Policy Innovation
What can land do?
In a sustainable future, land is not only secured for wilderness, farms and livable cities—it works for us to do much more. With the right land policies and the right partners, we can leverage growth to conserve farmland, create jobs, revitalize small towns, reduce wildfires, cut greenhouse emissions and more.
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Transfer of Development Rights
Forterra and partners provide consulting services to cities and counties to develop voluntary, market-based approaches to conserving land while promoting economic development in areas that can accommodate growth.
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LCLIP (Landscape Conservation and Local Infrastructure Program)
This groundbreaking program creates incentives for both conservation and community support by combining an incentive-based real estate tool called TDR with a public infrastructure financing tool called tax increment financing. The outcome? Conservation of the farms, forests and natural areas we all appreciate and from which we benefit, as well as much-needed funding to provide what we need to create and support vibrant, livable cities.
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Growing Transit Communities
Forterra is one of the original partners to the Growing Transit Communities effort, a $5 million regional planning effort led by PSRC, and is working to implement key strategies identified in the plan at the local level.
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Cross laminated timber
Forterra and partners are actively working to develop market opportunities for engineered heavy panel wood products, notably cross laminated timber. Known collectively as “mass timber” products, these promising building materials offer a variety of benefits in terms of their ability to lower the costs of construction in our cities, support rural economic development, and reduce carbon emissions associated with climate change.
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Federal Way urban agriculture
Forterra and partners developed urban agriculture policies to ensure that all city residents have an opportunity to access fresh, locally grown food.
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Complete Streets
Forterra successfully passed award-winning Complete Streets programs in Edmonds and Ocean Shores, ensuring future roads and street improvements work for all users, whether walking, cycling, using transit or driving and for people of all ages and abilities.
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Central Issaquah plan
We were very active supporting the development of the Central Issaquah Plan, which will guide the long-term evolution of the city’s commercial core from a collection of strip malls, parking lots and office buildings into a more sustainable urban area.
Related Perspectives and News
Mass Timber: The Innovative Future of our Built Environment
New building code changes in Washington to permit mid and high-rise mass timber buildings, allowing the state to take a huge step forward for the sustainable future of our built environment and will revolutionize the way we design, build and grow.
Putting Down Roots
Almost 1,900 volunteers converged to celebrate Green City Days at parks and green spaces across Puget Sound this fall. They planted more than 11,500 native plants. There are now twelve cities in the Green City Partnerships—Everett, Kent, Kirkland, Puyallup, Redmond, Seattle, Snoqualmie, Tacoma, Tukwila, SeaTac, Burien and Des Moines—and these annual events give volunteers a wonderful opportunity to help restore their local natural areas while building community through stewardship.
Forterra awarded Olmsted Medal
Forterra was recently awarded the prestigious Olmsted Medal of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Conferred annually at ASLA’s national conference, the Olmsted Medal is one of the Society’s premier honors.
Offset Your Adventures
Here in Seattle, we love to hike. But hiking comes at a cost—to our environment. A round-trip drive between Seattle and Mt. Si emits roughly 80 lbs. of greenhouse gas. For a longer trip—say, a weekend at Mt. Rainier National Park—you could emit about 200 lbs. The numbers add up when considered over the course of a year. Driving 100 miles every weekend will spew approximately 5,000 lbs, or 2.5 tons of carbon, into the atmosphere over the course of a year.
Coalition of volunteers cleaning up the Duwamish River
The Duwamish River in Tukwila is getting a little more breathing room each week as a coalition of volunteers from…
Op-Ed: Growing Gracefully
The reaction to Mayor Ed Murray’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee — and the equally charged regional discussion…
Saving Dead Man’s Pond
Forterra, a nonprofit formerly known as the Cascade Land Conservancy, purchased the 5-acre property in west Puyallup for $336,000. Forterra…
A Tool for Bigger Thinking
Whether from an economic, transportation, housing, or ecological perspective, the central Puget Sound is interconnected. Yet we often divide our…