Moving to Lacey Washington (Olympia, Tumwater: apartments, city hall, rentals)

[Laceyboy]

Hello,
I'm a single guy 30 yr old Engineer and recently got offered a job position to work for the City of Lacey office on College Street.

I currently live in Hawaii, and looking to potentially find a place to rent or live, preferably near the place. But i'm used to driving 30-45 mins to work, no traffic. Preferably a nice place, not ghetto or closer to work.

Is it typical to live nearby or further and people just drive?

[Diana Holbrook]

People DO just drive! Western Washington, and Lacey in particular is a car town. You would not get by without one.

But that said, it will always be best to live as close to work as possible, who wants to spend more time than needed commuting? And that said, Lacey is a city that grew up fast... there is lots of new development out there, and lots of sprawl without a evidence of city planning.

The City buildings are in a lovely complex with a lot of trees, and right next door is St Martins College, which is also a beautiful campus with a lot of trees and walking trails*

In Lacey, be wary and to look for where any of the active homeless camps are and avoid those. Lacey has some big ones. They sometimes get moved around temporarily, but they seem to come back to the same areas. The freeway right-of-ways have been the some of the most visible, but they have, within the last few weeks, been really cleaning those out and positioning barriers to attempt to prevent them coming back. There are or have been large camps near the hospital and in an area called "the jungle" North of the Freeway at Pacific Ave. There are most certainly others I may not know about. And they move.

Talk to someone about where you're looking, smart to rent for awhile until you figure out the area you want to live in. Lots of good areas around Lacey too.. I don't mean to make it sound like a bad place altogether, it just has the same problems many of our towns and cities do right now, and specific locations should be avoided. Solutions bigger than you and I need to be found.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Welcome to the PNW.

Thurston County is a typical US suburban area, with the exception of downtown Olympia and the neighborhoods around it. If you ever get caught unable to drive, though, the public transit in Thurston Co. is free.

You could pretty much live anywhere in Lacey, Olympia, or Tumwater and stay within 30-45 minutes even with traffic, although to make your life easier, I'd avoid living west of Capitol Lake. Strongly agree with renting before buying.

[Angry-Koala]

There's a lot of new housing to choose from in Lacey. This one stood out for me. It looks pretty nice and just happens to be one block away from the City of Lacey office, so you can't beat that commute. It's close to two of grocery stores and lots of other shopping, yet that area of town has a parklike feel and it seems relatively safe. It's also practically right across the street from the library and a couple of blocks from the freeway entrance.

https://www.rent.com/washington/lace...ub-4-100111858

Lacey has been treating the homeless issue differently from Olympia these days. This big homeless camp in Olympia that runs along I-5 for several blocks, then stops at the Olympia/Lacey border at Sleater-Kinney road is an example. The portion at Ensign Road is called "the jungle".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbpK0f2BYl4

If it's really important to you to avoid homeless camps, etc., either go north towards Boston Harbor (not a lot of rentals out that way) or toward the southern half of the county and also many parts of Tumwater are good. But the folks at Lacey City Hall will be able to give you a more detailed idea on which areas are best and which ones to avoid.

[Sandy Nelson]

There are several neighborhoods within walking distance to the city of Lacey campus, but there are also plenty of options within a 10 minute drive, both in Lacey an Olympia. It really depends if you prefer older homes in more established neighborhoods. These often have larger yardss and no HOAs, or if you prefer a newer built home in a housing development.
I'm curious where you ended up living.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

In Lacey, be wary and to look for where any of the active homeless camps are and avoid those. Lacey has some big ones. They sometimes get moved around temporarily, but they seem to come back to the same areas. The freeway right-of-ways have been the some of the most visible, but they have, within the last few weeks, been really cleaning those out and positioning barriers to attempt to prevent them coming back.

I want to update my prior post on the success of the cleanup of the freeway right-of-ways... all the visible camps and tents are gone, from both sides of the freeway, and have remained clean now for many months. The greenery is growing back, our city looked really nice yesterday, driving all the way through Lacey and Olympia to Tumwater.