The proposed project entails razing the existing Davis Elementary School, located along Ash Avenue. A new school building, to house up to 725 students, will be located east of Birch Avenue and north of 2nd Avenue. A parking lot and recreational fields will be constructed in the location of the existing school building. Additional recreation fields will be placed east of the proposed school building. Ground disturbing activities will include grubbing, leveling, trenching for underground utilities, excavations for foundations, and post-construction landscaping. The project will be partly funded by grants from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, a State of Washington agency, and potential impacts to historic properties were considered under the guidelines of Executive Order 05-05.
The background research revealed 15 archaeological resources, one historic district, and 119 historic properties recorded within 1.0 mi (1.6 km) of the Project Area, but none within the Project Area. The Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation’s predictive model places the Project Area within an area of high to very high risk for encountering cultural resources. Plateau established a grid with 20 meter spacing and excavated a total of 64 subsurface probes across the project area. No Native American or historic-era cultural materials or features were observed during the pedestrian survey and subsurface investigations of the Davis Elementary School Project. Plateau recommends no further archaeological investigations prior to, or during, execution of this project.
