Tumwater adopts 2023 legislative agenda

Tumwater city council adopted its 2023 legislative agenda during a meeting on November 1.

Austin Ramirez, the city’s economic development program manager, said that new items were added to the document that were not in the draft version. The additions include the Tumwater craft district, the Budd Inlet restoration project, and support for the Family Education and Support Services (FESS).

The legislative agenda guides the city’s policy and funding requests to the state legislature. It comprises three parts: capital and transportation proposals, the shared legislative agenda, and community projects.

The first category is for capital and transportation projects which Tumwater actively leads or supports. Falling under this category are the following:

• E Street connection at Capitol Boulevard and Yelm Highway
• Redevelopment of Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Regional Offices
• Tumwater Boulevard and I-5 interchange
• Gopher mitigation and economic development funding
• Tumwater craft district

Craft District

The Tumwater craft district was a new addition to this category. According to Ramirez, it features an integrated malt system and storage that aims to connect locally made high-quality grains with local and regional brewers and distillers.

“Currently, a lot of brewers and distillers have to go out of state to get their grains, so [the district] would elevate our locally made grains,” explained Ramirez.

The second category, called the shared legislative agenda, is developed with regional partners and are projects that focus on regional quality-of-life issues. This category includes the following:

• improvements on I-5
• homeless response funding
• maker space expansion
• climate change response
• Budd Inlet restoration

Budd Inlet

The Budd Inlet restoration was added to the agenda to support the Capitol Lake estuary project, according to Ramirez. The restoration is led by the Port of Olympia and is a key step before the removal of Capitol Lake Dam.

Community projects

The last category, called community projects, is a new addition to the legislative agenda. Ramirez said that Tumwater does not actively engage with community projects, but they are worth supporting as they benefit the city.

Under this category is the FESS, which asked for the city’s support as it requested state legislature for $2.2 million in funding. According to the legislative agenda, the funds will be used to secure a 15-year lease which would allow the organization to focus on service delivery. The organization supports families in need with basic needs, parenting education, employment, financial guidance, and home visitation services.