The Olympia Site Plan Review Committee held a pre-submission conference to review plans for a proposed 20,000-square-foot crisis stabilization clinic at 509 McPhee Road SW.
At a committee meeting on Wednesday, June 4, Josh Gobel of Carve Architects outlined plans for a behavioral health facility featuring health services and medical offices to be developed on a flag-shaped lot.
The project aims to provide short-term, voluntary behavioral health services for adults experiencing acute mental health or substance use crisis.
A project description stated the facility will offer an alternative to emergency departments and jail bookings, helping to meet urgent public health needs in Thurston County.
The proposed center would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and would accommodate approximately 16 clients at a time. The typical length of stay would range from 24 to 72 hours.
Services would be provided by licensed clinicians, peer support staff and case managers, in coordination with local behavioral health systems and first responders. There would also be wrap-around medical services provided to admitted patients.
Engineering Plans Examiner Tiffani King discussed transportation requirements. The site, with approximately 70 feet of frontage on McPhee Road, would require extensive infrastructure improvements.
She said the developer would be required to construct a half-street commercial collector along the southern property line to accommodate the future development of an adjacent 7-acre parcel.
Transportation requirements include:
City of Olympia Associate Planner Casey Mauck noted the project is in a High-Density Corridor 4 zone.
She listed design requirements including the building must abut at least 50% of street frontage. That requirement could be met by shifting the building toward the southern street.
Other requirements are as follows:
Mauck said the parking would fall under the use category of mental health facility. The project requires one parking stall for every two beds, plus one stall for every two employees on the largest shift.
If the total number of stalls is more than 10% above or below the calculated requirements, additional documentation may be needed per the parking chapter.
The conceptual plan shows more than 30 parking stalls, which may exceed the requirement. Mauck told the developer if that number is retained, the plans must show how pedestrians can safely travel through the lot, including access from parking stalls to the building and to bike parking.
The development will undergo design review and require environmental assessment.
Mauck addedthe site is in the west of the Yauger Way HDC area, and the developer must contact Intercity Transit about potentially adding a transit stop.
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The_Armed_Gardener
I think we have done enough damage already. "Behavioral health" is code for " the government softening the effects of drug abuse with tax money to create more harm than good, except for the good government jobs they create." Am I missing something?
Thursday, June 5 Report this
OlympiaResident
What is the estimated cost of this project and what portion of it will be funded by Olympia taxpayers? Please be sure to increase financial info in all subsequent articles about this project. Thank you.
Thursday, June 5 Report this
longtimeresident
If this is like the Behavioral Health Facility in King County (think the first one is in Kirkland), they did a fantastic job of planning. I watched a presentation online and was most impressed. The idea that ANYONE can stop in who is in the middle of a mental health crisis, is so much better than going to a hospital ER room. The gentleman whom they are still searching for, was not able to find appropriate mental health care according to his ex-wife (though I believe he was advised in the parenting plan to do so) could have availed himself of just such a facility without waiting for an appt. maybe weeks down the road, etc. It could have changed the sad outcome dramatically.
Friday, June 6 Report this