Goals and Vision

Goals, Vision and Framework Policy Element

Redmond’s Comprehensive Plan is a reflection of the long-term values and preferences held by people in the community for how Redmond should look and feel over the next 20 years. This element expresses those values and preferences through:

◉ Goals that summarize the intent of the Comprehensive Plan,

◉ A vision that describes what our community would be like in 2022 if the goals were achieved, and

◉ Framework policies that the City will follow to achieve the goals and vision.

The goals and framework policies express the core concepts on which the Comprehensive Plan is based and together set the direction for how various elements of the Plan address the trends, opportunities, and mandates facing the City.

The goals and framework policies are not listed in priority order, and need to be viewed as a whole that is balanced over time. One goal or value shall not be pursued to the exclusion of the others.

(Ord. 2177)

Goals for Redmond

◉ To conserve agricultural lands and rural areas, and to protect and enhance the quality of the natural environment.

◉ To retain and enhance Redmond’s distinctive character and high quality of life, including an abundance of parks, open space, good schools and recreational facilities.

◉ To emphasize choices in housing, transportation, stores and services.

◉ To support vibrant concentrations of retail, office, service, residential, and recreational activity in Downtown and Overlake.

◉ To maintain a strong and diverse economy, and to provide a business climate that retains and attracts locally owned companies as well as internationally recognized corporations.

◉ To promote a variety of community gathering places and diverse cultural opportunities.

◉ To provide convenient, safe and environmentally friendly transportation connections within Redmond, and between Redmond and other communities for people and goods.

◉ To remain a community of good neighbors, working together and with others in the region to implement a common vision for Redmond’s future.

(Ord. 2177)

Our Future Vision for Redmond in 2022

What would Redmond be like as a place to live, work, or visit if the community’s values and preferences were achieved? The vision statement describes Redmond in the year 2022 if the Comprehensive Plan were implemented.

Vision Statement

In 2022, Redmond citizens describe their community as one that is complete, offering a wide range of services, opportunities, and amenities. It’s a community that has gracefully accommodated growth and change while ensuring that Redmond’s high quality of life, cherished natural features, and distinct places and character are not overwhelmed. It’s a place where people are friendly, diversity and innovation are embraced, and action is taken to achieve community objectives. It’s a place that is home to people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, which contribute to the richness of the city’s culture.

These goals were hard to achieve, but over the past 20 years through the clear, shared direction contained in the Comprehensive Plan, the vision has taken shape and throughout Redmond, the results are apparent.

Downtown is an outstanding place to work, shop, live and recreate and is a destination for many in Redmond and in the region. Attractive offices, stores, services, and residential developments have contributed to a new level of vibrancy while retaining a small town feel that appeals to residents and visitors alike. Many more people live Downtown, and housing choices include a significant share of moderately priced residences. Strategic public and private investments have created a true multidimensional urban center with several new and expanded public amenities, including a city hall campus and central park that is a gathering place for the community, an arts and cultural center, a technology museum, a pedestrian connection to Marymoor Park, a Saturday market that is open all year, and a variety of quality arts and cultural programs and performances.

Various portions of Downtown have their own identity, design and appeal yet it is easy to walk, bicycle, use transit or drive between them as well as to the rest of Redmond. Many visitors park in one of the conveniently located garages and walk or take transit to get to where they want to go. While pedestrian and bicycle access are emphasized, Downtown also provides for vehicular access and those who wish to drive through have other preferred routes to use. The congestion of 20 years ago has been tempered primarily by providing reasonable and practical transportation alternatives together with improved operations and then increased capacity in strategic locations, such as SR 520 and important connections in the street grid.

Old Town thrives as a focus for retail activity that attracts pedestrians, providing a distinctive selection of stores, restaurants, galleries, and entertainment, as well as housing opportunities. New buildings blend with refurbished buildings, retaining the area’s historic character. Cleveland Street is a pleasant place to walk or sit and people fill the street during the day and evening, particularly during the weekend. The former railroad right-of-way has been transformed to an urban green space that people of all ages enjoy, with places to stroll, gather and talk with others, celebrate, or stop and peek in store windows while walking to Old Town or Redmond Town Center.

