‘Ticking time bomb’ averted as Port of Olympia, Capitol Little League find path forward

The “ticking time bomb” that Port of Olympia Commissioner Joe Downing once referenced to describe the situation between the port and Capitol Little League was defused Monday when the two sides announced an agreement that will extend the league’s current lease for four years.

The port commission is expected to vote on the memorandum of understanding and lease amendment on Nov. 27.

“I really appreciate that the port and staff have recognized that we need a little breathing space to relocate or to come up with other ways of operating our league,” Loris Gies, the longtime president of Capitol Little League, said during public comment at Monday’s port commission meeting.

The league has occupied about 11 acres of property near Olympia Regional Airport since 1999. The first year, the league had one baseball team and one field. In 2023, it served 1,600 children and fielded about 120 teams across seven baseball diamonds, she said.

The league operated smoothly at that location until the Federal Aviation Administration mandated that the Port of Olympia charge market rate for their lease. The league currently pays about $9,200 a year for the 10.6-acre parcel. Under the market-rate terms, the cost would be $160,000 a year by 2025.

That prompted outcry from the league and league families, questioning how they would ever come up with that kind of money. And if they couldn’t, where would they go?

In a letter to The Olympian, Olympia resident Hal Spencer called the port the “landlord from hell” as he explained the steep rent increase to readers.

“Hard to believe but parents, coaches, kids don’t have that kind of money,” he wrote.

Even Airport Senior Manager Warren Hendrickson, who provided an overview to the port commission on the new lease terms, acknowledged that the league couldn’t agree to those terms.

“The league doesn’t have the financial resources to come anywhere close to meeting the market rates,” he said.

The result is this: The league will pay about $9,600 a year in rent for 2024, and 5% more each year after that through January 2028.

The $160,000-a-year rent is off the table, he said.

However, as part of the agreement, the league is committed to raising $40,000 in 2024, $80,000 in 2025, $125,000 in 2026 and $160,000 in 2027 that can be put toward seed money for a potential relocation, Hendrickson said.

Commissioner Amy Evans Harding said she would like to see the port contribute $10,000 toward that 2024 fundraising goal.

There was an interesting moment in the meeting when Hendrickson acknowledged, after a community member had reached out directly to the FAA, that the agency was not aware of the league or the parcel of land they were using. However, the FAA later confirmed the need for a market-rate lease, Hendrickson said.

“It was never about the money, but about maintaining FAA compliance,” he said, adding that the FAA has agreed not to object to the new lease terms for Capitol Little League.

Evans Harding said she is grateful that the two sides were able to “change course.”

“Obviously, we don’t want kids not being able to play baseball,” she said.