# Bellingham Planning Commission Charts Course for Comprehensive Plan Update A winter storm couldn't keep the Bellingham Planning Commission from tackling one of their most significant tasks in years: reviewing draft chapters of the city's new comprehensive plan that will reshape how housing and development happen across Bellingham for the next two decades. ## Meeting Overview The February 20, 2025 Planning Commission meeting was a marathon session that stretched over two hours, as commissioners dove deep into the proposed Land Use and Housing chapters of the updated Bellingham Plan. Chair Mike Estes convened the meeting at 6:00 PM in City Council Chambers, with commissioners Barbara Plaskett, Jed Ballew, Jerry Richmond, Russ Whidbee, and Scott Jones present. Rose Lathrop was absent. What made this meeting notable was its scope and ambition. Staff presented sweeping changes to how Bellingham will approach residential development, from implementing state-mandated "middle housing" requirements to fundamentally restructuring the city's approach to planning neighborhoods. The changes stem from both local housing needs and recent Washington State legislation that requires cities to dramatically increase housing options. ## Digital Signage Sparks Community Pushback Before diving into the comprehensive plan, the meeting opened with passionate public testimony about LED signs at Bellingham Public Schools. Michael Chrostowski, representing the South Hill Neighborhood Association, delivered pointed criticism of the district's digital reader boards that have appeared on school properties since 2020. "Prior to Covid 19, LED signs were absent from residential neighborhoods," Chrostowski told commissioners. "Then in 2020, Bellingham schools lobbied for code change to allow these electric signs on their properties, often embedded in residential zones." The signs, measuring 15 square feet with LED screens that can display programmable messages, produce "a persistent and audible hum" from interior fans, he explained. Seven have been built to date, with the school district planning to make them standard across all properties. "When marketed to schools, these devices are often called reader boards. When marketed to businesses, they are often called digital billboards," Chrostowski said, arguing the distinction is artificial. His wife, Tina Chrostowski, a college librarian, reinforced the criticism by pointing to a growing national movement against digital signage. "Cities that have banned the new digital signage include Knoxville, Tennessee. Durham, North Carolina, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Houston, Texas. Denver, Colorado. Austin, Texas, and many, many others," she said. Bill Geier, a certified planner with 45 years of experience, provided historical context about Bellingham's sign regulations, emphasizing that since 1980, the city has worked to preserve neighborhood character through specific sign restrictions. He noted that the electronic sign changes during the Covid era "never had thorough public comment" and requested that the Planning Commission initiate a code review process. The testimony highlighted a tension between institutional needs and neighborhood preservation that echoes larger themes in the comprehensive plan discussions. ## The Housing Crisis and Economic Reality Jeremy Beck, a longtime Bellingham mortgage professional who has originated over $3.5 billion in mortgages over 25 years, delivered sobering testimony about the city's housing affordability crisis. His comments provided crucial context for understanding why the comprehensive plan updates are so urgent. "I'm helping a consumer right now that's making almost double the median household income. He's buying a house from his landlord at a deal, and he is going to be spending 49.2% of his gross household income on his mortgage alone, and he is getting a deal and earning twice the median income," Beck told commissioners. Beck emphasized that affordability isn't just about housing costs—it's equally about income. "Affordability is really two functions, right? It's income versus cost. And what I don't see the city doing, and what I would like to see more of is encouraging businesses to come here. Large businesses, businesses that pay well." He noted that Bellingham's median household income actually decreased year-over-year, making the housing crisis even more acute. "You cannot fix this problem of affordability without income going up. It cannot be done," he said. Beck also argued for equitable distribution of new housing requirements across all neighborhoods. "I believe firmly that every neighborhood should have the same responsibility to carry the burden. The only way that you get this forward is to have more housing units available." Other public commenters included Brian Gass, who criticized what he saw as discriminatory language in planning documents that called single-family neighborhoods "exclusionary," and Don Burkhart, who voiced support for adding the north Bellingham area to the urban growth area. ## House Bill 1110 Reshapes Residential Development Senior Planner Elizabeth Erickson and Long Range Planning Manager Chris Behee led commissioners through the most significant changes to residential zoning in decades. The driving force is House Bill 1110, passed by Washington State in 2023, which requires cities the size of Bellingham to allow at least six of nine specified "middle housing" types. "What House Bill 1110 requires is that on every residential lot in the city, that you are allowed outright to build four housing units," Behee explained. This represents a fundamental shift from the current system where most