The Redmond Historical Society will host Rob Odle, the city of Redmond’s director of planning and community development at its next installment of the Saturday Speaker Series, 10:30 a.m., Saturday April 8, at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th St.

Odle will discuss “A Brief History of Redmond’s Rapid Growth.”

In 1966, Redmond literally was a small town, with4,800 residents who had just gotten their first traffic light. Today, more than 60,000 people call it home and the population doubles weekdays due to battalions of workers at Microsoft, Genie and dozens of smaller companies.

Redmond did grow a bit in the 1970s and ’80s, but it really took off in the early 1990s, with the adoption of Washington state’s Growth Management Act.

“Under the GMA,” Odle said, “the key decisions were to focus future growth in our urban centers and not disburse growth evenly throughout the community; advocate for a clear and close-in growth boundary; support Sound Transit and light rail to Redmond and the Eastside; plan to create a walkable and connected downtown; and work to ensure that in Redmond residents have choices such as in housing, transportation and employment.”

“The GMA has for all cities required us to not only have a vison for where our community wants to be in the future but also that we have a clear and realistic path to achieving that vision,” says Odle. “Certainly, it has changed the way that we do planning and it has caused us to be pragmatic in our analysis and more transparent to the community. By requiring that there be a clear delineation between rural and urban it has resulted in the vibrancy and growth that we see in our urban centers” of downtown Redmond and the Overlake area.

At the same time the GMA was being rolled out, new jobs were rolling in, as were new residents. Redmond focused on protecting the environment, creating parks, requiring quality development, embracing diversity and fostering strong ties to the Lake Washington School District, Odle says, which in turn made the city “a very desirable place for people to reside in.”

The Saturday Speaker Series is presented by the Redmond Historical Society on the second Saturday of the month with three programs each in the fall and spring.

There is a suggested $5 donation for non-members.

The Redmond Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that receives support from the City of Redmond, 4 Culture, Nintendo, the Bellevue Collection, Happy Valley Grange, Microsoft and 501 Commons as well as from other donors and members.