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Real Briefings

Whatcom County Council (joint with Planning Commission)

WHA-CON-SPC-2025-07-22 July 22, 2025 Committee of the Whole Whatcom County 14 min
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The Whatcom County Council held its first joint meeting with the Planning Commission in years to review preliminary preferred alternatives for urban growth area (UGA) boundaries as part of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update's Final Environmental Impact Statement. Planning Director Mark Personius presented proposed UGA changes for all eight cities in the county, incorporating new flood mapping and sea level rise modeling to guide development away from natural hazard areas. The most contentious discussion centered on Blaine's proposed land swap — removing the long-stalled Grandest Pond development (1,000 potential workforce housing units) from its UGA and expanding westward toward Birch Bay instead. This proposal raised concerns from Birch Bay residents about stormwater impacts and development pressure, while Planning Commissioner Rud Browne questioned losing significant workforce housing capacity. Several cities are proposing to move development out of newly-mapped flood zones, particularly Everson and Sumas, which suffered major flooding in 2021. The presentations revealed tensions between state mandates for housing production, local infrastructure capacity, and natural hazard avoidance as communities plan for 20 years of growth. No formal decisions were made, but the discussion highlighted the complexity of balancing growth management goals with environmental constraints and interlocal coordination challenges.

No formal votes were taken. This was a discussion-only special meeting. The single agenda item (AB2025-513) was discussed but no action was requir…

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**Urban Growth Area Boundary Adjustments:** Personius outlined proposed changes for eight cities, emphasizing that these are "preferred alternatives" for EIS analysis, not final decisions. The proposals reflect cities' preferred growth scenarios based on population and employment allocations from the multi-jurisdictional resolution adopted by Council. **Flood Risk and Development Policy:** A central theme was directing growth away from areas at risk from sea level rise and updated flood mapping. Cities like Everson and Sumas are proposing significant boundary adjustments to move future development out of areas that flooded in 2021 and are expected to face increased flood risk. **Blaine Land Swap Controversy:** The most contentious discussion involved Blaine's proposal to remove the Grandest Pond area (573 acres) from its UGA and expand westward…
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**Mark Personius, PDS Director:** Presented preliminary alternatives as starting points for analysis, emphasized these are cities' preferred scenarios subject to Council's final authority on boundary decisions. **Alex Wenger, City of Blaine:** Defended the controversial land swap proposal, arguing the Grandest Pond area cannot be feasibly developed and the western expansion areas offer better opportunities for dense, resort-style development. **Commissioner Rud Browne:** Expressed strong concerns about losing 1,000 workforce housing units in the Blaine proposal and questioned the accuracy of wetland mapping used in capacity analysis across all UGA proposals. **Co…
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**Mark Personius, on preferred alternatives:** "I want to be really clear that the preferred alternative is a term based on the multi jurisdictional resolution, population and employment allocations adopted by council. They are for the cities, they will be what the cities are proposing." **Alex Wenger, on the Grandest Pond development:** "We've been trying to service this area for like I said 29 years and we've gone through a bunch of different funding options and nothing's ever come together…
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**August 6th Joint Meeting:** Council Chair Galloway mentioned a potential second joint Council-Planning Commission meeting to continue these discussions, possibly focusing on the climate resilience element. **Final EIS Release:** Personius indicated the Final EIS is expected in early September, with the County pushing consultants to release it in August to meet Bellingham's year-end adoption timeline. **Blaine De-annexation Vote:** Voters in the a…

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This meeting established the preliminary framework for UGA boundary discussions but made no final decisions. The key development was formal presentation of each city's preferred alternative for EIS analysis, particularly the controversial Blaine land swap proposal that would eliminate significant workforce housing potential. The meeting revealed significant disagreement among Planning Commissioners about population allocation methods and the …
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# Whatcom County Council and Planning Commission Debate Growth Boundaries in Era of Climate Change On a hot Tuesday afternoon in July, the Whatcom County Council and Planning Commission gathered for their first joint meeting in years to wrestle with one of the most consequential decisions of their tenure: where the county's cities should grow over the next 20 years, and how to balance development with mounting climate risks. The special meeting on July 22, 2025, drew all seven county council members and eight of nine planning commissioners to the council chambers for a presentation on proposed "preferred alternatives" for the Final Environmental Impact Statement associated with the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update. What followed was an hour and fifteen minutes of intense discussion that revealed deep tensions between housing needs, environmental constraints, and municipal politics. Planning and Development Services Director Mark Personius led the presentation, walking the combined bodies through proposed boundary changes for each of the county's urban growth areas (UGAs). But beneath the technical maps and acreage figures lay more fundamental questions: How do you plan for growth when rising seas threaten existing neighborhoods? When wetlands constrain development more than anyone anticipated? When a city's grand housing plan collapses and leaves officials scrambling for alternatives? ## The Blaine Bombshell: A Thousand-Unit Housing Project Disappears The meeting's most contentious moments centered on the City of Blaine's dramatic proposal to abandon a long-planned workforce housing development in favor of expansion near Birch Bay. For nearly three decades, the city had worked to bring infrastructure to the Grandest Pond property in East Blaine — an area envisioned to house about 1,000 units of workforce housing and 100 units of affordable housing. But now the new property owners, Kevin and Rebecca Keck, have told the city they don't want to develop. All entitlements for the project expired just this month. So Blaine is proposing something unprecedented: a ballot measure in November asking voters to de-annex the entire 573-acre area, remove it from the urban growth area, and swap it for expansion rights near Semi-ah-moo on the west side of the city. "We've been trying to service this area for like I said 29 years and we've gone through a bunch of different funding options and nothing's ever come together," explained Alex Wenger, Blaine's Community Dev…
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### Meeting Overview Whatcom County Council and Planning Commission met jointly on July 22, 2025 to review preliminary preferred alternatives for urban growth areas (UGAs) across the county as part of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan update. Planning Director Mark Personius presented proposed boundary changes for eight jurisdictions, with extensive discussion focused on flood impacts, housing capacity, and growth management challenges. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Urban Growth Area (UGA):** Designated areas around cities where urban development is encouraged to occur over the next 20 years, designed to prevent sprawl and concentrate growth. **UGA Reserve:** Land designated for potential future urban development but not immediately available for annexation, typically maintaining low-density rural zoning until cities are ready to expand. **Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):** Required environmental analysis of proposed comprehensive plan alternatives, studying impacts before final adoption decisions. **Multi-Jurisdictional Resolution:** County Council-adopted agreement allocating projected population and employment growth percentages among cities for the 20-year planning period. **De-annexation:** Process of removing territory from city limits, requiring voter approval and returning the area to county jurisdiction. **Critical Areas:** Environmentally sensitive lands including wetlands, steep slopes, and flood hazards that have development restrictions and buffer requirements. **BBWARM:** Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resources Management district providing stormwater services to parts of unincorporated Whatcom County. **Draft FEMA Maps:** Proposed new flood hazard maps based on updated modeling following 2021 flooding, not yet officially adopted but showing expanded flood zones. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Kaylee Galloway | Council Chair | | Mark Personius | Planning and Development Services Director | | Alex Wenger | City of Blaine Community Development …
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Land Use & Planning Housing Environmental Government Operations Mark Personius Alex Wenger Rud Browne Jim Hansen Kelvin Barton Chris Behee City Of Blaine Grandest Pond Birch Bay Watershed Aquatic Resources Management Urban Growth Area Boundaries Comprehensive Plan Update Flood Risk Management Workforce Housing