The City of Redmond has received two Governor’s Smart Communities Awards for 2012.
This program annually recognizes the efforts of local communities and their partners throughout Washington to create quality communities.
“The 2012 Governor’s Smart Communities Awards reflect the wide variety of efforts and collaborations that make up growth management planning in Washington,” said Washington State Department of Commerce Director Rogers Weed. “Communities can move forward economically when good, collaborative work like this is being accomplished.”
The City of Redmond’s Vision Blueprint: Redmond’s Capital Investment Strategy (CIS), 2013-2030 has been recognized by the Smart Choices Award for Implementation of a Comprehensive Plan.
CIS summarizes all known capital investments needed throughout the Comprehensive Plan’s 18-year horizon, including capital projects and programs from all city functional areas: transportation, parks, public safety, utilities and general government.
“The CIS is an unprecedented approach for Redmond, and possibly Washington state, in that it attaches a price tag to the community’s future vision,” Redmond senior planner Pete Sullivan said in a city press release. “By linking the Comprehensive Plan with near-term budgeting decisions, the CIS is helping the city identify key strategic actions to carry out the city’s long-term vision. Another benefit is it provides city staff and community members a long-term master plan of major capital investments — including timing and location — which increases opportunities for partnerships and encourages community dialog in the budgeting process.”
The Smart Partnerships Award also recognized the Tudor Manor project, a multi-family residential project in downtown, for a Development Project to Implement a Comprehensive Plan.
Robert Pantley of Natural and Built Environments and the City of Redmond worked in partnership to achieve a number of community goals through the development of this project, including providing affordable housing choices near transit and jobs.
“The Tudor Manor project represents an innovative solution to the ever-present and growing pressure on housing supply and cost,” Pantley said in the press release. “Sustainable building practices were wholly integrated with the provision of affordable housing choices.”
The awards were presented to Redmond Mayor John Marchione at a ceremony on Thursday in Vancouver, Wash.
“It is an honor to be recognized by Governor Gregoire for the city’s efforts to plan for a successful, vital and sustainable future as well as for partnerships with the development community to achieve these goals,” Marchione said in the release.
For more information on the Governor’s Smart Communities Awards or the Growth Management Act, visit www.commerce.wa.gov/growth. For more information about the City of Redmond and its plans and projects visit www.redmond.gov