Large open spaces, such as the Sammamish River, Anderson Park, and Bear Creek, as well as abundant landscaping and a system of parks and other gathering places, create a sense of Downtown as an urban area within a rich natural environment. A network of walkways, trails, vista points, and plazas enable people to enjoy the natural beauty of the river, views of surrounding hillsides and mountains and other points of interest. Recent developments along the Sammamish River are oriented to and embrace the river, while maintaining adequate natural buffers.

Overlake has become recognized as a regional urban center that is the location of internationally known companies, corporate headquarters, high technology research and development companies, and many other businesses. While intensively and efficiently developed, the employment areas retain their campus-like feel due to attractive landscaping and the protection of significant trees and other important natural features. During the past 20 years, redevelopment of the area in the southernmost part of Overlake has brought retail storefronts closer to the street and improvements to streetscapes to reflect the green character of Redmond, making the area more hospitable to transit, pedestrians and bicyclists. This portion of Overlake has also become much more diverse, featuring small neighborhoods with a mix of housing, small-scale shopping and services to serve employees and residents, and connections to a network of parks, sidewalks, and trails. In many ways Overlake has demonstrated that high technology uses can thrive in a balanced urban setting that offers opportunities to live, work, shop, and recreate to an increasingly diverse workforce.

Residential neighborhoods are treasured for their attractiveness, friendliness, diversity, safety, and quietness. Redmond includes a broad choice of housing types at a range of prices, including affordable homes. During the past 20 years, there has been a lot more variety in the types and prices of new homes constructed in neighborhoods, including more cottages, accessory units, attached homes, and other smaller single-family homes. New homes blend with existing homes and the natural environment, retaining the unique character of existing neighborhoods. Through careful planning and community involvement, changes and innovation in housing styles and development have been successfully embraced by the whole community.

Redmond has maintained a strong economy and a diverse job base. The City is the home to many small, medium-size and locally owned businesses and services, as well as nationally and internationally recognized corporations. Redmond is widely recognized as a community that is inviting for advanced technology, and businesses are proud to be partners in the community. The City provides a business climate that attracts sustainable development to the community and retains existing businesses. Likewise, the successful companies return benefits directly and indirectly to the community. A prime example of this is the support that both the residents and the business community have given to the school system to create an excellent educational system that serves the needs of citizens of all ages.

Neighborhood and community parks contribute to a high quality of life in Redmond by providing a full range of opportunities ranging from active recreation, such as sports and games, to more restful and reflective activities, such as walking and viewing wildlife. Residents enjoy larger natural areas, such as Watershed and Farrel-McWhirter Park, as well as smaller open spaces and gathering places located throughout the City close to residences and work places. Indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and programs meet the needs of residents of all ages. The bicycle capital of the Northwest has developed an excellent system of bike paths and trails that are used for recreation, commuting and riding to schools, parks, and other destinations.

Redmond has embraced energy efficient and environmentally sound transportation systems. The City has invested strategically and leveraged regional funds to improve transportation choices and mobility, and every year more people walk, bicycle, carpool, or use transit or alternative fuel vehicles to travel. Transit service links all of Redmond’s neighborhoods to the hubs of Downtown and Overlake, creating an attractive and practical transportation alternative. Overlake and Downtown are extensively served by high capacity transit that provides easy access to many destinations in the region. Transit stations along the route include shops, restaurants, offices, and residences.

People spend less time traveling and more time where they want to be. All Redmond homes, schools and businesses have high-speed access to the Internet. More neighborhoods and workplaces are served by nearby stores and services that are small in scale and well designed. Significant investments in SR 520, I-405, and regional and local transit routes have improved mobility for people and goods. In Redmond, roadway projects have been built where needed to improve safety and operating efficiency, and the City has maintained a good system of access and circulation for delivery and freight. Most streetscapes are attractive and functional for various travel modes, with street trees and landscaped areas that separate pedestrians from traffic.

