ashley's blog

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) released its biweekly land use information bulletin Thursday. The following list provides the highlights. For more detailed information, click here.

I'm at the Design for Livability: Sustainable Cities Forum being hosted today by Cascade Land Conservancy and AIA Seattle at the University of Washington.

The City of Portland wants to give its citizens the resources and know-how to make their urban landscape a little greener. As part of Portland’s Grey to Green initiative, the city is offering incentive programs and ecoroof seminars to teach property owners the fundamentals of building their own green roofs.

The Northwest Environmental Business Council, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Ecology hosted an all-day conference on brownfield redevelopment, called Brownfields Redevelopment: Building Sustainable Communities, yesterday in Tacoma. Many discussions at the conference focused on how to increase partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to make the best use of brownfields, while still recognizing the importance of economics.

A recent report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service explores seven studies that project the costs of H.R. 2454 to 2030 or beyond. H.R. 2454, also known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) or the Waxman-Markey bill, would establish a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (the bill passed the House of Representatives in June).

Transpo Group, a Kirkland-based transportation planning and engineering firm and Northwest Hub sponsor, was recently recognized in CE News’ annual rankings, the “2009 Best Civil Engineering Firms to Work For.”

After considering the results of a study that examined cost-saving measures, Washington's Growth Management Hearings Boards are recommending consolidating into a single seven-member board. Their formal recommendation will be sent in a letter to Governor Christine Gregoire later this month.

Daniel Lowen, who most recently held the position of vice president for acquisitions at Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, has launched his own real estate investment firm called Caerus Realty Capital. The firm will focus on office, retail and multifamily projects that have been hurt by the current economic climate.

Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), an organization that promotes walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl, is holding its 2009 transportation summit at the Nines Hotel in Portland, Ore., from Nov. 4-6.

On Monday the Bellevue City Council learned more about a recently revised plan to bring light rail to the city via a downtown tunnel. (You can watch a video of the study session here.)