South, incudes many amenities:

 
  • The roof contains 198 solar panels that produce 440 watts of energy to power the building.

  • The roof itself is made of cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber manufactured in the Pacific Northwest using trees that are more economical to harvest. Wood stores and sequesters carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere.

  • Landscaping included adding 37 deciduous and flowering trees as part of the center.

In 2019, the state Legislature funded a $10 million project to build a second child care center in Olympia to serve state employees and their families. The other center is located on Perry Street.

The Capitol Campus Childcare Center is an initiative of First Lady Trudi Inslee, who also spoke at the grand opening ceremony.

“It took a little while, but I hope this will be a model for many employers to provide child care centers near the place of work, so that they [parents] can have the comfort of being able to run from work, see their children, not have such long delays, have things fairly close by, and have confidence in the caregivers of people like KinderCare,” she said.

The new Capitol Campus Childcare Center, which enrolls children from 6 months to 5 years old, opened on Jan. 30.

Brett Davis reports on Washington state government for The Center Square. He previously worked for public policy organizations the Freedom Foundation and Washington Farm Bureau, as well as various community newspapers.

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  • kozicks

    10 Million for the facility, and now I trust that Gov Jay Inslee will assure the families that the teaching staff will be well trained/certificated, and that they are paid a living wage.

    Tuesday, May 16, 2023 Report this