The attractive features of the central Puget Sound region, including mountains and waterways, abundant natural resources, and economic opportunities, have drawn people to this region for years. Growth has contributed to the diversity and vitality of the region. Growth has also been marked by the conversion of open space to urban sprawl, inadequate amounts of affordable housing, and overloaded roadways.

Prior to 1990, Washington's land use and environmental laws were a patchwork enacted over 100 years -- a constitution written to address the problems of the 1880s, planning enabling laws adopted in the 1930s, and environmental acts passed in the 1970s. In 1990, the state Legislature adopted the Growth Management Act as the framework for managing growth in a manner that is coordinated and comprehensive. At about the same time, the central Puget Sound region adopted VISION 2020 as the region's first, integrated long-range growth and transportation strategy.

VISION 2020 responded to the region's need for a shared vision of what we want for the future, what we want to preserve, and what we need to improve. VISION 2020 stressed the importance of better mobility, environmental protection and economic prosperity. It has provided the framework for local and regional planning. (For a summary of these efforts see the VISION 2020 Update Progress Report, May 1994.)

Many challenges remain, however. Forecasts predict that the central Puget Sound region will grow by another 1.4 million residents from 1990 to 2020.

• How can we provide adequate and affordable housing? In 1990, the proportion of households paying 30 percent or more of their income for housing increased to nearly a third and home ownership declined to 57 percent.

• Where will the new residents find family-wage jobs? Since the late 1980s, nearly 70 percent of the new jobs in the region have been in services; many of these jobs are not high-wage.

• How will people get where they need to go? With another 1.4 million people, the amount of delay on our freeways and arterials could be more than three times what it is now.

• How can we pay for the needed services and facilities? The cost of just maintaining and preserving the region's transportation system over the next 25 years is expected to be $36 billion.

• How will we protect our natural environment? From 1984 to 1992, approximately 45,000 acres of natural and open space areas were developed as residences, businesses and streets.

Urban Areas

VISION 2020 responds to these challenges by seeking to contain much of the region's projected growth within defined urban growth areas, creating compact urban communities and vibrant centers of activity.

The crux of the strategy is to restore connections between where we live, work and recreate, and create an urban environment that is amenable to walking, bicycling and using transit. In existing communities, small-scale stores and transit stops can be added to neighborhood centers near residences. Newly developed areas are to include stores and other services within walking distance of most residences. The strategy promotes redevelopment of selected low-density commercial corridors to include housing, locally-oriented retail, and sidewalks.

The strategy seeks to focus a significant share of employment and housing growth in approximately 20 urban centers connected and served by fast and frequent high capacity transit service. These centers are the focal points of many of the region's major cities, intended to attract residents and businesses to high quality transit service, proximity to services and jobs, well-designed housing, and other advantages.

Though less dense, town centers are to serve a similar role for smaller cities and activity areas, providing services and housing that support vital and active communities. VISION 2020 also stresses preservation of existing manufacturing/industrial centers as locations for intensive manufacturing, industrial and related uses.

Housing

VISION 2020 calls for communities to provide a greater variety of housing choices, expanding alternatives to include single-family homes on small lots, accessory units, and townhouses as well as homes on larger lots. Ensuring that we have enough housing regionwide that is affordable for households of different incomes and needs is also a key part of the strategy.

Rural Areas

The region's rural lands offer a landscape filled with wooded areas, small-scale farms, and lakes and streams. In recent years, suburban growth has consumed large amounts of rural lands and services have become over used. VISION 2020 aims to preserve rural lands on a long-term basis by ensuring that proposed development is consistent with rural character.

The strategy supports use of rural lands for farming and forestry, recreation, cottage industries, and low-density housing maintained by rural services. Cities and towns in rural areas will provide services and jobs for rural residents as well as higher density housing. Portions of these rural areas, together with natural resource lands, critical areas and other lands, are to contribute to a regional greenspace network to separate urban areas and preserve permanent regional connections of open space.

