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Committee of the Whole

BEL-CTW-2025-09-29 September 29, 2025 Committee of the Whole City of Bellingham 30 min
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The September 29 Committee of the Whole meeting addressed three major items that collectively represent significant shifts in how Bellingham plans and funds its future growth. The committee unanimously approved two planning documents — the Capital Facilities Plan and Multimodal Transportation Plan — that will be incorporated into the upcoming Bellingham Comprehensive Plan update. These documents shift detailed technical information out of the main plan while maintaining GMA compliance requirements. The most consequential discussion centered on Mayor Lund's presentation of the proposed 2026 budget, which proposes a criminal justice sales tax increase of 0.1% to generate nearly $4 million annually. This tax would help address a $10 million general fund deficit while avoiding deeper cuts to public safety services. The budget includes elimination of 40 positions (representing 30 FTEs) with 12 actual layoffs, while maintaining current service levels through the new revenue. Council members engaged in substantive discussion about their role in the city's new planning "framework" versus the old "regime," with particular focus on when exactly the council makes binding decisions versus when they simply set planning direction. The budget discussion revealed community pushback against the proposed tax increase, with council members requesting clearer communication about how the funds would support diversion programs and alternative responses rather than expanding police presence. A notable tension emerged around implementation versus planning documents, with Council Member Lilliquist expressing stronger interest in the former as they represent more concrete council decision-making opportunities. The meeting highlighted the administration's efforts to balance fiscal sustainability with service maintenance during challenging economic conditions.

**AB 24673 - Capital Facilities Plan Resolution** - Vote: 6-0 approval - Staff Recommendation: Adopt - Action: Adopts the Capital Facilities Plan as a city document for later inclusion in the comprehensive plan - Impact: Shifts detailed facility information from main comp plan to separate document while maintaining GMA compliance **AB 24674 - Multimodal Transportation Plan Resolution** - Vote: 6-0 approval - Staff Recommendation: Adopt - Action: Adopts the Multimodal Transport…

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**Planning Document Framework Restructuring** Council extensively discussed the shift from embedding detailed technical information within the comprehensive plan to adopting separate implementation documents by reference. This new "framework" allows for more frequent updates to specific areas like transportation or facilities without requiring comprehensive plan amendments. However, Council Member Lilliquist raised concerns about when exactly the council exercises meaningful decision-making authority under this structure, noting confusion over whether approval happens at the planning stage, implementation stage, or budget stage. **Budget Crisis and Revenue Solutions** The proposed 2026 budget addresses a structural $10 million general fund deficit through both revenue increases and service cuts. The centerpiece is a new 0.1% criminal justice sales tax that would generate nearly $4 million annually. Mayor Lund emphasized this would maintain current service levels rather than expand them, particularly for alternative response …
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**Elizabeth Erickson, Senior Planner** Presented the Capital Facilities Plan as primarily shifted content from the 2016 comprehensive plan with a new 20-year improvement needs table. Emphasized the plan serves as an umbrella document connecting to more detailed utility and transportation plans while making information more accessible to the public. **Sydney Prusak, Planner** Defended the multimodal transportation plan's mode shift targets as "ambitious but also grounded in reality," explaining they were developed based on past trends and available data. Emphasized the plan fulfills all RCW requirements while maintaining Bellingham's leadership in multimodal concurrency planning. **Mayor Kim Lund** Delivered a sobering budget presentation emphasizing the city has "picked the low hanging fruit" in previous years and now faces "difficult and impactful choices." Stressed the proposed criminal justice tax would maintain current services rather than expand them, particularly alternative response programs the community values. **Council Member Lilliquist** Exp…
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**Mayor Lund, on budget challenges:** "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. And to be honest, we've saved the best for last in today's agenda." **Mayor Lund, on employee impacts:** "Our employees are the most important asset of the city. Our employees are the city. I deeply believe it. It's part of the best part of being the executive and leader of this city's team. But this action is necessary to ensure we can continue deliver services for our community sustainably." **C…
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**Budget Process Timeline:** - October 6: Fire and police department budget discussions - October 6: First budget public hearing - November 17: Ordinance introduction - Early December: Final budget adoption **Comprehensive Plan Schedule:** - October 7: Full Bellingham Plan overview presentation to council - Planning Commission unanimously recommended the draft plan on September 26 - Adoption targeted by end of 2025 to meet state GMA deadline **Capital Project…

