YIMBY News for 1/7

[Eric Budd]

Op-Ed: Why Kitsap County Can’t Stop Sprawling

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 63.09. affordable, bike lane, comp plan, complete street, comprehensive plan, density, development, growth, higher-density, housing, income, infill, mixed-use, mobility, multimodal, parking, project, rent, single family, transportation, urban, walk, zone

The state is forcing Kitsap to re-do its Comprehensive Plan to account for low-income housing, wildfire risk, and more mobility options. For decades, Kitsap County has been trying – and mostly failing – to concentrate growth into compact areas that can be best served by schools and ambulances, sewers and sidewalks. Kitsap’s state-mandated solution, the so-called “Urban Growth Areas” (UGAs) have failed to attract growth. Since 2000, the vast majority of new housing has been built in rural Kitsap. Kitsap County’s proposed ‘Housing Element’ of the 2024 Comprehensive Plan has been declared ‘noncom

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Wholesale Banks: An Idea Whose Time Has Come Again?

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 44.38. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, development, growth, house, housing, housing co-op, income, project, real estate, rent, supply, urban, walk

[image: The Bottom Line] Ponce Bank's location at Kingsbridge in the Bronx. (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello) Over the past five years, New York’s Ponce Bank has doubled its deposit base, an increase of more than a billion dollars. But its loan portfolio has grown even more. Founded in 1960, Ponce Bank is the only Hispanic-led community bank in New York, and one of only two remaining banks headquartered in the Bronx. As a federally-certified community development financial institution, Ponce serves clients who aren’t well served by much larger mainstream banks. Ponce’s balance sheet today includes

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Joy Hollingsworth Takes Helm in Seattle Council Shakeup

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 28.67. comprehensive plan, development, growth, housing, rent, renter, transportation, urban, walk, zoning

District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth will lead the Seattle City Council as its President for the next two years, following a unanimous vote at the first council meeting of 2026. Taking over the gavel from Sara Nelson, who left office at the end of last year after losing to progressive challenger Dionne Foster, Hollingsworth will inherit the power to assign legislation to committees, set full council agendas, and oversee the council’s independent central staff. The role of Council President is usually an administrative one, without much fanfare involved. But Nelson wielded the role in a m

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WSDOT Eyes Major Transformation for SR 99 in Snohomish County

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.81. bike lane, bus stop, complete street, house, multimodal, project, rent, transportation, urban, walk

After months of study, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is recommending that a large swath of State Route 99 through Lynnwood and unincorporated Snohomish County be revamped to include dedicated bike facilities and transit priority lanes. Envisioned as a transformation of one of the state’s most dangerous highway corridors, changes would happen in phases and take years to fully materialize. But once in place, it would represent one of the most ambitious traffic safety projects to move forward across central Puget Sound in recent years. As Pacific Highway, this 6.6-mile

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