It’s so important to recognize and celebrate when government does good. In Washington State, we have many hard-working local elected officials and planning staff who toil each day to make our communities better without a lot of recognition or appreciation. I would argue that it’s particularly important to recognize inspiring government leadership right now. We are in a moment when a lot of people are losing faith in our democratic institutions and we need to remind ourselves that government–through legal, accountable, democratic systems–can and does achieve big things that empower us to live our best lives.

Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to celebrate those government successes at our May 17 Spring Celebration. For those 2025 Livable Communities awards we celebrated good comprehensive planning, but more than that, we celebrated places and leaders that are making a big change for the better. For those of you that weren’t able to attend the Spring Celebration, I wanted to share more background on this year’s awardees.

Pierce County – Excellence in County Planning

The award for excellence in county planning this year goes to Pierce County. Futurewise and Pierce County haven’t always had the best relationship. For that reason, when we looked across the region and began gathering input for these awards, I was delighted to see that Pierce County was a standout success. The plan focuses growth near high-capacity transit, right-sizes the previously oversized urban growth area, removes harmful rural density bonuses, implements a variety of policies to better protect farms and forests, and saves taxpayers money through more efficient urban growth. Pierce County took seriously the new requirements to plan for housing at all income levels, including temporary shelter. Executive Ryan Mello and Councilmember Robyn Denson were both leaders in this new direction who attended the Spring Celebration to accept the award.

City of Bellevue – Excellence in City Planning for a Large City

The award for excellence in city planning for a large city goes to the City of Bellevue. Futurewise started working in earnest in Bellevue in 2021 as part of a new broad-based coalition called the Eastside Housing Roundtable. Bellevue is a city with a lot of great jobs, great schools, a brand new light rail line, and a great quality of life that sets people up for success. But it also has some of the most expensive housing in the country. A lot of people who work in Bellevue can’t afford to live there. Kids growing up in Bellevue can’t afford to move back as adults.

The City’s new comprehensive plan makes big moves to add capacity for more housing supply, more affordable housing, and more housing in different neighborhoods throughout the city. The comprehensive plan also marks an important transition to a more walkable, transit-oriented city, coinciding with the opening of East Link. Bellevue is taking on a bigger share of growth relative to Seattle and to smaller suburban cities. These are changes that will impact the whole region. Deputy Mayor Mo Malakoutian, the City Council liaison to the Planning Commission, attended the Spring Celebration to accept the award.

City of Sammamish – Excellence in City Planning for a Small or Mid-Sized City

The award for excellence in city planning for a small or mid-sized city goes to the City of Sammamish. Like Bellevue, Sammamish is a high opportunity, expensive city that has made some big moves on housing and walkability. Sammamish had a unique challenge because it needs more affordable housing but isn’t set up to grow a lot.

In this new comprehensive plan, Sammamish is creating a vibrant town center, as well as smaller neighborhood hubs across the city, and adopting a thoughtful approach to duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and other missing middle housing. Sammamish also provided one of the most thorough housing elements addressing new state requirements and King County countywide planning policies on housing. Sammamish is modeling housing element excellence for other similar cities. Mayor Karen Howe and Deputy Mayor Amy Lam attended the Spring Celebration to accept the award.

Representative Julia Reed – Legislator of the Year

The award for legislator of the year goes to Representative Julia Reed. Representative Reed did something remarkable this year in passing HB 1491, nationally groundbreaking legislation to create more transit-oriented communities across our state. HB 1491 sets minimum housing densities within an easy walk of major transit stops, incorporating affordability into this new housing, and incentivizing new construction in these areas. These new requirements will open up access to housing, transit, and healthy neighborhoods for tens of thousands of households in the coming years. At the same time, building more transit-oriented communities will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making it easier to drive less in our daily lives, and will protect wildlife habitat, farmland, and save money by reducing development pressure in rural areas. Futurewise and other legislators have been trying to pass similar policies in Washington since 2009. Representative Reed, after 3 years of hard work, got it done. We celebrated as she accepted the award at the Spring Celebration.

The work continues

As we celebrate these successes, it is also important to remember that the work continues. Passing great comprehensive plans and state legislation is an important step, but it is still just one step in the process. We all need to continue to work with our state and local governments to make sure that local development regulations and other related policies are properly implemented and that the results on the ground reflect the original goals of these comprehensive plans and statewide legislation. One of the great things about democracy is that decision makers are continually held accountable by the communities they lead, not just to make promises, but to deliver results.