Northwest Hub : Featured Stories
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Northwest Hub: Seattle Considers Rezoning Ballard
From our partner land use, transportation and environmental site, Northwest Hub.
The City of Seattle is considering rezoning parts of Ballard to change the neighborhood's course of development. Proposed changes include converting industrially- and commercially-zoned areas within the Ballard Urban Village and outside the Ballard-Interbay
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Seattle Stimulus Grant Efforts See Mixed Results (Northwest Hub)
Seattle City Council received an update at its meeting yesterday on the city's ongoing efforts to secure federal stimulus funding.
Among the grant proposals the city has submitted, the results have been mixed.
Energy Efficiency Block Grant Approved
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County Approves Sustainable Affordable Housing Demonstration Projects (North
King County Council approved on Monday the creation of three new demonstration projects on county-owned land that will incorporate green design elements into affordable housing developments.
The demonstration projects are intended to provide sustainable affordable housing and promote livable communities. They will include bicycle and pedestrian connections to nearby retail and commercial areas, connected street networks and a mix of housing types and land uses. The new ordinance allows modification to existing development codes to achieve these goals. (more)
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Tacoma Building Facelift Includes Green Roof (Northwest Hub)
When local developers decided to convert Tacoma’s old Park Plaza South parking garage structure into a new retail-office building—dubbed Pacific Plaza Building—they decided it was a unique opportunity to showcase a number of green building features, including a first-of-its-kind rooftop garden. They discovered that adding the green roof did not only benefit the building owners, but also improves the entire downtown area.
( more )
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From our partner land use, environment and architecture site, Northwest Hub:
Sound Transit is now one step closer to constructing its planned University Link light rail route, and this step came in under budget.
Sound Transit's Board of Directors approved a contract Thursday to construct the twin-bored tunnels that will take light rail trains from downtown to the planned Capitol Hill station. The contract is worth $153.5 million, approximately 12 percent below Sound Transit's original cost estimate for the project.
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From our partner land use, environmental and real estate news site Northwest Hub.
By Emily Knudsen
After tackling fast food restaurants—by banning the establishment of more eateries—South Los Angeles has now turned its attention to convenience stores. A new study published in the policy journal Health Affairs found that fast food restaurants may not be the real culprit behind the region's rising obesity rates.
After a year-long study of the ban on fast food restaurants, researchers discovered that it has not been effective in fighting obesity. They believe that the density of convenience and small grocery stores per capita in South Los Angeles, which is twice as high as the county average, may be the bigger issue. The report suggests that policy makers focus instead on convenience stores to target the obesity problem.
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The post reminds us of a recent report issued by the Washington State Budget & Policy Center that finds that for those living in poverty and struggling to keep food on the...
Last month the Portland City Council accepted the “Portland Streetcar System Concept Plan,” a 20- to 50-year, long-range planning study that identifies transit corridors in the City of Portland with the highest potential for streetcars. The plan, nearly two years in the making, illustrates one city’s love-love relationship with the streetcar.
The “Portland Streetcar System Concept Plan” (SSCP) is a nearly 100-page report that was compiled by the city’s Bureau of Transportation and partially funded by the Federal Transit Administration. The plan will be used by the city’s Transportation and Planning and Sustainability bureaus, as well as Metro (Portland’s three-county regional government) and TriMet (Portland’s transit provider) to look at “how transit infrastructure...
From our partner land use, environmental and architecture site Northwest Hub.
One Eastside city is boasting that its alternative transportation incentive program has been hugely successful in getting its residents to make fewer vehicle trips—nearly 1 million fewer vehicle trips, to be exact.
The City of Redmond reported yesterday that R-TRIP (the Redmond Trip Resource and Incentive Program) has been successful in convincing 15,001 Redmond residents and employees to take 1,003,081 fewer vehicle trips since the program's implementation in May 2008.
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Wireless communications buoys are being used by the Navy at sites around Puget Sound to detect water changes that could indicate bombs or other security threats. (Photo courtesy of Intellicheck Mobilisa)
Wireless communications buoys are being used by the Navy at sites around Puget Sound to detect water changes that could indicate bombs or other security threats.
