Olympia committee hears proposal for expansion of workshop space for marginalized community members

The Liberation Collective (TLC) is seeking a conditional use permit to provide a space for a workshop and recreation support for people with disabilities at a property at 1223 Bethel Street NE.

At a presubmission hearing held by Olympia's Site Plan Review Committee on February 8, project applicant Aherlow Kasjaka said the property is currently zoned for residential use. He said the plan is to maintain the residence upstairs, while the main level of the building will host all business operations.

According to Kasjaka, TLC is a collaborative community gathering and healing space.

In the narrative, Kasjaka mentioned two residents living on the upper level of the house paying the rent and all business expenses, allowing TLC to offer free support groups, classes, and meeting space for small groups at no cost to the community.

"Our goal is to make healing and connection physically, economically, and socially accessible to all Olympians. We do this by offering a variety of classes and groups provided by healing practitioners that are trained to serve marginalized communities, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and others," stated the narrative.

Kasjaka said they intentionally want to build the space in a residential area to be closer to the communities they hope to serve.

He said the site is near the bus line, has access to more parking, and a walking distance of many of the community members they want to serve. "There is a lot of support in this neighborhood to have this kind of space."

Kasjaka added that the commercial areas of Olympia are not designed for the type of services they want to offer, which does not take income from those who would use the space.

"We wanted to find a way to sustain our operations and not depend on our customers to contribute financially to our success and ability to operate. The way to do that is by operating in a building that we can essentially have somebody living in to pay the rent, which is currently myself," he said.

Kasjaka added that the operational structure they are considering is inviting healing practitioners to offer services as independent contractors under TLC.

Planning review

Olympia associate planner Jackson Ewing started the review with zoning regulations and the land use review process associated with the project.

"When you look at our code path, it defines the workshop for disabled people. It states that all nonprofit institutions - serving the mentally or physically challenged – is subject to conditional use approval, shall comply with the standards for commercial business and trade schools," Ewing said.

"This [project] kicks into a commercial set of requirements that generally around a commercial business of trade school,” Ewing added.

The project, said Ewing, is subject to land use review, which will look at the parking and improvement requirements.

Ewing enumerated some criteria for the project to ensure it could fit on the site. The site needs to support the use, including the potential number of people attending the classes, the amount of parking required, and setbacks and screening from neighboring properties.

According to Ewing, the review will also look at the levels of traffic and parking requirements that will not have an adverse impact on streets and are compatible with the neighborhood in terms of traffic generation.

Ewing added that the hearing examiner would have the final say on the approval or denial of the project.

Senior planner Nicole Floyd commented that the project is hard to fit into the city's current code. She said the narrative needs to be concise as possible to gauge the scope and scale of the project. "We need articulate [the plan], like classrooms and the classes and scopes of services to certain populations sizes, like no more than 20 people."

To get approval from the hearing examiner for the project, Floyd advised the applicant to avoid the prohibited activities in the zone.

"You don't call it a counseling office because that's prohibited in the zone. You don't want to call it a recreational activity like a fitness center or yoga studio because that's prohibited. Staying a bit more true to this, like, workshop for disabled, if that fits, is better, knowing there is some flexibility with the hearing examiner," Floyd said.