News Releases

SEATTLE—The Puget Sound Regional Council is now accepting nominations for its annual VISION 2020 Awards program, which honors efforts that improve the quality of central Puget Sound communities.

The Regional Council is looking for innovative and creative projects or programs in King, Kitsap, Pierce or Snohomish counties, developed by either the public or private sector, or through public/private partnerships. Examples include transportation improvements, affordable housing developments, parks and open space preservation, commute-reduction incentives, and other projects that promote a more livable region and help achieve VISION 2020.

VISION 2020 is the region's growth management and transportation strategy which envisions a region with diverse, economically and environmentally healthy communities framed by open space and connected by a high-quality, efficient transportation system.

Nominated projects, programs, or plans must help implement VISION 2020 by promoting or demonstrating two or more of the following:

• Improved proximity/access between living and working places.
• Development in urban, town or manufacturing/industrial centers.
• Increased choices in housing types, such as single-family homes on small lots, accessory units, and townhouses (especially affordable housing)
• Improved economic activity through creation or retention of family-wage jobs and efficient movement of freight, goods and information.
• Increased opportunities and incentives to walk, bicycle or use public transit.
• Strategic and/or innovative investment in services, facilities or programs to support VISION 2020.
• Efficient development or redevelopment of urban land.
• Protection of rural areas, critical areas, and other aspects of the natural environment.

For a copy of the VISION 2020 awards brochure, including the rules and procedures for submitting nominations, contact Anne Avery at (206) 587-4818, or e-mail aavery@psrc.org.

The deadline for nominations is December 31, 1999. Award winners will be selected by a committee composed of elected officials serving on the Regional Council's Executive and Policy boards and two outside experts. The awards will be presented in March 2000 at the annual meeting of the Regional Council's General Assembly.

The Puget Sound Regional Council is the designated regional transportation and growth management agency for the central Puget Sound area under state and federal laws and serves as a forum for developing policies and making decisions about regional growth management, economic and transportation issues in the four-county central Puget Sound region.