The Olympia City Council approved five grant applications on June 16, targeting state and federal funding for youth sports fields, a culturally significant park, and flood protection infrastructure.

The resolutions authorize the city to pursue grants from two programs: the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

Two applications seek Youth Athletic Facilities grants from the Recreation and Conservation Office: one for LBA Park Field #3 renovation and another for Kettle View Park improvements. LBA Park, developed in 1974 through a partnership with the Little Baseball Association, has six Little League fields but no lighting. Olympia has not built a major new athletic complex since Yauger Park opened in 1982.

A third application targets the state's Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program for Rebecca Howard Park Phase I. The 0.34-acre site at 911 Adams St. SE, named after a Black businesswoman who ran a prominent hotel and restaurant in late-1800s Olympia, carries an estimated total project cost of $5.5 million to $6.5 million across three phases. The council unanimously approved the park's development plan on March 24.

Mayor Dontae Payne said at that March meeting: "I want to be upfront that it is not going to happen overnight. It will take a lot of work on the part of the city to apply (for) as many grants as possible."

The June 16 application is the first grant bid for the project since that approval.

The remaining two resolutions target FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program for the Percival Creek Sewer Reroute and Coastal Flood Protection Infrastructure Project Scoping. BRIC applications are due to FEMA by July 23, and the federal program covers 75% of project costs, with the city responsible for a 25% local match.

FEMA reopened the BRIC program on March 25 with $1 billion available nationwide, after a federal court order restarted the previously paused initiative.

The specific dollar amounts requested in each of the five applications were not publicly available in the council's agenda materials. State RCO grant award timelines have not been announced. The FEMA BRIC deadline is July 23.