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City Council Planning Committee

BEL-CON-PDV-2025-05-05 May 05, 2025 Planning Committee City of Bellingham 53 min
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The Bellingham City Council Planning Committee held a significant work session addressing fundamental changes to how the city approaches land use planning. The meeting focused on two major interconnected initiatives: retiring the current system of 25 individual neighborhood plans in favor of a unified citywide approach, and restructuring residential zoning to accommodate state-mandated middle housing requirements under House Bill 1110. Long Range Division Manager Chris Behe presented both items, emphasizing that these changes represent the most significant reorganization of Bellingham's planning framework since the 1980s. The shift from neighborhood-based to citywide planning aims to create more equitable, transparent, and administratively efficient land use policies. The current system, with 430 unique land use subareas across 25 neighborhood plans, has created complexity that requires expert-level knowledge to navigate and has resulted in systemic inequities between neighborhoods. The committee engaged in detailed discussions about preserving local knowledge and ensuring no valuable planning insights are lost in the transition. Council members expressed particular concern about maintaining the specialized zoning conditions and prerequisite regulations that address unique local circumstances, such as transition zones between different land uses. The conversation revealed tension between the need for simplification and the desire to preserve neighborhood-specific protections developed through decades of community input. The residential zoning discussion focused on implementing House Bill 1110's requirements for up to four housing units per residential lot, with potential for six units if affordable housing is provided. Staff proposed consolidating existing residential zones into three or four categories and establishing minimum density requirements to ensure efficient land use. Committee members explored the implications for lot sizes, ownership opportunities thr

No formal votes were taken during this work session. Both agenda items were informational presentations designed to gather feedback on proposed policy directions. **AB 24530 - Neighborhood Plans to Citywide Planning:** Staff recommended retiring all 25 neighborhood plans as part of the 2025 Bellingham Plan update due to state law conflicts and systemic inequities. The committee requested a follow-up session with more detailed implementation timelines and visual diagrams showing how exist…

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The neighborhood plans discussion revealed fundamental questions about how to balance equity and efficiency with local knowledge and community input. Council Member Anderson noted that successful neighborhood plans like York's included diverse participants (renters, business owners, students) and resulted in thoughtful interface planning between different land uses. She expressed concern about losing specific protections, such as Ellis Street's live-work unit provisions and height restrictions designed to prevent shadow impacts on adjacent residential areas. Director Lyon and Behe emphasized that the current system creates barriers for residents without planning expertise and perpetuates inequities based on which neighborhoods had resources to develop robust plans. They argued that consolidating special conditions into citywide infrastructure plans would actually provide more consistent protection by applying best practices …
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**Planning Staff (Chris Behe, Blake Lyon):** Strongly advocated for retiring neighborhood plans to create a more equitable and efficient system. Emphasized that current complexity creates barriers for community participation and inconsistent treatment across neighborhoods. Supported minimum density requirements to ensure efficient infrastructure investment and meet state housing requirements. **Council Member Lisa Anderson:** Expressed appreciation for the goals but significant concern about losing valuable local knowledge embedded in neighborhood plans. Specifically worried about transition zone protections and interface planning between different land uses. Requested detailed analysis …
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**Chris Behe, on system complexity:** "To operate within Bellingham's land use regulatory environment with any level of success, you really do need to be an expert, which is pretty limiting across the community." **Council Member Anderson, on neighborhood character:** "When I hear from people who just moved to the community, to people who have been lifelong residents, when they say that they love their neighborhood character, I've never taken it as an exclusionary, keep people out racist kind…
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**Immediate Timeline:** - End of 2025: Bellingham Plan adoption (retiring neighborhood plans) - June 30, 2026: Final middle housing code implementation deadline - Follow-up Planning Committee session to be scheduled with detailed implementation diagrams **Key Follow-up Items:** - Staff will prepare visual timeline and diagrams showing how neighborhood plan protections will be preserved - Analysis of setback requirements and building envelopes f…