There’s a new tool in use to safeguard the waters of Puget Sound—high-tech wireless communications buoys equipped with sensors that can detect aquatic changes caused by a terrorist attack or other threat.
Developed by Port Townsend company Intellicheck Mobilia, the buoys can detect materials above, on or below the surface of the water. Deployed at six sites around Puget Sound as part a U.S. Navy initiative, the devices are being used to measure various properties in the water, including...
From our partner land use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub:
On Monday the Bellevue City Council learned more about a recently revised plan to bring light rail to the city via a downtown tunnel. (You can watch a video of the study session here.)
The briefing by Sound Transit staff was part of an effort by Bellevue officials to locate the East Link light rail line in a way that balances regional transportation interests while minimizing neighborhood impacts and maintaining mobility on local streets, according to a press release issued by the city. (This week Sound Transit is also holding neighborhood public workshops on East Link.)
The council's study session covered the initial results of efforts to develop a "side-running" alternative to the B3 alternative in south Bellevue, a presentation of the 110th Ave. N.E. tunnel alternative for downtown Bellevue, and results of Sound Transit, city and developer investigation of routing options through Bel-Red.
East Link is a voter-approved plan...
From our partner land use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub:
Swift, the state’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) line, is launching officially on Nov. 29. Community Transit is holding several public outreach events leading up to the line’s launch:
- Oct. 19 from 2-5 p.m. at Aurora Village Transit Center, 1524 N. 200th St.
- Oct. 21 from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave.
- Oct. 29 from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at Snohomish County Campus, 3000 Rockefeller Ave.
- Oct. 31 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the McDonald’s parking lot on 176th Street and Evergreen Way
- Nov. 5 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Lynwood Transit Center, 20100 48th Ave. W.
Our parner land use, transportation and environment site, Northwest Hub, reports:
The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) released its biweekly land use information bulletin today. The following list provides the highlights. For more detailed information, click here.
Highlights are an appeal of an 14-story building north of the sculpture park in Belltown and a proposal by the city to allow taller buildings in South Lake Union for medical research facilities.
From our partner land use, transportation and environmental site, Northwest Hub:
Photo by charliekwalker, Flickr CC
The water surrounding Seattle is picturesque, but it can make for tedious driving—especially when cars must wait at bridges for ships to pass underneath.
Have you ever wondered why a long line of cars must wait for a single sailboat or two at bridges
(more)
Schools, libraries, courthouses, and public gathering places create strong personal and public memories and symbolize important moments in a community’s development. It is no wonder that these institutions engender such strong emotions when threatened with demolition, but heroic efforts to stop the oncoming bulldozer are no substitute for a forward-looking preservation strategy. As the region’s cities grow and change, our communities must grapple with how to identify and preserve those iconic buildings that provide a sense of history and place.
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From our partner land use, transportation and environmental site, Northwest Hub.
As the population grows in the Northwest and climate change exacerbates droughts, there will be an increasing strain on our fresh water supply. Designating reclaimed water for non-potable uses can reduce the demand on this limited resource and better ensure that quality drinking water will be available for consumption in future years.
Reclaimed water may be a new concept for some residents in the Northwest, since rainfall is often plentiful. But in drier areas of the U.S., reclaimed water programs have been in place for decades. For instance, a 23-year-old reclaimed water program in Tucson, Ariz., currently services about 900 sites, including dozens of schools and parks, and hundreds of single-family residences. In one year, the city was able to reserve 42 billion gallons of drinking water for its residents; water that would have otherwise been put to non-potable uses.
King County is now beginning to seriously consider implementing...
From our partner land-use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub:
(Nord Alleyway Party, photo by Julia Levitt)
What can a downtown alley be used for? More than you think—and a group in Pioneer Square has been working to prove it. The network of businesses connected to the historic Nord building, located near First Avenue and Main Street, has created a vibrant and charming social space in an unlikely locale: the alleyway behind their offices.
