Olympia takes a tiny step toward trust

The following opinion piece appeared in the March 10, 2006 edition of The Olympian.

There was an online poll on the headline page of the online edition of The Olympian on March 9, which asked whether the brewery property owner should be allowed to keep some of the parcel's water rights. It was pulled before noon. At last viewing, the response was running nearly 60% in favor of the landowner retaining water rights.

The poll question was somewhat misleading, in that the assumption was being made that the cities should still get water rights through this condemnation. Would the poll results have been different if the question asked whether or not the cities should be proceeding with the condemnation action?

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Olympia takes a tiny step toward trust

Olympia officials have begun to mend fences with their counterparts in Lacey and Tumwater with an equitable sharing of water resources from the defunct Olympia Brewery.

Olympia’s midnight raid — filing a lawsuit to condemn brewery property and secure water rights in Tumwater — was an unprecedented breach of trust. Once Olympia discovered the legal means to seize unused water rights at the brewery, the Olympia City Council should have stepped back and allowed the city of Tumwater to file the condemnation suit. After all, the brewery property is in Tumwater, not Olympia.

Members of the community were outraged by Olympia’s bold maneuver, and council members in Tumwater and Lacey were furious. Rightfully so.

Olympia officials knew they were stepping on toes, but they asked that the community judge them not on their hasty condemnation, but on the city’s willingness to share the new water resource with Tumwater and Lacey.

When attorneys and city managers from the three jurisdictions sat down to discuss the allocation of water resources, Olympia was recalcitrant. Those involved in the closed-door meetings say the negotiations were intense. Olympia eventually saw the light, and — thank goodness — the county’s three largest cities were able to come to an agreement last week for sharing the water resource.

The agreement, ratified by all three city councils in separate meetings earlier this week, calls for each city to get an equal share of the water rights if condemnation proceedings against the former brewery property are successful. That’s equitable but not a certainty. Olympia’s quest to secure the water rights will be decided by a Thurston County Superior Court judge using a law that is 100 years old and has not been tested recently. There is also the possibility that the owners of the brewery property will get their bottled water plant up and operational, clouding Olympia’s claim to the water.

Local officials believe an equal sharing of brewery water resources would amount to a maximum of 2.2 million more gallons of water a day for each city. That’s a precious commodity, given the fact that all three jurisdictions are in desperate need of additional water supplies. Lacey has a moratorium in place that in essence has halted new development in the growth area outside the city limits. Lifting that moratorium and allowing new homes and businesses to be built is dependent upon the city of Lacey gaining new rights to water resources.

The Thurston Public Utility District has asked to join in, but the cities are opposed to that. The PUD has tried, in recent years, to expand its reach and influence. Until then, the utility primarily provided water to the Tanglewilde area outside Lacey and must, according to its agreement with Olympia, search for other water resources to serve its customers. The cities should take the PUD’s predicament into consideration as they divide brewery resources.

Given the way Olympia mishandled the water rights condemnation, it’s encouraging to see the three city councils — finally — working in concert. It’s a tiny step for Olympia in a long road to regaining the trust and respect of folks in Tumwater and Lacey.