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This meeting marked a significant pivot in Bellingham's approach to land use planning, with formal introduction of the most comprehensive zoning restructure since the 1980s. The committee moved from general awareness of these changes to detailed examination of implementation approaches and challenges. The discussion established that preserving neighborhood-specific protections will require careful migration of special conditions from neighborhood plans into citywide policies and infrastructure plans. The committee clarified that consolidation must not result in loss of local knowledge or protections develo…
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## Meeting Overview On this bright Cinco de Mayo morning, the City of Bellingham's Planning Committee convened for what would prove to be one of the most consequential planning discussions in recent memory. Council Member Lisa Anderson opened the meeting in place of Chair Michael Lilliquist, who was delayed finding parking — a small irony given the morning's focus on density and development patterns. Joining Anderson were Council Members Hannah Stone and the eventual arrival of Lilliquist himself. The committee faced two substantial agenda items that, while distinct, were intimately connected parts of Bellingham's evolving approach to growth and housing. The first session would examine the retirement of the city's 25 neighborhood plans in favor of a unified citywide planning approach. The second would delve into the nuts and bolts of implementing state middle housing requirements. Together, these discussions represented nothing less than a fundamental reorientation of how Bellingham plans for its future — from a patchwork of neighborhood-specific rules developed over decades to a streamlined, equitable system designed for the housing challenges of today. ## The End of an Era: Retiring Bellingham's Neighborhood Plans Chris Behe, the city's Long Range Division Manager, opened with what he acknowledged was "a conversation that's been evolving for actually a good number of years." The neighborhood plans that have guided Bellingham's development since 1980 — when the city's population was half what it is today — were approaching their expiration date. Not through neglect or oversight, but through the inexorable march of state law, housing crisis, and the accumulated weight of their own complexity. The numbers told a stark story of bureaucratic proliferation. What began as 22 neighborhood plans covering 350 subareas had grown into 25 plans encompassing 434 unique land use subareas, each with its own special conditions, prerequisite requirements, and regulatory quirks. In 2005, the city had tried to simplify things by moving zoning regulations from neighborhood plans into the municipal code, but this had only created a mirror system of complexity — 25 unique zoning tables reflecting those same 434 subareas. "At its simplest, we just really need to simplify our system," Behe explained, pulling up a diagram that looked like an organizational chart gone wild. The comprehensive plan sat at the top, with a dizzying array of neighborhood plans, infrastructure pla…
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### Meeting Overview The City of Bellingham Planning Committee met on May 5, 2025 to discuss major changes to how the city handles land use planning, focusing on retiring 25 neighborhood plans in favor of citywide planning and implementing state-required middle housing regulations. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Neighborhood Plans:** 25 local planning documents adopted in 1980, covering 434 unique land use subareas with varying levels of detail and complexity across different neighborhoods. **Middle Housing:** State-required housing types including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and cottage housing that bridge the gap between single-family homes and large apartment buildings. **House Bill 1110:** 2023 state legislation requiring cities to allow up to 4 housing units per residential lot, with up to 6 units if affordable housing is provided. **Zoning Tables:** Regulatory documents in the municipal code that specify what can be built in each area, currently organized into 25 separate tables with hundreds of unique subareas. **Systemic Inequities:** Differences in planning resources and outcomes across neighborhoods, largely based on which communities had residents with time, resources, and expertise to engage in planning processes. **Lot Splitting:** The process of dividing one lot into multiple smaller lots, each of which can then accommodate additional housing units under the new state requirements. **Minimum Density:** A planning tool that sets a floor for how many housing units must be built per acre to ensure efficient use of infrastructure and land. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role | |---|---| | Lisa Anderson | Council Member, Fifth Ward (chaired meeting) | | Michael Lilliquist | Council Member, Sixth Ward (Committee Chair) | | Hannah Stone | Council Member, First Ward | | Chris Behe | Long Range Division Manager, Planning & Community Development | | Blake Lyon | Planning Director | ### Background Context This meeting addressed two interconnected planning challenges facing Bellingham. First, the…
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Land Use & Planning Housing Government Operations HB 1110 HB 1220 Bellingham Planning Commission Department Of Commerce Washington State Legislature Blake Lyon Chris Behe Hannah Stone Lisa Anderson Michael Lilliquist Accessory Dwelling Units Affordable Housing Comprehensive Plan Density Standards Growth Management Act Housing Policy Land Use Policy Lot Splitting Middle Housing Neighborhood Planning Zoning