Olympia 2045: Utilities

What’s happening?

Every 10 years, the City is required by State law to review and update its Comprehensive Plan. This update will look out to year 2045 to show, among other things, how the City will accommodate new population and employment growth. It is also an opportunity to make sure the Plan and Development Regulations meet current state requirements that may have changed since the last major update of the Plan.

Each chapter of the Comprehensive Plan will be updated individually, with its own public participation process and opportunities to provide feedback.

This page is for the Utilities chapter update. To learn more about the general update process or other chapters, visit our Comprehensive Plan Update home page.

What does the Utilities chapter address?

The Utilities chapter of the City’s Comprehensive Plan covers both city-owned and privately run utilities.

City-owned and operated utilities provide the community with essential services and can help shape Olympia’s future in meaningful ways. We take a coordinated, cost-effective approach to managing our utilities and fully consider the economic, social and environmental implications of all our actions. City-owned utilities include Drinking Water, Wastewater, Storm and Surface Water, and Waste ReSources (garbage and recycling).

Coordination with private utilities which are regulated at the state level by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), which ensures that customers receive safe and reliable service at reasonable rates. The Commission regulates the rates and charges, services, facilities and practices of most of Washington’s investor-owned gas, electric and telecommunication utilities.

In Olympia, private utilities provide these services:

• Electricity – Puget Sound Energy (PSE)
• Natural Gas – PSE
• Standard Telephone Service – Century Link Communications
• Telecommunications and Cellular Telephone Service
• Cable Services and Programming

What recent plans/work influence this update?

Each of the City’s four utilities (Drinking Water, Wastewater, Storm and Surface Water, and Waste Resources) have management plans which provide strategic policy and financial guidance for each utility, consistent with the growth and development direction provided through the Comprehensive Plan.

Although only the Drinking Water Utility is required to update its management plan every six years - termed Water System Plan - for approval by its regulator, the Washington State Department of Health, all four city-owned utilities understand the importance of reviewing their operations and strategic direction periodically and, therefore, also update their management plans.

All adopted City provided utility plans are found in Code Publishing

• Wastewater Plan
• Storm and Surface Waster Plan
• Drinking Water Plan
• Waste ReSources Mangement Plan

Utility Plan updates in progress

• 2021 - 2026 Water System Plan Update
• 2023-2030 Waste ReSources Mangement Plan Update

How to get involved

From August to December, 2023, a subcommittee of the Utility Advisory Committee was engaged in a 5-month series of once monthly special discussions to update the Utilities Chapter of the City of Olympia’s Comprehensive Plan. The summary of each meeting can be found below.

On February 1, 2024, the Utility Advisory Committee moved to forward a Utility Advisory Committee recommended draft Utilities chapter forward to the Planning Commission for a briefing and eventual public hearing. The Planning Commission briefing is scheduled for June 17, 2024 (pushed from April 15).

Comments on the Utility Advisory Committee recommended draft Utilities chapter can be sent to Susan Clark, at sclark@ci.olympia.wa.us, or Ron Jones, at rjones@ci.olympia.wa.us.