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Real Briefings

Bellingham Planning Commission

BEL-PLN-2025-06-05 June 05, 2025 Planning Commission Meeting City of Bellingham
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The Planning Commission unanimously approved the Barkley Urban Village Subarea Plan after years of collaborative planning between the city and Talbot Group, the area's primary landowner. This comprehensive package of documents will transform approximately 250 acres in northeast Bellingham from a confusing patchwork of individual development contracts into a cohesive urban village with clear regulations and an environmental mitigation framework. The approved plan allows buildings up to 250 feet in the central core and 85 feet in mixed-use areas, eliminates parking requirements, and projects accommodation of roughly 3,000 residential units over the next 20 years — tripling the previous growth projections. Staff highlighted how the current regulatory environment is "a little bit of a mess" with redundant requirements scattered across multiple contracts, making development slow and unpredictable. What sets this proposal apart is its area-wide environmental review through a Planned Action Ordinance, meaning future projects that fit within established parameters won't need separate environmental studies. The plan also includes significant transportation infrastructure improvements triggered by development thresholds, including new street connections and potential traffic signals. Two residents expressed concerns during public testimony — one property owner questioned how increased density would benefit him personally, while another senior citizen worried about parking availability. Commissioners showed strong support for the multimodal transportation approach and the long-term development vision, with one calling it "a great opportunity for the city."

**Approved Unanimously (6-0):** Barkley Urban Village Subarea Plan, Development Regulations, and Planned Action Ordinance, with recommendation for City Council approval. **Technical Amendment (6-0):** Struck reference to "affordable housing" from the Findings of Fact de…

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**Height Limits and Future Growth:** Commissioners questioned the 250-foot height allowance in the central core, noting no existing buildings approach that scale. Staff explained this reflects the 20-year timeframe of the development agreement, anticipating changing economics that might support taller buildings. As Senior Planner Darby Galligan noted, "The economics may not make sense for buildings that tall right now, but they may within the 20 year time frame." **Parking Policy Evolution:** The elimination of parking requirements sparked discussion about practical impacts. Staff clarified that while the city no longer mandates minimum parking, developers will still provide parking based on market needs and financing requirements. The regulations include transportation demand managem…
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**Darby Galligan (City Staff):** Emphasized the regulatory complexity of the current system and the efficiency gains from the new framework. Highlighted how Berkeley has evolved into a true urban village despite outdated regulations. **Ben Besley (Talbot Group):** Presented the development as continuing a 30-year vision of compact, mixed-use neighborhoods. Stressed Talbot's commitment to long-term community partnership and high design standards. **Jeter Brock (Property Owner):** Questioned personal benefi…
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**Darby Galligan, on regulatory complexity:** "If you go to your zoning table like page 139, in your packet, you will see charts that are full of redundant and convoluted requirements. So it is a little bit of a mess and it doesn't have the regulatory vision or the comprehensive Plan vision document." **Ben Besley, on long-term vision:** "The economics may not make sense for buildings that tall right now, but they may within the 20 year time frame. I mean, we're starting to see that if you lo…
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**City Council Review:** The package advances to City Council for public hearing and final adoption into the Comprehensive Plan and municipal code. **Development Agreement:** City Council will separately consider the 20-year development agreement between the city and Talbot Group, which establishes vesting rights, impact fee credits, and infrastructure phasing. **Conservation Dedication:** Talbot must de…

