King County receives half-million dollar federal grant for sustainable development

King County residents will be able to save money and travel more easily between home, work, school, and shopping, as a result of a $5 million federal grant awarded today to develop several new, sustainable Transit-Oriented Development projects in the region.

The funding was announced by Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a former King County Executive, at an event today at the Puget Sound Regional Council.

“This funding will help us to accelerate housing and other development around key transit stations in the county, which will create an economic ripple effect,” said King County Executive Constantine. “In addition to creating more public transportation options, the grant will create construction jobs and more housing choices that will benefit King County, the City of Seattle and other partners across the region.”

Part of the grant will fund planning for a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project around Sound Transit’s light rail station at the Northgate Transit Center. King County will receive $500,000 to pay for concentrated development around other transit stations and new Metro Transit RapidRide lines in the county.

The TOD projects will create hundreds of housing units with convenient access to high-quality bus and future rail service. They will also increase the number of vibrant, sustainable communities that make it easier for residents to walk and use transit in their daily lives to get to work, school, shopping or recreation.

With today’s grant announcement, the county will be able to move forward with planning and construction by as early as 2013.