PortofOlympia_web

They took it to the people, and the Port was voted in on Nov. 7, 1922. Today, the Port of Olympia operates four primary business enterprises – the Marine Terminal, the Airport, the Marina, and a real estate land portfolio. Financial support comes from a combination of user fees, wharf fees, and public and quasi-public funding. Jennie Foglia-Jones, Communications, Marketing & Out- reach Manager for the Port of Olympia, relates, “The Marine Terminal operation has been here the longest; international shipping is what originally established the port. In 1963 the Olympia Regional Airport was purchased along with sur- rounding property from the City of Olympia.We also have a real estate division, mostly for land leases. In total, we own a package of 1500 acres, including downtown Olympia, Lacey, PORT OF OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON AT A GLANCE PORT OF OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON WHAT: A municipal corporation overseeing several commercial and transportation assets WHERE: Thurston County, Wash- ington WEBSITE: www.portolympia.com and around 1275 acres in Tumwater. In the 1980s, we took over the Swantown Marina operation; a decade later, Swantown Boat- works was built and began operation.” Port of Olympia’s Senior Manager of Busi- ness Development, Mike Reid, adds, “We recently went through a strategic planning exercise where we identified three prima- ry focus areas for the Port. One of which is creating economic opportunities. That’s what our business units do: create revenue and associated resources. A second focus area is environmental stewardship. The third is cre- ating and maintaining community assets. The fees we generate from the enterprise side, we use for general purposes. That could be promoting or doing environmental steward- ship work, or providing a community asset, such as a park or trail.” The Port does levy a nominal property tax