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The Planning Commission's approval fundamentally transforms how development will occur in Barkley Village. Instead of navigating multiple individual development contracts with varying requirements, future projects will follow unified regulations under the new urban village designation. The height limits increase dramatically — from current restrictions to 250 feet in the core and 85 feet in mixed-use areas. Parking requirements are eliminated entirely, shifting from mandated minimums to market-driven decisions s…
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## Meeting Overview The June 5th Bellingham Planning Commission meeting was a pivotal moment in the years-long evolution of Berkeley Urban Village — a 250-acre development that has slowly transformed from an industrial and commercial hub into one of Bellingham's most ambitious mixed-use communities. What began as an early evening session in City Council Chambers became an examination of how government adapts regulations to match reality on the ground, and how private development vision can align with public planning goals. Chair Mike Estes called the 6:00 PM meeting to order with five commissioners present: Daniel Bloemker, Jed Ballew, Jerry Richmond, Rose Lathrop, and Russell Whidbee. The agenda was straightforward — a public hearing on Berkeley Village's proposed urban village subarea plan, development regulations, and planned action ordinance. But the substance represented something far more complex: the culmination of more than 30 years of incremental development and five years of intensive collaboration between the city and the Talbot Group, Berkeley's primary landowner. ## The Berkeley Vision: From Cold Storage to Urban Village Darby Galligan, senior planner with the city's Planning and Community Development Department, opened her presentation with a historical perspective that illuminated why the evening's proposals mattered. Berkeley had been recognized in the city's 2016 Comprehensive Plan as an urban village — one of several areas designated to accommodate Bellingham's growth over the next 20 years. But the regulatory framework hadn't caught up with the vision or the reality. "When Berkeley was established back in the 90s, the regulatory environment, we weren't really using the word urban village at that time," Galligan explained. "It was kind of a first early attempt at mixed use zoning. And this is the current regulatory environment. So you can see it's split up into many different sub areas. They are all governed by individual contracts that get amended over time." She pulled up a complex zoning map showing Berkeley divided into numerous subareas, each operating under separate planned development contracts — a regulatory patchwork that had evolved organically over three decades. "If you go to your zoning table like page 139 in your packet, you will see charts that are full of redundant and convoluted requirements. So it is a little bit of a mess." The irony was stark. While Berkeley's regulations remained fragmented and outdated, the de…
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### Meeting Overview Bellingham's Planning Commission met on June 5, 2025 to conduct a public hearing on the Barkley Urban Village plan - a comprehensive proposal to transform a 250-acre mixed-use area owned primarily by Talbot Group into an official urban village with new development regulations, environmental protections, and long-term growth planning. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Urban Village:** Compact, mixed-use neighborhoods designed to accommodate growth while providing walkable access to housing, shopping, employment, and services - Bellingham's primary strategy for managing future development. **Subarea Plan:** A policy document that becomes part of the Comprehensive Plan, providing the vision and guiding principles for how an area should develop over time. **Planned Action Ordinance (PAO):** A SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) tool that allows area-wide environmental review upfront, streamlining future project approvals by pre-identifying impacts and mitigation measures. **Development Agreement:** A 20-year contract between the city and Talbot Group specifying special conditions for development, including vesting rights, impact fees, and public benefit requirements. **Vesting:** Legal protection that allows developers to build under the regulations in place when they start a project, providing certainty for long-term development planning. **Transportation Impact Fees (TIF):** Fees developers pay to fund transportation improvements needed to serve new development; Talbot has existing credits from previous improvements they built. **Green Area Factor:** A landscaping requirement that awards points for different types of vegetation and green infrastructure to ensure developments include adequate greenery. **Floor Area Ratio (FAR):** A zoning tool that limits building size relative to lot size; notably absent from this plan because staff found it created redundancies with height and parking limits. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Mike Estes | Planning Commission Chair | | Darby Galligan | City Senior Planner, lead staff on project | | Ben Besley | Talbot Group representative, Alabama Hill resident | | John Sitkin | Land use attorney for Talbot Group | | Am…
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Land Use & Planning Housing Transportation & Infrastructure Government Operations Barkley Owners Association Bellingham Planning Department City Council Planning Commission South Whatcom Fire Authority Talbot Group Wta Ben Besley Daniel Bloemker Darby Galligan Elizabeth Haley Jed Ballew Jerry Richmond Jeter Brock John Sitkin Kurt Nabbefeld Mike Estes Rose Lathrop Russ Whidbee Affordable Housing Barkley Urban Village Comprehensive Plan Environmental Review Height Limits Infrastructure Investment Land Use Policy Mixed Use Development Open Space Conservation Parking Policy Planned Action Ordinance Transportation Policy Urban Village