Infrastructure and services have been provided to meet the needs of a growing population as well as to correct existing deficiencies. Redmond has excellent police and fire protection and well-maintained and dependable public facilities. Redmond citizens embrace and support the high quality educational, cultural, and recreational facilities in the community. The City works as a partner with schools, businesses, service providers, and other organizations and jurisdictions to help strengthen a human services network that provides low-income families and persons with special needs the food, shelter, job training, child care, and other services they need to become more independent. All the areas of urban unincorporated King County have been annexed so that they may receive a full range of urban services.

Redmond in 2022 has maintained a very green character. The City is framed within a beautiful natural setting and open spaces and an abundance of trees continue to define Redmond’s physical appearance. A system of interconnected open spaces provides habitat for a variety of wildlife. The City prides itself for its environmental stewardship, including an emphasis on sustainable land use and development patterns, landscaping that requires little watering, and other techniques to protect and conserve the natural environment while flourishing as a successful urban community. Lake Sammamish and the Sammamish River, noted for their water quality, are used for boating, swimming, and other types of recreation. Through many cooperative efforts, the improved water quality is demonstrated annually in the increasing salmon runs. Public access to shorelines has been enhanced while protecting the natural environment and property owners’ rights. The open space and agricultural character of the north Sammamish Valley has been maintained and is highly valued by the community. Through the joint efforts of cities and the county, the Bear Creek and Evans Creek valleys remain rural, as do the areas north and east of the City.

Redmond is an effective, responsive local government that responds to and anticipates the changing needs of the community. Many citizens actively participate in Redmond’s planning process and system improvements, and their preferences are incorporated so that Redmond continues to be the community desired by its citizens.

In 2022, as in 2003, Redmond is a community of good neighbors.

(Ord. 2177)

Framework Policies

To be effective, the goals and vision must be translated into policies, plan designations, and actions. The framework policies are the overarching policies that help to communicate how the community wants Redmond to look and feel over the next 20 years and that set the direction for the rest of the Comprehensive Plan. In contrast, policies in the various elements such as Land Use or Housing are more detailed and describe methods of accomplishing the vision. The framework policies are not listed in priority order, and need to be viewed as a whole that is balanced over time.

Participation and Evaluation

FW-1 Encourage active participation by all members of the Redmond community in planning for Redmond’s future.

FW-2 When preparing City policies and regulations, take into account the good of the community as a whole, while treating property owners fairly and allowing some reasonable economic use for all properties. Require predictability and timeliness in permit decisions.

FW-3 Establish and support a culture of dialogue and partnership among city officials, residents, property owners, the business community, and agencies and organizations.

FW-4 Evaluate the effectiveness of policies, regulations, and other implementation actions in achieving Redmond’s goals and vision for the future, and take action as needed.

Conservation and Natural Environment

FW-5 Protect the ecological functions of area ecosystems and enhance the quality of the natural environment by protecting and restoring important critical areas such as streams, wetlands, and aquifer recharge areas and by retaining and protecting significant trees and other natural resources.

FW-6 Protect and restore the natural resources and ecological functions of shorelines, maintain and enhance physical and visual public access, and give preference to uses that are unique or dependent on shoreline locations.

FW-7 Support Redmond as an urban community that values clean air and water, views of stars at night, and quiet neighborhoods.

FW-8 Emphasize Redmond’s role as an environmental steward by conducting City business in a manner that:

◉ Increases community understanding of the natural environment and participation in protecting it through education and involvement programs.

◉ Promotes sustainable land use patterns and low-impact development practices.

◉ Leads by example in the conservation of natural resources such as energy, water and trees, and avoidance of adverse environmental impacts.

