Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole

The Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole convened for a single-item informational presentation demonstrating how to access the recently adopted Bellingham Plan and its related resources on the city's website. Chris Behey, Long Range Planning Manager, provided a comprehensive guided tour of the digital comprehensive plan, which was adopted in December 2025 following a two-plus year development process. The presentation focused entirely on navigation tools and accessibility features rather than policy content, emphasizing the plan's design as a "living document" intended for annual updates and digital-first usage. Key features demonstrated included interactive hyperlinks between related policies across chapters, an integrated GIS mapping tool for land use designations, a searchable policy database, and multiple format options including screen reader accessibility. The session concluded with brief questions about accessibility features before moving to an executive session on property acquisitions. No formal action was taken, as this was an informational presentation only.

**AB 24839 - Presentation on how to access the Bellingham Plan:** - **Action:** Informational presentation only, no vote taken - **Content:** Demonstration of website navigation, digital tools, and accessibility features - **Status:** Complete - no further council action required The meeting included no formal votes or policy decisions. The presentation served as a tutorial for council members and the public on using the newly adopted comprehensive plan's digital interface.

**Chris Behey, on the plan's digital design:** "It's just one of those plans where it's most effectively used as a digital document and we do anticipate it's a living document. It'll get updated annually as we move forward." **Chris Behey, on collaborative development:** "I just wanted to reiterate I'm here showing you this but you all know there's a huge team that is responsible for all this work. So my part in it was small but I just wanted to again give credit where it's due. There's almost every well I know for a fact every single department had people with their hands on this for several years." **Council Member Anderson, on accessibility concerns:** "I was just thinking if someone was utilizing that resource but then communicating with someone who was using different resource to be able to reference certain sections." **Chris Behey, on the resource page approach:** "So this page is our attempt to say we have all that same information to support each of the chapters, but it's in a live format that we can update as needed. It doesn't involve a comp plan amendment to update statistics and supporting information." **Chair Stone, acknowledging broader accessibility work:** "I just want to acknowledge that council member Anderson's question connects to a massive body of work that the communications team IT department has been working on for document accessibility throughout all departments of the city."