Meadowbrook Farm
Sponsored by: City of North Bend and City of Snoqualmie

The purchase and preservation of Meadowbrook Farm by the small cities of North Bend and Snoqualmie was honored as an example of how to hold onto the natural beauty and rich outdoor heritage of the region in the face of population and economic growth that can put tremendous development pressure on prime property, especially riverfront and farmland near a major transportation corridor. Less than five minutes from 1-90, the area is a vital wildlife habitat that links the Snoqualmie River, Three Forks Natural Area, Mt. Si Conservation area, Rattlesnake Ridge and the Cedar River Watershed. It also has historical significance, and will be connected for passive recreation use via local trails to the King County Snoqualmie Valley Trail, local school campuses, Metro transit access and the Northwest Railway Museum's historic rail line.

Northwest Landing
Sponsored by: Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company

Northwest Landing is a "new urbanism" community of townhomes, apartments, single-family homes and affordable housing cottages. With front porches and garages in the back, and seven miles of wooded trails and sidewalk-lined streets, this higher density residential area is designed to be pedestrian-friendly and facilitate mass transit while promoting a more "neighborly" community feeling. It also has been a major economic boost to the area with more than 1,500 jobs in the past year; the new freeway interchange being built to serve the community is privately financed.

The housing is equipped with innovative services such as fiber-optic telephone connections for effective telecommuting and a fire sprinkler system for better protection for residents and less cost to the city. It also preserves about 1,000 acres of open space and sensitive areas, and it has historical significance, with the developer having donated a 150-year-old fort site on the property to the Archaeological Conservancy.

Mercer Island Downtown Streets Program
Sponsored by: City of Mercer Island

Two streets were designed as primary bicycle commuter and auto routes with new turning lanes and bike lanes, and new street trees with artist-designed tree grates to enhance the sidewalks, and the core retail street, with direct access to the existing park-and-ride and future transit station, was dramatically altered with traffic lanes narrowed and sidewalks widened from 7½ to 14 feet.

Landscaped medians with pedestrian crossings and pocket parking were created to "calm" traffic, new pedestrian benches, bike racks and lighting were added, and unique features were integrated into the sidewalks and street light standards.

Tacoma Dome Area Plan
Sponsored by: City of Tacoma, Pierce Transit, and the Dome Development Group

The Tacoma Dome Area Plan is being used to transform the area around the Tacoma Dome, an industrial, manufacturing and commercial area in the heart of an urban center, into a mixed-use urban neighborhood and transportation hub for the greater Tacoma area, where Amtrak, commuter rail, light rail, express bus service and the "Train to the Mountain" excursion service all come together for easy user access. The area is connected with the Dome and other major public investments such as the University of Washington branch campus by an extensive pedestrian and bike system.

The plan also promotes a variety of housing types in the area, including affordable housing for those who are transit-dependent. In addition to the new Tacoma Dome station, which is currently being constructed, the city and its partners have installed street trees with custom-designed cast-iron grates that identify the district and its transportation heritage, and also added pedestrian-scaled light standards, benches and other amenities.

Wetland Bank Compensation Program
Sponsored by: Snohomish County Airport

This program is the first of its kind in Washington state, and meets the dual goals of environmental protection and economic development. Many Western Washington airports, built at the headwaters to watersheds or in ecologically sensitive wetlands, face environmental challenges to development. This program streamlines the environmental permitting process, and provides advance environmental mitigation for development projects by creating, restoring and/or enhancing wetlands.

Mitigation banking provides a relatively large mitigation site (or sites) to be used to collectively compensate for several, usually unrelated, development projects. Larger mitigation sites provide greater opportunities to address environmental needs of entire watersheds and provide greater areas of habitat that provide more protection for wildlife.


Honorable Mention

Connect Services - Honorable Mention 1997
Sponsored by: Community Transit

Connect Services addresses some unique problems: one is that space for park-and-ride lots in urban areas can be expensive and hard to find, and another is that some less-populated areas are simply not serviceable efficiently by traditional transit. Connect Services consist of two routes. One route provides curb-to-curb service between Brier and the Lynnwood Park-and-Ride lot, so people don't have to drive to the park-and-ride. The other travels from Smokey Point to Darrington by way of Arlington, and is able to travel 3/4 of a mile on either side of a fixed route for much of the route to better serve a more rural area, resulting in an increase of 50 boardings per day.

Transferable Development Rights Program - Honorable Mention 1997
Sponsored by: City of Seattle

This program is used to preserve landmark buildings, performing arts theaters and low-income housing downtown. When there's pressure to demolish or change the use of an occupied or vacant landmark and low-income residential buildings, the owner is able to sell the unused but buildable floor area, and the proceeds from the sale are then used to pay for necessary construction rehabilitation costs, so the landmark building or low-income housing can be preserved for the long term. This program was used to preserve both the Paramount Theatre and Eagles Auditorium, as well as 337 units of low-income housing.