residential areas allow only single-family homes. The middle housing types include duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, cottage housing, townhomes, and accessory dwelling units. Some forms like stacked flats and five- and six-plexes aren't currently included in Bellingham's existing infill toolkit but could be considered. The city is proposing to simplify its complex residential zoning structure into just four categories: Residential Watershed (for the Lake Whatcom area), Residential Low, Residential Medium, and Residential High. Each would have minimum density requirements—a significant departure from the current approach. "Instead of speaking about residential single and residential multi as two categories, you can just have residential zoning and just the three density ranges," Behee said, showing how the new system would allow a variety of housing types while ensuring urban-level densities. ## Transit Corridors Take Center Stage One of the most significant new elements in the land use chapter is an expanded emphasis on transit corridor planning. The proposal goes beyond the 2016 comprehensive plan's general encouragement of transit-oriented development to call for specific, coordinated planning processes. "We've worked quite a bit with them [Whatcom Transportation Authority] through developing these draft policies and really strengthened these policies so that collaboration will continue into the future," Erickson explained. The concept involves identifying key transit corridors connecting urban villages, transit centers, and other important locations, then developing integrated transportation-land use plans that consider density, design standards, transit frequency, and parking as connected elements rather than separate issues. Commissioner inquiries revealed the complexity of these decisions. Chair Estes asked about incentivizing residential development near commercial areas, leading to a discussion about how such policies might appear in rezoning decisions or project requirements to ensure good distribution of housing and services across the city. ## Urban Growth Area Expansion Decisions Ahead The meeting revealed that Bellingham is considering two areas for potential addition to its urban growth area, with the northern area emerging as a higher priority. The northern expansion, near Guide Meridian Road, has several advantages: existing transportation infrastructure, community water systems, and fewer development constraints. "The area to the north is potentially a higher priority because of all of those reasons listed, and we could potentially see more housing sooner. There's just fewer obstacles to development up there, fewer constraints, more infrastructure is already available," Erickson explained. The southern area faces more significant barriers and would require longer timelines for development, including potentially a $100 million water reservoir. When Commissioner Whidbee asked about development timelines, Behee noted that while some development could potentially happen within five years, full buildout would likely take much longer due to infrastructure requirements. "We're looking at a 20 year planning window. And some of these things we're assuming would be further into that planning window," Behee said. ## Housing Chapter Tackles Affordability Crisis The housing chapter received equal attention, with six proposed goals addressing everything from quantity and types of housing to service-enriched options for vulnerable populations. The chapter reflects both local priorities and state requirements, particularly House Bill 1220 from 2022, which requires cities to plan for specific income distributions. A particularly revealing slide showed Bellingham's projected housing capacity by income band through 2045. The data illustrated a significant gap in the lowest income brackets, where the city's projected capacity falls far short of anticipated need, while showing a surplus in the 50-80% of area median income range. "You can see that there's quite a big gap in this deepest affordability or lowest income bracket between what our capacity is with our proposed changes and what our need is," Erickson explained. "We do need to use additional financial subsidies to shift some of this kind of market rate housing down to lower income." Commissioner Richmond raised important questions about the terminology used throughout the housing policies. "Affordable housing is something we talk about a lot in this space. And I think it would serve us well to get more specific," he said, noting confusion between capital-A "Affordable housing" (income-restricted) and lowercase "affordable housing" (generally less expensive market-rate housing). The discussion revealed the complexity of housing policy language and its impact on public understanding. Staff explained they intend to include a glossary to clarify when policies refer to income-restricted housing versus housing that is simply more affordable in the market. ## Service-Enriched Housing and Emergency Response A significant portion of the housing discussion focused on what staff calls "STEP housing"—shelters, transitional housing, emergency housing, and permanent supportive housing. The proposed policies aim to reduce barriers to locating these essential services while ensuring they're distributed equitably across the city. "Something that does come up a lot is resistance from residents or businesses in the vicinity of a particular project that might be trying to site their housing or human service use," Erickson explained when Commissioner Jones asked about specific barriers. "We really want to make sure that the public process is clear