Land Use

FW-9 Ensure that the land use pattern accommodates carefully planned levels of development, fits with existing uses, safeguards the environment, reduces sprawl, promotes efficient use of land and provision of services and facilities, encourages an appropriate mix of housing and jobs, and helps maintain Redmond’s sense of community and character.

FW-10 Ensure that the land use pattern in Redmond meets the following objectives:

◉ Takes into account the land’s characteristics and directs development away from environmentally critical areas and important natural resources.

◉ Encourages redevelopment of properties that are underutilized or inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan designation.

◉ Preserves land in the North Sammamish Valley and rural land north and east of the City for long-term agricultural use, recreation, and uses consistent with rural character.

◉ Provides for attractive, affordable, high quality, and stable residential neighborhoods that include a variety of housing choices.

◉ Focuses and promotes office, housing, and retail development in the Downtown and in Overlake.

◉ Retains and encourages research and development, high technology, and manufacturing uses in portions of Overlake, Willows, and SE Redmond.

◉ Provides for industrial uses in suitable areas, such as portions of the Bear Creek Neighborhood.

◉ Provides opportunities to meet daily shopping or service needs close to residences and work places.

◉ Maintains and enhances an extensive system of parks, trails, and open space.

FW-11 Plan to accommodate a future population of 65,700 people and an employment base of 94,100 jobs in the City of Redmond by the year 2022.

FW-12 Promote a development pattern and urban designs that enable people to readily use alternative modes of transportation, including walking, bicycling, transit, and carpools.

Housing

FW-13 Create opportunities for the market to provide a diversity of housing types, sizes, densities and prices in Redmond to serve all economic segments and household types, including those with special needs related to age, health, or disability.

FW-14 Encourage a housing supply in Redmond and nearby communities that enables more people to live closer to work, reduce commuting needs, and participate more fully in the community.

Economic Vitality

FW-15 Support sustainable and environmentally sound economic growth with appropriate land use regulations and infrastructure investments.

FW-16 Maintain a strong and diverse economy and tax base that provides a variety of job opportunities, supports the provision of excellent local services and public education, and keeps pace with economic and demographic changes.

FW-17 Maintain and enhance a broad variety of retail and business choices that meet the needs of the greater Redmond community.

Neighborhoods

FW-18 Strengthen ongoing communication between each neighborhood and City officials.

FW-19 Make each neighborhood a better place to live or work by preserving and fostering each neighborhood’s unique character while providing for compatible growth in residences and other land uses, such as businesses, services, or parks.

Downtown

FW-20 Promote an economically healthy Downtown that is unique, attractive, and offers a variety of retail, office, service, residential, cultural, and recreational opportunities.

FW-21 Nurture a Downtown Redmond that reflects the City’s history and small town look and feel, preserves its natural setting, integrates urban park-like qualities, and serves as the primary community gathering place, and entertainment and cultural destination, for the greater Redmond area.

FW-22 Enhance the pedestrian ambiance of Downtown through public and private investments.

FW-23 Foster Old Town’s identity as a destination that has retained its historic identity and traditional downtown character, is linked through attractive pedestrian connections to the rest of Downtown, and provides an inviting atmosphere in which to shop, stroll, or sit during the day and evening.

Overlake

FW-24 To be developed.

FW-25 To be developed.

Parks, Recreation, and the Arts

FW-26 Maintain and promote a vibrant system of parks, trails, open space, art, and recreational facilities that provide infrastructure designed to meet community needs, enhance Redmond’s high quality of life, and protect its natural beauty.

FW-27 Provide citizens of all ages, including seniors and teens, with diverse, attractive, safe, and accessible recreational and cultural opportunities. Accommodate a broad range of community interests including active programs, such as sports, as well as opportunities for passive enjoyment, such as gathering areas and art, within a variety of civic settings.