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**Planning Document Structure:** The city shifted from embedding detailed technical information in the comprehensive plan to adopting separate implementation documents by reference. This allows more frequent updates without comprehensive plan amendments but raised questions about council decision-making authority. **Budget Approach:** The city moved from addressing deficits through reserves to requiring both service cuts and tax increases. The administration eliminated 40 positions while proposing the first new general revenue tax in recent memory to maintain core services. **Transportation Goal-Setting:*…
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# A New Framework for Governing Bellingham On a September afternoon in 2025, the Bellingham City Council's Committee of the Whole convened for what would prove to be a significant milestone in how the city approaches long-term planning. While the agenda items appeared routine—adopting a capital facilities plan, approving a transportation document, and receiving a budget presentation—the underlying discussion revealed a fundamental shift in how municipal decision-making would work going forward. ## Meeting Overview Council President Pro Tempore "Skip" Williams called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM with six council members present. Council President Hollie Huthman was excused. What began as a standard afternoon committee session evolved into a searching examination of when and how the city council exercises its authority over long-term planning. The meeting addressed three major items: Resolution 24673 adopting the Capital Facilities Plan, Resolution 24674 adopting the Multimodal Transportation Plan, and Mayor Kim Lund's presentation of the proposed 2026 budget—a $543 million spending plan that includes painful cuts and a proposed new sales tax. ## The Capital Facilities Plan: More Than Technical Details Senior Planner Elizabeth Erickson began the afternoon by presenting what she called a "companion document" to the city's comprehensive plan. The Capital Facilities Plan represents a sweeping reorganization of how Bellingham approaches infrastructure planning, pulling detailed technical information out of the main comprehensive plan and creating a new 20-year planning horizon. "This plan itself is primarily the same information that existed in the 2016 comprehensive plan within the capital facilities and utilities chapter," Erickson explained. "But in order to really streamline the plan itself and make it more accessible, we've pulled a lot of this very detailed information and tables out of that main document into this new plan." The document consolidates everything from fire station needs to library expansions, from water system improvements to the replacement value of significant city assets. It includes a…
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### Meeting Overview The Committee of the Whole met on September 29, 2025, to discuss three major agenda items: adopting the Capital Facilities Plan and Multimodal Transportation Plan as components of the comprehensive plan update, and reviewing the proposed 2026 budget. Both planning documents were unanimously approved to move forward to the full Council for adoption as part of the broader Bellingham Plan. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Capital Facilities Plan:** A new planning document that consolidates detailed facility information previously scattered throughout the comprehensive plan, including inventory, funding sources, and a 20-year improvement needs table. **Multimodal Transportation Plan:** A companion document to the comprehensive plan that contains technical transportation requirements mandated by state law, including mode shift targets and concurrency analysis. **Adopted by Reference:** A process where separate implementation documents become part of the comprehensive plan without being physically included in the main document, giving them the same legal weight. **Type VI Process:** The formal amendment procedure required to change documents that are adopted by reference as part of the comprehensive plan. **Mode Shift Targets:** Goals for reducing single-occupant vehicle trips by encouraging people to use walking, biking, transit, or working from home for commuting. **General Fund Deficit:** The $10 million gap between expected revenues and expenses that the city faces in 2026, requiring either new revenue or spending cuts. **Criminal Justice Sales Tax:** A proposed new 0.1% sales tax that would raise approximately $4 million to maintain current public safety service levels. **Concurrency:** The requirement that transportation infrastructure keeps pace with new development and population growth. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Edwin "Skip" Williams | Council President Pro Tempore, presiding | | Elizabeth Erickson | Senior Planner, Planning & Community Development | | Sydney Prusac | Planner, Planning & Community Development | | Dylan Casper | Transportation Planner | | Joel Pfundt | Public Works Director | | Mayor Kim…
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Budget & Finance Land Use & Planning Transportation & Infrastructure Government Operations AB 24673 AB 24674 AB 24678 Bellingham Fire Department Bellingham Planning Commission Bellingham Police Department Western Washington University Whatcom County Whatcom Transit Authority Daniel Hammill Elizabeth Erickson Forrest Longman Hannah Stone Hollie Huthman Jace Cotton Joel Pfundt Kim Lund Lisa Anderson Michael Lilliquist Sydney Prusak Alternative Response Budget Finance Capital Facilities Comprehensive Plan Criminal Justice Diversion Programs Fire Protection Growth Management Act Library Services Mode Shift Municipal Court Planning Commission Public Safety Sales Tax Staff Reductions Transportation Policy