The City of Redmond currently has a population of about 55,000 but it stands to add about 24,000 more residents as the region continues to grow and develop.
Redmond Mayor John Marchione discussed how the city plans to address this growth and other topics during his annual State of the City address on Thursday at OneRedmond’s monthly investor’s luncheon. He said the city will be focusing this growth in Redmond’s two urban centers: downtown and Overlake.
“This is an answer to stopping sprawl,” Marchione said about maintaining the density to these two neighborhoods. “Two urban centers is how we’re going to manage our growth.”
To do this, most new development in the two neighborhoods will be multi-use buildings, usually with commercial space on the ground floor and residential space above.
To prepare for this growth, the mayor said the city has or is installing the infrastructure — such as centralized stormwater collection systems — to support it. In areas where development is still in the planning stages, the city has created plans that make room for various services and amenities such as light rail in Overlake. Marchione said by having plans to accommodate for these things, the city will be ready for it instead of having to catch up when the time comes.
“We’re building from underground, up,” he said.
Marchione said in addition to having the infrastructure to prepare for the growth, the city is also working to offer a variety of housing in order to bring in a variety of residents.
“We want Redmond to be a place you can live all your life,” he said.
Marchione also touched on the city’s progress on converting Redmond Way and Cleveland Street in downtown into two-way streets. He said the conversion from one-way to two-way streets is scheduled to be complete in 2016, which was met with applause from the crowd.
The mayor added that Downtown Park on 161st Avenue Northeast between Redmond Way and Cleveland Street, an area he sees as the heart of downtown, will be doubled in size, as well.
In addition to Marchione’s State of the City address, Thursday’s luncheon also featured Lake Washington School District (LWSD) Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce, who gave a short State of the District address. During her “brief opening act” before Marchione’s speech, Pierce focused on the ABCs: academic achievement, burgeoning enrollment and continuing economic uncertainty.
She highlighted the district’s academics by sharing some of the awards schools have recently received in various subjects. Pierce also told the crowd that 94 percent of LWSD students graduate on time and 78 percent of their students attend some sort of post-secondary school immediately after high school.
While discussing LWSD’s growth, the superintendent told the group that they estimate the district will gain about 4,000 students in the next eight years.
“We are graduating smaller classes than our incoming kindergarten and first-grade classes,” she said, explaining the growth.
To accommodate this, LWSD has a bond measure in 2014 for additional funding to build new schools where they are needed. Pierce said the city is planning on holding a number of public meetings this year for community feedback.
She said parts of LWSD’s economic future is also uncertain as it depends on state funding. While the recent McCleary ruling states that the state must adequately fund education, Pierce said because LWSD is not a high-poverty district, they are not as high of a priority as districts who are categorized as high-poverty.