Facilities and Services

FW-28 Plan, finance, build, rehabilitate, and maintain capital facilities and services consistent with the following principles:

• Provide facilities and services that support the City’s vision and land use plan as articulated in the Redmond Comprehensive Plan;

• Ensure that capital facilities are well designed, attractive, and safe;

• Provide facilities and services that protect public health and safety;

• Ensure adequate provision of needed infrastructure and services;

• Allocate infrastructure funding responsibilities fairly;

• Establish priorities for improvements and provide reasonable certainty that needed facility and service improvements are completed within a reasonable time.

FW-29 Ensure that the cost of capital facility improvements are borne in proportion to the benefit received. Allocate the cost of facilities that are generated by and that benefit growth to those generating that growth.

Transportation

FW-30 Ensure that Redmond’s character as a green city with a small town feel is protected when planning, constructing, and maintaining the transportation system. Prioritize, plan, and invest in transportation to achieve Redmond’s land use and community character objectives, while accommodating the adopted population and employment growth targets.

FW-31 Develop strong local transportation connections that are multimodal, well designed, and appropriately located for the movement of people, goods, and freight among Redmond’s Downtown, residences, shopping, employment, government, parks, and schools.

FW-32 Promote mobility choices by developing a range of practical transportation alternatives. Increase transportation investments that enhance the attractiveness of walking, bicycling, local and regional transit routes, and ride-sharing to promote the quality of life and health of Redmond’s citizens and the environment. Address travel demand through mobility choices, as well as through projects and programs that increase street safety and operating efficiency.

FW-33 Develop strategies to influence regional decisions and leverage transportation investments to support and complement Redmond’s land use, community character, and transportation objectives and to increase mobility, choice and access between the City, and the region for people, goods, and information.

Community Character

FW-34 Maintain Redmond as a green city with an abundance of trees, forested areas, open space, parks, wildlife habitats, riparian corridors, access to shorelines, and other elements of its beautiful natural setting.

FW-35 Retain Redmond’s small town feel while accommodating urban growth.

FW-36 Ensure that building and site design maintain and enhance Redmond’s character, retain identities unique to neighborhoods and districts, and create places that are high quality, attractive, and inviting to people.

FW-37 Preserve Redmond’s heritage, including historic links to native cultures, logging, and farming and its image as the bicycle capital of the Northwest, as an important element of the community’s character.

FW-38 Retain and attract small- to medium-sized and locally owned businesses in Redmond to offer distinctive goods and services.

FW-39 Provide a variety of gathering places in the community that provide citizens opportunities to enjoy the arts or views, to recreate, or to meet with others.

FW-40 Promote opportunities to enhance public enjoyment of river and lake vistas and provide public places to take advantage of the Sammamish River as a community green gathering place.

FW-41 Enhance Redmond as a community that is child-friendly and safe; supports neighborhoods, families and individuals; and is characterized by diversity, innovation, creativity, and energy.

Human Services

FW-42 Improve the welfare and independence of Redmond citizens by supporting the provision of human services to all in the community.

FW-43 Ensure that human service programs reflect and are sensitive to the cultural, economic, and social diversity of the City.

Regional Planning and Annexation

FW-44 Develop and support regional policies, strategies, and investments that reflect the vision and policies of the Redmond Comprehensive Plan. Achieve local goals and values by participating fully in implementation of the Growth Management Act, VISION 2020, and the King County Countywide Planning Policies.

FW-45 Work with other jurisdictions and agencies, educational and other organizations, and the business community to develop and carry out a coordinated, regional approach for meeting the various needs of Eastside communities, including housing, human services, economic vitality, parks and recreation, transportation, and environmental protection.

FW-46 Work cooperatively with residents and property owners to annex all land within the designated Potential Annexation Area.

(Ord. 2177)

While efforts, including this chapter, are made to ensure that comprehensive plans are internally consistent, sometimes in their application conflicts occur. In deciding these conflicts the City should work to ensure it is hospitable to the type of development that the community wants and that meets community needs for housing, employment, business development and recreation.

FVI-26 If there are conflicts between the goals of the City, the goals and policies of neighboring jurisdictions, or between various policies in the Comprehensive Plan, the City should ensure the conflicts are resolved in a manner that meets community needs and goals. This can be accomplished in part by incorporating flexibility and variance procedures into the Comprehensive Plan and development regulations.

