# Bellingham Planning Commission Approves 2025 Comprehensive Plan — A Long Journey Reaches a Milestone On a September evening in City Council Chambers, the Bellingham Planning Commission reached the culmination of a years-long process, unanimously recommending approval of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan — to be known as "The Bellingham Plan" — and sending it forward to City Council for final adoption. ## Meeting Overview The September 25, 2025 meeting represented a critical milestone in Bellingham's once-a-decade comprehensive planning process. Six commissioners were present — Chair Mike Estes, Dan Bloemker, Jed Ballew, Jerry Richmond, Rose Lathrop, and Russ Whidbee — with Lisa Marx absent. After nearly two years of public engagement, technical analysis, and deliberation across 18 Planning Commission meetings, the body was ready to make its recommendation. The evening began with general public comment, where Brian Gas, a Bellingham resident, delivered passionate remarks about middle housing policy that would set the tone for deeper conversations about the city's housing challenges and growth strategy. ## The Challenge of Growth and Housing Choices Gas expressed frustration with what he saw as misleading messaging around middle housing, arguing that the city was creating "more capacity for the city, which generates more fees for themselves" rather than true homeownership opportunities. "When you say things that it's a style that can be owned, they cannot be owned. You cannot buy them," he said, referring to middle housing types. "It's always been multifamily. It's always been rentals." His comments highlighted a central tension in Bellingham's growth strategy: how to provide housing options that serve different income levels and ownership preferences while accommodating projected population growth. Gas pointed to alarming housing affordability statistics, noting Bellingham is among the most expensive places relative to income, and warned of consequences for institutions like the school district, which he said was "in a death spiral" due to declining enrollment as families are priced out. Planning staff later addressed these concerns, with Community Development Director Blake Klein explaining that while middle housing types *can* be owned, market forces will ultimately determine whether they're developed as rental or ownership properties. The state legislation creating middle housing requirements, he noted, focused on housing typology rather than tenure. ## Urban Growth Area Decisions — The Heart of the Debate The evening's most substantive discussion centered on the city's proposed changes to its Urban Growth Area (UGA) — the boundary that defines where urban development can occur over the next 20 years. Staff recommended prioritizing the North Bellingham UGA Reserve for inclusion in the UGA while keeping the South U Street area in reserve status. Long Range Planning Manager Chris Behee presented a detailed analysis of the opportunities and costs associated with each area. The North Bellingham area, he explained, could accommodate approximately 1,300 housing units during the planning period, with significant middle-income housing potential and proximity to commercial and industrial zones. The Kitec Corporation, the majority property owner, has a proven development track record and has indicated willingness to participate in necessary infrastructure development. The South U Street Reserve area, by contrast, presents more challenges. Its steep, forested terrain and significant greenway purchases by the city limit development capacity to around 600 units during the planning period. More importantly, the infrastructure costs — particularly for roads, utilities, and fire service — would be substantially higher due to the topography. "In the next 10 or so years, it's unlikely that we can allocate enough resources to fully service both areas," Behee explained. "That's why it was important to pick the one we felt could most likely accommodate the need that we have." The decision reflects a pragmatic assessment of city resources and development realities. As commissioners probed the rationale, staff emphasized they weren't ruling out the South U Street area forever — just being realistic about what could be accomplished during this 20-year planning cycle. ## Infrastructure Planning and Development Realities A significant portion of the discussion focused on how infrastructure planning works in practice. Assistant Public Works Director Mike Wilson explained that different utilities operate on different planning cycles — water and sewer systems are planned on 20-year cycles updated every 10 years, while transportation planning operates on annual six-year improvement cycles. The conversation revealed the complexity of coordinating growth with infrastructure provision. As commissioners questioned whether areas might develop in suboptimal ways without proper infrastructure planning, staff explained the balance between developer responsibilities (last-mile infrastructure like local roads and water connections) and city responsibilities (arterial roads, pump stations, water towers). "Development is supposed to pay for new capacity," Klein explained, "but existing deficiencies and maintenance are funded through taxation and other sources." This distinction becomes critical when evaluating the fiscal impacts of different growth scenarios. ## Middle Housing and Housing Choice The middle housing discussion that began with public comment continued throughout the evening, reflecting broader community concerns about housing affordability and choice. Klein provided historical context, noting that average home size grew from 983 square feet housing 3.8 people in 1950 to 2,500 square feet housing 2.5 people by 2017 — from 292 to 1,000 square feet per person. "Part of what has led us to become less affordable as a society is that we start at a very different size and different point than we did 60-plus years ago," Klein observed. Middle housing represents an opportunity to provide different housing types and sizes, though he acknowledged there's no mandate for ownership rather than rental products. Commissioner Rose Lathrop emphasized the implementation possibilities ahead: "I'm utilizing middle housing in order to do affordable home