News from Futurewise

You are cordially invited to attend our annual fundraising dinner and auction! We are excited to have Denis Hayes, President and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, and founder of Earth Day, join us as our keynote speaker.

Our January electronic newsletter can now be found online. Read how we ended the year and what we're doing in 2012.

On January 9, 2012, the Growth Management Hearings Board issued a 177 page opinion concluding that Whatcom County’s updated comprehensive plan policies and development regulations for the rural area failed to meet the minimum standards in the Growth Management Act. The appeal was brought by Futurewise, the City of Bellingham, and concerned community residents in response to a developer that wanted to build an intense urban style development at Governors Point on Puget Sound.

For over three years, Futurewise worked with the City of Spokane to create an effective Complete Street Policy, writing the policy, educating the community and policy makers, and building a wide coalition of supporters from health care workers, unions, educators, and local businesses. Last week, the City of Spokane adopted the Complete Street Policy by a vote of 5-2.

In 2011, Futurewise won cases in every forum from the Growth Management Hearings Board to the Washington State Supreme Court. One of Futurewise’s wins was even appealed to the United States Supreme Court, but as of the end of 2011, the Supreme Court had not decided to review the decision. Futurewise won 82 percent of the substantive decisions in which we participated in 2011.

Stevens County had been refusing to adopt common sense protections for the lynx and other habitats shown as polygons on Washington State Fish and Wildlife GIS databases for five years.

Futurewise is partnering with the Seattle Office of Sustainability and the Environment and Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien to host four panel brownbag discussions from December 2011 to mid-summer 2012.

Futurewise is pleased to announce the appointment of Hilary Franz, an active leader in the local government and environmental arena, as its new Executive Director.

Business, labor, environmental and other community leaders are coming together again to defeat Tim Eyman’s latest initiative I-1125, which threatens vital transportation projects and economic growth across the state, including planned light rail projects like the voter approved I-90 rail project.

Kittitas County Conservation Coalition, RIDGE, and Futurewise sought to protect working farms, rural areas, and water resources from overdevelopment in Kittitas County and prevailed before the Growth Management Hearings Board on July 28th.

On July, 13 2011 the Washington State Supreme Court denied a request by the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners (KAPO) to hear an appeal of a court of appeals decision upholding better protections for Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Futurewise, its partners, and Kitsap County won in the court of appeals.

The state Board of Natural Resources puts a final stake in the idea of plopping a mini-city of up to 6,000 homes on forestland near Lake Roesiger.

Victory in Clark County! Appeals Court says "no" to back door methods that lose local farms to sprawl.

The Growth Management Hearings Board finds in favor of Futurewise, stating that Whatcom County over-estimated its residential lands needs and over-sized the Ferndale UGA.

Futurewise and Transportation Choices Coalition launch a multi-year, statewide transportation campaign called Transportation for Washington to protect our air and water, increase transit choices, and build great, healthy communities.

Our December electronic newsletter can now be found online. Read how we ended the year and what we're doing to gear up for 2012.

KUOW interview with InvestigateWest Reporter Robert Mcclure, featuring Futurewise Co-Director Tim Trohimovich.

Recently Futurewise received two decisions that uphold our state law to protect our waterways and preserve our rural landscape.