Economy

VISION 2020 promotes a sustainable and stable regional economy to provide economic vitality and family wage jobs while managing growth and supporting compact communities and centers. Historically, the region's rate of economic growth has fluctuated greatly due to the influence of aerospace and natural resource based industries. Recently, the growth of high technology, healthcare and other trade and service-sector businesses has helped diversify the region's economy.

The VISION 2020 strategy emphasizes that continued economic stability and diversity are dependent upon public and private sector collaboration to identify needs, such as infrastructure and land, and to invest in services that will promote economic activity. The strategy also stresses the importance of developing sound economic data and other information to monitor and evaluate our progress.

Services and Facilities

VISION 2020 promotes strategic investment in services and facilities, such as schools, utilities, and transportation, to support the proposed growth pattern. Examples of strategic investments include improving streets and sidewalks to encourage development in urban centers, and improving freight and goods movement to and from manufacturing/industrial centers, ports, and other key locations.

VISION 2020 emphasizes use of existing and planned facility capacity and investing in facilities and services that reinforce cities as primary locations for growth. VISION 2020 also stresses that new public facilities, whether landfills or libraries, need to be located in a manner consistent with the proposed growth pattern and that is equitable, minimizes adverse impacts, and maximizes benefits.

Transportation

One of the most important factors influencing the region's development pattern is our transportation system. Decades of federally funded road construction programs have provided the United States with the most extensive road system in the world. These investment decisions and the resulting mobility have come at a cost, however. Regional travel trends continue to show more cars on the road, more trips per person, and increases in the number of people driving alone.

The region's traffic is already estimated to be among the 10 worst in the country. The consequences of continued increases in delay on people being able to get to and from work, shopping, and other destinations, and on our economy from delays in freight and goods movement, are significant.

The transportation component of VISION 2020 establishes the regional direction for responding to these trends and provides the basis for the more detailed planning and investment decisions in the Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

Together, VISION 2020 and the MTP promote a multimodal transportation system that is integrated with and supported by the growth management and economic strategy. Transportation improvements and programs are balanced to establish a more efficient transportation system, shifting emphasis from highways and vehicle movement to travel options that support the movement of people and goods. This balanced system will provide opportunities for selecting among different travel options, including private automobile, transit, ridesharing, walking, and biking, to move around and throughout our communities.

To develop and support a transportation system that provides a variety of travel options, the region will focus both on transportation improvements as well as on influencing individual travel choices by increasing the attractiveness of alternatives to automobiles. Together, VISION 2020 and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan provide a four-part transportation strategy:

• Improve efficiency through effective transportation system management.
  The strategy places the highest priority on maintenance and preservation of all elements of the transportation system -- roads, transit, ferries, freight and goods, and nonmotorized.

• Use transportation demand management measures to reduce travel demand, provide new sources of revenue, and help meet environmental objectives.
  In the short term, the region will pursue incentives to encourage transit use, ridesharing, bicycling, walking, and telecommuting. In the long term, the region will study and consider transportation pricing strategies to generate revenue for system improvements, provide incentives for travel outside of peak periods, and discourage the growth of driving alone.

• Focus transportation investments to support transit and pedestrian-oriented land use patterns.
  Serving compact communities with high quality transit service and locating bus stops near residences are examples of effective ways to reduce the need for motor vehicle use.

• Add transportation capacity where appropriate to provide alternatives to automobile travel, enhance safety and access, and improve freight and goods mobility.
  The strategy stresses the importance of system planning for nonmotorized and transit facilities and services, so that these enhancements can be programmed similar to street and highway improvements rather than occurring in a piecemeal fashion. Improvements to the road network to provide a more comprehensive and connected roadway system are also called for.

Together, VISION 2020 and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan reflect this region's commitment to plan for the future in a way that preserves our communities, conserves our natural and financial resources, and maintains our quality of life. VISION 2020 and the MTP also reflect our commitment to work together as a region to address regional issues.

Many of the policies will be implemented through local comprehensive plans as well as transit agency and state transportation plans. Implementation will also occur through the Regional Council's work with local jurisdictions, agencies, the private sector and others to review plans and policies for consistency, develop the transportation improvement program, and monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving VISION 2020's objectives.

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