Growth & Development

New projects, land use, housing, construction, roads, and what is changing around town.

A pole-mounted license plate reader camera with a solar panel beside a wet two-lane highway entering a small town, a pickup approaching and Mount Rainier behind.

Growth & Development/September 23, 2026

Eight cameras now read plates on the way into Enumclaw. Here is what the rules say.

Enumclaw's eight Flock license plate readers went up in 2026 after a 5 to 2 council vote. Locations, policy, cost, and the audit due in 2027.

A mid century plateau elementary school with four portable classrooms behind a chain link fence

Growth & Development/September 21, 2026

Ten mornings a year, the schools count everybody

On October 1 Enumclaw's eight schools take the second of ten enrollment counts. What it pays for, the 4,807 seats, and the $80.4 million nobody has funded.

A city owned natural gas regulator station behind chain link on a residential street in Enumclaw, Washington

Growth & Development/September 18, 2026

The gas company is city hall

Enumclaw is one of two Washington cities that owns its gas utility. What the I-2066 ruling changes, what carbon now costs, and when the council sets 2027 rates.

A new subdivision above the old coal workings

Growth & Development/September 18, 2026

Six thousand houses in a coal town: a field guide to Ten Trails

What a Ten Trails house costs in September 2026, which builders are selling, how the 6,050 home plan survived a decade of lawsuits, and what it means for Enumclaw.

Growth & Development/September 7, 2026

A 5:30 a.m. Start and Wildflowers: One Creator’s Paradise Morning Done Right

Travel photographer @lukekellytravels shares a five-stop morning itinerary for Mount Rainier’s Paradise side, with practical timing tips for beating the summer crowds.

Growth & Development/September 2, 2026

Highway 410 Squeezes to One Lane Past the Washout—Here’s What to Expect

WSDOT has reopened a single lane of Highway 410 between Enumclaw and Greenwater, with temporary traffic signals controlling the flow at the washout site.

Growth & Development/June 20, 2026

Tahoma Has Been There the Whole Time, and It’s a Volcano

Mount Rainier looms over every clear-day view from Enumclaw, but the familiar silhouette belongs to an active stratovolcano that also happens to be the most topographically prominent peak in the contiguous United States.