## Meeting Overview The Whatcom County Council Climate Action and Natural Resources Committee convened at 11:32 a.m. on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in the Council Chambers for a brief but substantive hybrid meeting. Committee Chair Kaylee Galloway presided, joined by Council members Todd Donovan and Mark Stremler. The meeting drew additional attendance from Council members Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Ben Elenbaas, and Jon Scanlon, reflecting the broad interest in stormwater management issues that affect the rapidly developing Birch Bay area. The committee had one item on its agenda: a resolution to amend the 2006 Birch Bay Comprehensive Stormwater Plan by incorporating four detailed subwatershed master plans developed over the past decade. What appeared to be routine administrative business actually represented the culmination of years of technical work to address flooding and drainage problems in one of Whatcom County's most environmentally sensitive and development-pressured watersheds. The meeting would test the balance between environmental protection and housing affordability that defines much of the county's current policy challenges. ## The Birch Bay Stormwater Plan Amendment Holly Faulstich from the Public Works Department's stormwater division opened the presentation by explaining the significance of what lay before the committee. As manager of the Birch Bay Watershed & Aquatic Resources Management District (BBWARM), she oversees a special purpose district born from community activism in the early 2000s when residents recognized that rapid development was threatening the water quality and aquatic habitat of Birch Bay. "BBWARM is the product of a community initiated effort from the early 2000s with a goal of protecting and restoring aquatic and water resources in Birch Bay," Faulstich explained. The original 2006 comprehensive stormwater plan had recommended creating a stormwater management district with dedicated funding, leading to BBWARM's establishment in 2007 as a subzone of the county flood control district. By 2009, the district was collecting service fees, had formed a citizen advisory committee, hired staff, and launched a full program in 2010. But as development pressure intensified in the following years, staf…