In the 12 years since it was founded, Kato & Warren has grown to 60, doubling in size in the last three years. In addition to Seattle, the firm has offices in Portland and Vancouver. The largest jump in size occurred four years ago when the office took over the Seattle office of TAMS.

The firm's markets include transportation planning and engineering, stormwater management, water and sewage systems, utilities of all types, environmental assessment, planning and project management. Gross revenues will be about $5 million this year, up 20 percent from last year.

Kato & Warren is expanding in the area of environmental planning, and is now teamed with Jones & Jones and Parsons Brinkerhoff on the South Lake Union neighborhood plan. The firm is also involved in a joint transportation study for Sea-Tac International Airport with the Washington State Department of Transportation and the city of SeaTac .

Kato & Warren is also involved in a number of parkway and roadway projects. The firm specializes in direct consulting to new cities. Water quality, erosion and flooding are big issues for most new cities in the Puget Sound area, said principal Dick Warren.

According to Warren, many of the environmental issues faced by cities and small municipalities will center on stormwater systems and upgrading them to comply with the recent listing of salmon as endangered species.

As for the recent passage of Initiative 695, "We don't see any particular impact in the next year," said Warren. However, he noted that the second part of the legislation, which requires governments to refer all tax increases to voters, is going to hobble local governments in their capital improvement plans - if it is not struck down by the courts.

"Our industry - for better or worse - is predicated on growth," said Warren, but he noted, that the backlog of transportation and other infrastructure projects is so great that the markets will not suffer any long term contraction even if the economy slows. "Between supplying needed infrastructure and retrofitting environmental mistakes, there will be plenty of work in key municipal and transportation markets for the foreseeable future," he said.