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Our partner land use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub, reports this alarming issue affecting those in need.
As city governments nationwide struggle to provide affordable rental housing in transit corridors, a new report warns that more than 175,000 rental units near public transit in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas could see rents skyrocket in the next five years due to the expiration of federal subsidies.
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From our partner land use, transportation and environmental site, Northwest Hub.
The City of Seattle is considering rezoning parts of Ballard to change the neighborhood's course of development. Proposed changes include converting industrially- and commercially-zoned areas within the Ballard Urban Village and outside the Ballard-Interbay
(more)
From our partner land use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub: In Tacoma 30 years ago, “parking structures were king,” according to Bruno Freschi, a Canadian architect the city recruited in the 1980s to help revitalize its downtown. The Tacoma we see today is a vast improvement, thanks in part to efforts of Freschi and others.
(Photo by romulusnr, Flickr CC)
From our partner land use, environmental and transportation site, Northwest Hub
Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn released a this afternoon titled "Issues—Planning, Land Use, and Zoning" (pasted below). The paper calls for a shift away from eight years of “top-down planning driven by development interests” to “a collaborative approach—one that puts people at the center of the discussion.”
The Planning Land Use and Neighborhood Committee (PLUNC) held a special meeting on Sept. 23. Highlights are below. Some agenda items, including multi-family code updates and a proposed streamlined administrative review process for townhouse developments, were postponed to a future meeting. (You can watch the full meeting on Seattle Channel.)
Backyard Cottage Legislation
PLUNC is reviewing an ordinance that will make backyard cottages, which are currently only permitted in south Seattle, legal citywide. (For more background information on the proposal, read Northwest Hub's previous coverage here and here.) The committee spent more than an hour hammering out the following recommendations for full council consideration:
- Cottages must have a maximum size of 800 square feet, or if smaller, 60 percent of the primary residence’s floor area.
- The discussed 50-unit cap on cottage construction should be waived.
- The minimum lot size for backyard cottage construction should be 4,000 square...
Our partner land use, environmental and transportation site Northwest Hub has this story about the City Council's passage of help for farmers markets:
After receiving public comment and listening to a presentation by stakeholders, Seattle City Council's Housing and Economic Development Committee considered and subsequently approved a proposal to authorize the establishment of a Farmers Market Program that gives farmers markets special status for permitting purposes. The proposed bill was then unanimously passed by city council on Sept. 21.
The program will streamline the permitting process for market operators, particularly those stationed on public property, and reduce costs for vendors. For the last few months, a pilot program has tested the new fee and permit parameters. The bill will essentially make this pilot program permanent.
Background
Due to development pressures, some farmers markets that set up on private property are getting shuffled around. (more)
Traffic signal control boxes in the Central District neighborhood will soon have new decals designed by local artist Troy R. Miles. The project is part of Seattle Department of Transportation's (SDOT's) Art Plan,
Two years in formulation, SDOT's art plan "is focused as a plan of action, comprehensively detailing how Seattle can become a national leader in creating a more humane, layered, beautiful and relevant transportation system."
Read more
Seattle City Council received an update at its meeting yesterday on the city's ongoing efforts to secure federal stimulus funding.
Among the grant proposals the city has submitted, the results have been mixed.
Energy Efficiency Block Grant Approved
(more)King County Council approved on Monday the creation of three new demonstration projects on county-owned land that will incorporate green design elements into affordable housing developments.
The demonstration projects are intended to provide sustainable affordable housing and promote livable communities. They will include bicycle and pedestrian connections to nearby retail and commercial areas, connected street networks and a mix of housing types and land uses. The new ordinance allows modification to existing development codes to achieve these goals. (more)
When local developers decided to convert Tacoma’s old Park Plaza South parking garage structure into a new retail-office building—dubbed Pacific Plaza Building—they decided it was a unique opportunity to showcase a number of green building features, including a first-of-its-kind rooftop garden. They discovered that adding the green roof did not only benefit the building owners, but also improves the entire downtown area.
(more)