about where that discussion is appropriate." The policies distinguish between emergency housing with consistent occupants (like transitional housing with regular residents) and emergency shelters with inconsistent occupants (like nightly shelters). The former would have a "low barrier process" while the latter would maintain current procedural requirements but be allowed citywide at residential scale. ## Complete Neighborhoods and Small-Scale Commercial The land use chapter introduces a new "complete neighborhoods" goal that would allow limited commercial uses in residential areas—responding to significant community interest in corner stores, small cafes, and other neighborhood-serving businesses. Commissioner Plaskett raised an intriguing question about using landscaping requirements to support food security. "We've got a lot of landscaping around, and landscaping is usually a part of development and encouraging, you know, maybe some things that are edible and native edible as well would be great," she said. Erickson responded that food system policies would be addressed in the upcoming Community Well-Being chapter, but noted that land use regulations could support community gardens and food-producing landscapes. ## The Push for More Housing Types Throughout the discussion, commissioners and staff grappled with the challenge of creating housing diversity while managing neighborhood character concerns. The proposal includes policies supporting everything from co-living housing (where individual rooms are rented with shared common spaces) to cottage housing to manufactured homes. One revealing exchange occurred when Commissioner Richmond asked about "stacked flats"—a housing type required by state law where each floor of a building contains a separate unit, potentially offering better accessibility than townhomes with internal stairs. "The ground floor is like potentially ADA accessible. The second and third floor, you go upstairs, but then your whole unit is flat," Richmond noted, questioning why this type wasn't more prominently featured. Behee explained that stacked flats are essentially triplexes, which the city's infill toolkit already allows, just organized differently. The discussion highlighted how state housing requirements are pushing cities to think more creatively about building forms. ## Investment Properties and Housing Preservation Commissioner interest focused on a new policy to track "empty residential investment properties, vacation homes, and short-term rentals that are not available to the residential rental or ownership market." The policy represents proactive planning to address issues that have affected other communities. "A lot of cities that not necessarily Bellingham yet, but cities that have a lot of tourism or other kind of economic drivers that can or a lot of second homes or things like that that are becoming prevalent. A lot of those communities realize too late, and then they kind of scramble to come up with code to try to address that," Erickson explained. Commissioner Richmond suggested the policy should maintain flexibility to allow short-term rentals in appropriate locations like urban villages where high-density development is encouraged, while discouraging them where they remove housing from the residential market. ## Looking Toward Economic Development Several commissioners and public commenters emphasized the need to address the income side of the housing affordability equation. Jeremy Beck's testimony about the need for higher-paying jobs resonated throughout the discussion. Commissioner Richmond suggested including "starter home" language in housing policies, while Commissioner Jones asked about conversion of underutilized buildings like the old St. Joseph hospital campus to residential use. "There are examples of cities that have tried to encourage that kind of development. It is very rare that it is financially feasible," Erickson noted, explaining that residential and commercial construction standards differ significantly. ## Process and Next Steps The meeting concluded with administrative business, including officer elections. Chair Estes was re-elected for another year, noting his term expires at the end of 2026 and expressing intention to step down at that point to allow others to lead. Barbara Plaskett was elected vice-chair, and a three-member shoreline committee was appointed. Staff emphasized this was just the first of several opportunities for commissioners to review these critical chapters. The next meeting on March 6 will focus on Community Design, while March 20 will provide a second, more detailed discussion of Land Use and Housing. "This is kind of round one at all of these. But there will be more opportunities as well," Erickson assured commissioners. The comprehensive planning process will continue through May with initial chapter discussions, followed by release of a complete draft plan alongside the final environmental impact statement. Public hearings and formal adoption proceedings will follow, making this one of the most consequential planning processes in Bellingham's recent history. As Commissioner Jones noted during the service-enriched housing discussion, "I think it does matter about affordability, not across the board, because some people can't afford the home they want in Bellingham, but some people can't afford any home. And so I think it's the result that matters." That tension—between housing choice and housing access, between neighborhood character and regional needs, between local control and state mandates—will continue to define these discussions as Bellingham charts its course for the next twenty years of growth and change.