"The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) has put out a draft proposal for VISION 2050, the multi-county policy document to guide regional growth through the Year 2050," reports Stephen Fesler.

The VISION 2050 plan is the next permutation of VISION 2040, the current regional long-range growth plan, providing "a broad framework on how counties and cities should address a variety of planning topics, such as housing, the environment, economic development, infrastructure, transportation, development patterns, open space, and climate change," according to Fesler.

Vision 2050 "ultimately affects how local land use decisions are made through designation of Urban Growth Areas, zoning, and development regulations as well as how the PSRC allocates pass-through funding for things like local and regional transportation investments."

Fesler's big takeaway from the Vision 2050 draft is that the plan orients the region toward transit-oriented growth. "The Regional Growth Strategy in the plan would allocate 65% of regional population growth and 75% of regional job growth within Regional Growth Centers, Manufacturing/Industrial Centers, and near high-capacity transit. Only a small proportion of growth would be allocated to occur outside of Urban Growth Areas," according to Fesler.