B. Implementation Policies: Making Our Vision a Reality

his section contains policies on implementing Redmond’s goals and vision for the future. The vision and goals for the future also will be implemented by the policies in the other chapters. These policies describe actions that apply to the entire Comprehensive Plan. The other chapters contain policies that apply to specific topic areas or areas of the City.

The Growth Management Act requires that land use regulations and functional plans must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Redmond’s development regulations are included in the Community Development Guide, a document that includes Redmond’s adopted Comprehensive Plan, zoning regulations, subdivision regulations, shoreline regulations, clearing and grading regulations and building regulations. Redmond’s functional plans include the Capital Improvements Plan, the General Sewer Plan, the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan, the Six-Year Street Plan, the Storm Water Plan and the Water System Plan. In addition, local governments and state agencies must comply with the Comprehensive Plan. The following policies address these requirements.

VI-1 The development regulations in the Community Development Guide shall be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Redmond shall amend development regulations to make them consistent with the Comprehensive Plan after amendments are made to the Comprehensive Plan. Development regulations shall generally be adopted concurrently with the Comprehensive Plan amendment. Where a new or major revision to the Comprehensive Plan is adopted, new development regulations shall be adopted within a year of the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan. As required by state law, the Redmond Planning Commission and City Council shall review and approve the updated development guide.

VI-2 Functional plans shall be consistent with the adopted Comprehensive Plan. When new Comprehensive Plans are adopted or amendments that affect a functional plan are adopted, the City shall update the functional plan to make it consistent with the Comprehensive Plan within two years.

The vision, goals and Comprehensive Plan are long-term; they look out over the next 20 years. Plans take this long-range perspective so the community can prepare clear goals on how they would like the community to develop. This gives the community the opportunity to review its opportunities and issues in a broad context. However, while a long-term perspective is important, a plan must be periodically reviewed to ensure it reflects the best available information, current community views and changing circumstances. For this reason, the Growth Management Act requires that plans must be subject to continuing evaluation and review. The Growth Management Act also provides that a local government can only amend a comprehensive plan once a year, except in emergencies, to avoid piecemeal erosion of the plan’s integrity. An annual monitoring report and annual amendment process will be used to meet these requirements and provide the opportunity for continuing refinement of the Comprehensive Plan.

VI-3 The Planning and Community Development Department shall monitor implementation of the Plan. The Planning Commission, with the assistance of the Planning and Community Development Department, shall prepare an annual report to the Mayor and City Council identifying progress in carrying out the Community Development Guide, the Community Development Guide’s success in achieving community goals and any suggested amendments needed to meet community goals. The Planning Commission also shall include recommendations to make the guide more effective and to adjust to changing circumstances. The report shall be completed immediately before the annual Plan review process.

VI-4 The Planning Commission and City Council will consider amendments to the Redmond Comprehensive Plan once a year during April through June. The Planning Commission and City Council will consider the Plan amendments as a package to better evaluate the cumulative impact of the amendments.

As noted above, it is important to review a comprehensive plan periodically so changes in trends and resulting planning issues can be considered. The five-year review will give the City the opportunity to take that detailed look at how the Plan is working.

VI-5 Redmond shall update the Comprehensive Plan no less often than once every five years. This update shall include an analysis of the opportunities and issues facing the City and a detailed review of existing policies and plan designations.

VI-6 Redmond shall participate in any updates or changes to the Countywide Planning Policies and the King County Comprehensive Plan.

The local governments in King County will work cooperatively to monitor the supply of land and to plan for issues that arise out of the monitoring process. Redmond should participate in these activities.

VI-7 Redmond should cooperate with other jurisdictions in the region to plan for and monitor the land supply for resource, recreational, residential, commercial, manufacturing and institutional uses.

(Ord. 1929; Ord. 1905; Ord. 1847)