Washington

A planned 10-home development at Issaquah Highlands, a Calthorpe Associates designed urban village outside Seattle, will give homeowners relief from utility bills.

Seattle residents roundly rejected two options to replace the city's crumbling double-decker Alaskan Way Viaduct highway. Though the vote is not binding, the politicians were listening closely to what the voters had to say.

Cheap hydroelectric power helped Quincy, Washington -- population 5,300 -- hit the high-tech economy jackpot. But with land prices skyrocketing and local services taxed, might the boom be too much of a good thing?

Can soliciting too much public input on civic decisions result in nothing getting done? Seattle's efforts to figure out what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct provides a "textbook" example.

Homeowners in Seattle are trying to retain use of public land along the city's shorelines, but park advocates want the land for exclusive public use.

The city's planning commission wants to use "incentive zoning" to encourage the development of taller buildings and generate revenue for the city's affordable housing fund.

Plans have been unveiled for a new public plaza in downtown Seattle, built in conjunction with the construction of a high rise office and residential tower and street level retail complex.

Residents living near bars in Seattle lament about the late-night antics that surround their lives. Some residents and local officials call for an increased police presence, but others call that a waste of resources.

Last year the City of Spokane was awarded one of four Smart Growth Implementation Assistance awards from the EPA. As a result, a three-day workshop focusing on the city's emerging university district involved the public in shaping the area.

A public park and art space is set to open next week along Seattle's waterfront, replacing a former brownfield site. The new Olympic Sculpture Park was created by the Seattle Art Museum, an expansion of which is set to open in May.

In Washington's Puget Sound, a proposal has been made to create a regional transit authority to oversee the coordination, planning, and financing of all transit projects for more than 128 transportation agencies in four counties.

The National Trust Main Street Center profiles community sustainability strategies from Seattle and other Washington State communities.

A company town near Seattle leveraged former Boeing property to attract new residential and commercial development, and is even luring the city's sports teams and the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Though Washington State's property-rights initiative failed to pass in November, opponents and supports are trying to work together to address some of the concerns of land owners who feel the current regulations are too strict.

The Seattle Green Factor asks developers to choose from buffet of architectural features and landscape design options to decrease the environmental burden of new development.

Residents near Seattle are upset after transit officials altered plans for proposed extensions of the area's light rail system. Concerned citizens claim that the transit authority's decision to scrap two lines puts politics above effective service.

In an unusual victory for both property rights and wildlife, the Nature Conservancy has entered into a unique arrangement with three Skagit County, Washington farmers to rent and flood 210 acres of cropland on behalf of migrating waterfowl.

A new paper questions the planning assumptions regarding the replacement of Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct.

An advisory task force has been formed to consider rebuilding a historic streetcar system in Tacoma, Washington. Infrastructure and funding issues are proving to be major hurdles.

Seattle's Daily Journal of Commerce investigates how climate change will affect the region's infrastructure and how the region's infrastructure will affect climate change in this two-part piece.