For years, City leaders in Mill Creek, Washington had taken note of the impacts the slowing economy and other factors were having on reserves. “Fat” trimming and service cuts had not fully closed the gap, so in 2010, Mill Creek hired SCJ staff to help show the way to close deficits without losing things residents considered truly indispensable.

SCJ has worked for the City of Airway Heights on multiple projects, including a US 2 corridor plan, a comprehensive plan update, and a public art strategy. Working with a number of agency partners, SCJ completed the corridor plan within budget and in time to inform budgeting decisions for the City, the City of Spokane, and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

Located squarely in the shadow of Omaha's larger arts and culture scene, the one in Council Bluffs has struggled to find its identity and flourish. An earlier pilot project to reclaim an old tractor factory and remodel it into an artist loft colony has met with success, creating a focus in Council Bluffs' downtown where local artists can live, work and show.

In 2013, the City of Monroe commissioned us to lead major updates to its comprehensive plan, along with a new parks plan, transportation plan and economic development strategy. At stake were City policies to address expected growth surges in the wake of the great recession, setting the stage for Monroe's future role among Seattle-metro communities—as a live-work city, a bedroom community, employment center, and retail hub.

SCJ provided a form-based code for the Hamilton Street corridor in a portion of the Logan Neighborhood. SCI translated the model and refined it to codify form-based standards consistent with the citys existing zoning ordinance. The new code language introduced new zoning districts keeping with the model, providing new standards that regulate street design, building placement and massing, building height, and various other elements related to building form and relationship to the public realm.

From the densely forested Cascades to the scablands carved by the Ice Age floods, Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail gives hikers, cyclists and, in some places, equestrians a taste of Washington’s diversity. State ownership of this linear park runs from west of North Bend to the Columbia River near Vantage—and continues from the town of Lind to the Idaho border. Western portions of the trail are largely improved, but portions east of the Columbia River remain in primitive condition, with support for its completion far from unanimous.