Seattle urban sprawl (Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver: apartments, condos, house prices)

[Seattle4321]

Will the Seattle metro get more urban sprawl with the rising house prices I wouldn't be surprised if people start buying out more towards the mountains or in kitsap. I personally would like to see the area all the way to the mountains developed but with large patches as nature preserves and have it developed with light rail and smart and sustainable housing. Lots of rain gardens and lots of free lined streets a lot of apartments and condos but some houses with small back yards. I like sprawl because I like going to lots of different town that have their own feel and seeing the unique stores and restaurants.

[GatsbyGatz]

There's no room to sprawl. Furthermore, large-scale urban growth has to be consistent with the Growth Management Act. Local governments have basically planned out how this region will grow, and it's not going to be suburban sprawl.

[CrazyDonkey]

We've basically sprawled as far as we can, because we're constrained by the Mountains on the one side and the Sound on the other.

If you take a weekend drive out to North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Fall City, you'll find lots and lots of traffic. They're pretty much full up. Yeah, you could move out there, but the commute into Seattle is a killer. Same with commuting from Mill Creek to the north, Puyallup/Fife to the south, and Silverton to the west. Maybe a bigger house and lot is worth it, maybe not...

[mkarch]

Yes, surely what we need with large patches of suburban decay formed over the past 3 decades is more sprawl.

Revitalize the inner ring suburbs before bulldozing more forest.

[Exlamatir]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

There's no room to sprawl. Furthermore, large-scale urban growth has to be consistent with the Growth Management Act. Local governments have basically planned out how this region will grow, and it's not going to be suburban sprawl.

Then how do you explain the new sprawled out developments in Black Diamond?

[CrazyDonkey]

Run light rail out to Bellevue-Redmond, Issaquah, Northgate-Shoreline-Lynnwood, Federal Way, West Seattle, Ballard, then build up around stations.

ST4: Puyallup-Tacoma, Everett, Lake City-Bothell, Renton?

Hi-Speed Rail: Everett, Mt. Vernon, Bellingham, Vancouver B.C. to the north; Tacoma, Olympia, Centralia?, Portland, Salem, Eugene, to the south. Later: Yakima, Tri-Cities, Spokane?

Light rail allows you to establish denser corridors and feeder hubs connecting urban and suburban areas. Hi-speed rail allows the leap-frogging of sprawl, enabling density-development well beyond the reach of light rail. This could be the antidote to escalating urban land values.

Think of it as bypass surgery. Expensive? Yes. Necessary? Yes.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by Exlamatir

Then how do you explain the new sprawled out developments in Black Diamond?

A city council that screwed over their constituents.

[Prince Mongo]

I think we need to have some serious discussions about reclaiming portions of the sound for future development.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by Seattle4321

I personally would like to see the area all the way to the mountains developed but with large patches as nature preserves and have it developed with light rail and smart and sustainable housing.

Hell no! Build 100 story condos in Seattle and keep the people west of Lk Washington. WA does almost nothing smart so your plan would be a complete failure and politicians would allow developers to destroy everything in that area. They already have "urban growth zones" in the foothills that are ruining rural areas with excessive building, but without increasing road capacity to get people in/out of those areas.

[Seattle4321]

I was looking at king county's growth map and I didn't see any large nature preserves maybe I just couldn't find them or whatever but that shochocked me. I think large nature preserves should be very important for air quality and habitat for displaced animals. Maybe I am just over reacting but I think they are very important especially in our environment.