The Puget Sound region is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Every city in King County is experiencing the problems that come with prosperity and growth.
The State Growth Management Act requires that Redmond accept its share of the region’s projected growth. This means that 13,000 more people are coming to live in Redmond over the next 20 years. Seattle has discussed eliminating single-family zoning to meet its growth targets. In Redmond, we are doing the opposite — channeling growth into certain areas to protect our single-family neighborhoods.
Our growth plan is to direct development into downtown and Overlake to prevent sprawl into our established, existing residential neighborhoods. We chose these urban centers because they lacked housing options and they carried the least impact to the rest of the city. This strategy of consolidating growth into areas close to transit and near employment centers also creates the smallest carbon footprint.
To redirect growth into our urban centers, we replaced our undersized utility pipes that previously served one-story development to handle the capacity of six-story buildings. As growth occurs in downtown and Overlake, we are recovering our construction costs through utility connection charges.
Another key element of our growth-management strategy is for growth to pay for growth. The city collects fees on all new development for impacts on transportation, parks, fire and utilities. Since 2008, the city has invested more than $177 million for infrastructure to accommodate the people moving to Redmond’s urban centers. Revenues from growth and development paid 70 percent of those investments. Grants from other governments, like the state, paid 18 percent of the costs, and business taxes limited to road construction paid 8 percent. The city’s general fund contributed only 4 percent.
Managing growth also requires us to anticipate the impacts. In 2010, the city purchased railroad land to create the Redmond Central Connector for parks and trails. To preserve land for parks in growing areas, the city purchased 10 acres of land in north Redmond and 2.2 acres in downtown. In Overlake, we have rights for 10 acres of park land. Obtaining park land early is more affordable and adds to the quality of life for both future and current residents.
Traffic has always been a problem in Redmond. Regionally, we will benefit from the completion of the SR 520 Bridge and light rail arriving in Overlake. Locally, the city extended Bear Creek Parkway to Redmond Way and punched through 161st and 164th to create a grid in downtown. In 2017, downtown’s one-way couplets will be converted to two-way streets to further aid circulation in and around our city.
We are beyond the debate about whether we should have growth — it’s already happening. Instead, we must devote our energies to how we shape that growth to keep Redmond a high-quality community.
Redmond City Council member Tom Flynn is chair of the council’s Public Works and Planning Committee. The committee meets on the second Tuesday of each month.
