Final Minutes
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STATE CAPITOL COMMITTEE Remote Access Meeting Olympia, Washington 98504 January 28, 2021 10 a.m. Final Minutes MEMBERS PARTICIPATING: Denny Heck, Lieutenant Governor & Chair Kim Wyman, Secretary of State Katy Taylor (for Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands) Kelly Wicker, Governor’s Designee OTHERS PARTICIPATING: Damien Bernard, Department of Enterprise Services Sharon Case, South Capitol Neighborhood Association Kevin Dragon, Department of Enterprise Services Bill Frare, Department of Enterprise Services Marygrace Goddu, City of Olympia Valerie Gow, Puget Sound Meeting Services Greg Griffith, Olympia Historical Society Bigelow House Museum Organization Jennifer Kilmer, Washington State Historical Society MariJane Kirk, Department of Enterprise Services Ann Larson, Department of Enterprise Services Annette Meyer, Department of Enterprise Services Allen Miller, Citizen Jennifer Mortensen, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation Michelle Sadlier, Docomomo WEWA Walter Schacht, Mithun Architects Michael Sullivan, Citizen Ted Yoder, Department of Enterprise Services Welcome and Introductions & Approval of Agenda Secretary Kim Wyman called the regular State Capitol Committee (SCC) virtual meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. Secretary Wyman welcomed Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck to the committee. Lieutenant Governor Heck thanked Secretary Wyman for the introduction. He noted the Lieutenant Governor has a statutory assignment to attend boards and commission meetings. Having lived in the South Capitol Neighborhood for many years, and as former Chief Clerk, he had responsibilities for the State Capitol Building. The opportunity to be involved in issues pertinent to the Capitol Campus are important to him. Members and staff provided self-introduction. A meeting quorum was attained. SCC MEETING MINUTES- FINAL January 28, 2021 Page 2 of 14 Secretary Wyman recommended adding public comment to the agenda. Lieutenant Governor Heck moved, seconded by Katy Taylor, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried unanimously. Approval of October 15, 2020 Meeting Minutes - Action Katy Taylor moved, seconded by Secretary Wyman, to approve the October 15, 2020 minutes as published. Motion carried unanimously. Appointment of 2021 SCC Chair and Vice Chair – Action Secretary Wyman invited nominations for Chair. Secretary Wyman nominated Lieutenant Governor Heck as Chair. Ms. Taylor seconded the nomination. Lieutenant Governor Heck accepted the nomination. By unanimous affirmation, Lieutenant Governor Heck was elected to serve as Chair. Lieutenant Governor Heck invited nominations for Vice Chair. Ms. Taylor nominated Secretary Wyman to serve as Vice Chair. Lieutenant Governor Heck seconded the nomination. By unanimous affirmation, Secretary Wyman was elected to serve as Vice Chair. Public Comments Bill Frare, Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Assistant Director of Facilities Professional Services, outlined the public comment process. Lieutenant Governor Heck encouraged citizens to be cognizant of the time and summarize comments to the extent possible. DES Planning and Project Delivery Program Manager Kevin Dragon confirmed DES received written comments by the published deadline. The comments will be included in the official meeting record. Lieutenant Governor Heck invited comments from the public. Jennifer Mortensen, Outreach Director, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, reported the agency is a statewide non-profit dedicated to the preservation of historic places. She also submitted a letter to the committee; however, the organization is particularly concerned about the proposal and the predesign study involving the demolition of the Pritchard Library because the organization believes the building is an extremely important mid-century building of public architecture and is one of the jewels on the State Capitol Campus. She asked the committee not to approve the predesign study to afford more time to evaluate other options that would preserve the Pritchard Building and identify a suitable reuse of the building to enable retention of the building. Michelle Sadlier thanked the committee for the opportunity to speak prior to moving forward on some of the proposals. She serves as a boardmember of DOCOMOMO WEWA (International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement) in SCC MEETING MINUTES- FINAL January 28, 2021 Page 3 of 14 Western Washington. The organization also submitted a letter to the committee. She asked for consideration of additional time to ensure the project (Legislative Campus Modernization Predesign) follows state regulations and laws including RCW 79.24.710 and RCW 79,24.720, particularly the requirement that the project comply with the U.S. Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation. The proposed demolition would be a direct violation of those standards. The request is to seek more opportunities to identify alternatives as it would be ideal from the organization’s perspective because of the importance of the building to the state and the nation. The building’s architect, Paul Thiry, also designed the Century 21 Exposition complex in Seattle. The Pritchard Building is a beautiful work of art on the campus. The organization is seeking opportunities for the committee to identify alternative uses for the building, as well as requesting the addition of the State Capitol Conservator to the planning process similar to other practices for DES projects. She understands the State Capitol Conservator was not consulted. She recommended reaching out to the Governor’s appointed State Historic Preservation Officer because there was limited conversation with the Preservation Officer to discuss alternatives. Kelly Wicker joined the meeting. Sharon Case, South Capitol Neighborhood Association, referred to materials the association provided to the committee offering more details about member concerns. The association believes that the entire expansion proposal, which could entail three individual buildings on the campus, should begin by considering the West Campus as a whole as it sets the stage for development options. The proposed three new buildings are interrelated and represent a monumental change to the campus and would have long- lasting impacts. Through the committee’s action, the association believes members have a great opportunity of getting it right by directing a development process that demands comprehensive planning. A piecemeal approach would be a huge mistake because the buildings individually should not be considered as standalone facilities because they are interrelated. The process needs to conduct an analysis of the data and the assumptions relating to campus access issues. These are perennial issues and this is a great opportunity to address transportation, parking, pedestrian use, and now after COVID, future office capacity needs based on telework experience, security that is informed by activities occurring on the campus this year, and design. The impacts to the capital city and surrounding neighborhoods must be addressed as the nexus is vital. It is also important to ensure a robust stakeholder process throughout all three stages of predesign, design, and construction. Finally, it would be important to create a mechanism to provide architectural oversight to ensure continuity of design. She understands it has been pursued for other capital cities to great success and she believes it would be a valuable step for this campus because of the amount of expansion on the campus. By addressing those vital issues, it is paramount to achieving an overarching construction project that enhances the majestic beauty and use of the State Capitol Campus. For those reasons, the South Capitol Neighborhood Association opposes the predesigns of the proposed buildings. Marygrace Goddu agreed with the previous comments. Her attendance to the meeting is in the capacity of a historic preservation officer for the City of Olympia; however, she did not anticipate providing comments and is speaking as a citizen rather than a representative of the City of Olympia. Her comments are not inconsistent with the City’s positions, which have been conveyed by a letter to the committee. Ms. Case’s comments cover the points she believes are of greatest concern to many people. As a former employee of DES for many years and participating in the development of the Development Study for the Capitol Campus in 2017, there are many more options for development of the campus than revealed to the committee, which is especially concerning to her. The issue addresses Ms. Case’s point that the work of such scale should be undertaken with a clear understanding of the larger campus and for all opportunities in a comprehensive planning context. She asked for balanced decision-making as the committee moves forward to ensure all sides are considered particularly for historic preservation, but also to ensure the process of design for the State Capitol Committee as decision-maker is fully respected. DES has been doing an amazing job of researching options at legislative direction and not at the direction of the SCC. By SCC MEETING MINUTES- FINAL January 28, 2021 Page 4 of 14 design, the SCC could be taking a more comprehensive and directive role. She looks forward to the results of the work group study underway.\ Greg Griffith, Olympia Historical Society Bigelow House Museum Organization, said the organization provided previous (written) comments. The only point he wants to reiterate not addressed