ownership right now, and the tools that are available to us because of the state bill are allowing me to do just the thing that we're talking about." ## Climate and Demographic Challenges The discussion touched on broader demographic and economic challenges facing Bellingham. Klein noted that between 2014 and 2024, median home prices increased 129% while wages failed to keep pace, creating affordability gaps that put Bellingham among the nation's leaders in housing cost-to-income disparities among small cities. The plan addresses these challenges through multiple strategies: encouraging infill development, supporting transit-oriented growth, and planning for climate resilience. The comprehensive plan includes a new Climate chapter, reflecting state requirements and community priorities around both mitigation and adaptation. Commissioner Jerry Richmond reflected on his work with students, noting that seven to eight out of ten say they would stay in Bellingham if there were adequate job and housing opportunities — highlighting the connection between housing policy and economic development. ## Technical Amendments and Final Deliberation Before the final vote, commissioners approved a minor amendment to Housing Policy H-11 regarding language about monitoring housing market affordability. The change, from continuous text to bullet points, improved readability while maintaining the same intent. The final motion, made by Dan Bloemker and seconded by Jerry Richmond, recommended approval of the comprehensive plan as amended. The discussion that preceded the vote captured both the aspirational nature of comprehensive planning and the practical challenges of implementation. "This is mostly going to be an aspirational document," Lathrop noted. "This is kind of what we want to see going forward. It's going to be the future code changes and the internal policies that are actually going to set what happens." Bloemker expressed optimism tempered with realism: "Optimistically this could potentially make a dent over a 20-year horizon in our housing challenges. It is a long-term plan that I think sets us in a good direction, but it's not the final answer." ## Looking Ahead The unanimous 6-0 vote sends the Bellingham Plan to City Council for final consideration and adoption. The document represents not just a policy framework but a vision for how Bellingham can grow while maintaining its character and addressing critical challenges around housing, climate, and equity. Klein's closing remarks captured the magnitude of the effort ahead: "This is the starting line, it's not the finish line. It's going to require creativity, dedication, and collaboration, not only with local government, but all the partners, both public and private, that are going to help us move the needle in the right direction." The plan allocates significant city resources — $14 million annually — toward housing across the affordability spectrum, from emergency shelter to subsidized units to market-rate development. But as commissioners acknowledged, meeting the scale of housing need will require sustained effort across multiple implementation cycles. ## What's Ahead With comprehensive plan approval, attention turns to implementation. October meetings will address co-living regulations required by state law, while other housing-related code updates move through interim adoption processes directly to City Council. The evening concluded with a sense of accomplishment tempered by awareness of the work ahead. As Chair Estes noted, while this represents a significant milestone for staff, "it must feel really good" to reach this point after years of technical analysis and community engagement. The Bellingham Plan now moves to City Council for final adoption, carrying with it the community's vision for growth that balances housing needs, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity over the next two decades.

### Meeting Overview The Bellingham Planning Commission met September 25, 2025, to consider a recommendation to City Council on the draft Bellingham Plan, the city's comprehensive 20-year plan for growth. After reviewing public comments and discussing Urban Growth Area boundaries, the commission unanimously approved the plan with minor amendments. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Comprehensive Plan:** A 20-year vision document that guides the physical, social and economic development of the city, required by state law to be updated every decade. **Urban Growth Area (UGA):** Land designated for future city growth where urban development is encouraged and rural development is discouraged under state growth management law. **UGA Reserve:** Areas identified for potential future inclusion in the UGA but not expected to be developed during the current 20-year planning period due to resource constraints. **Middle Housing:** Housing types between single-family homes and large apartment buildings, such as duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings, mandated by state House Bill 1110. **House Bill 1220:** State legislation requiring comprehensive plans to ensure housing supply and affordability at all income levels, with specific requirements for housing below 80% of area median income. **Annexation Plan:** A detailed study of opportunities and costs for bringing areas from the UGA into the city limits, including infrastructure needs and service provision. **Impact Fees:** Charges paid by developers to offset the costs of new infrastructure needed to serve new development, such as roads, parks, and schools. **System Development Charges:** Similar to impact fees but specifically for utility infrastructure like water tanks and pump stations. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Mike Estes | Planning Commission Chair | | Chris Behee | Long Range Planning Manager | | Blake Lang | Director, Planning and Community Development | | Elizabeth Erickson | Senior Planner | | Mike Wilson | Assistant Director of Public Works/City Engineer | | Brian Gas | Community member providing public comment | ### Background Context This meeting represented a milestone in a multi-year comprehensive plan update process required by state law. The city has been working since 2023 to update its 2016 comprehensive plan, with extensive community engagement including surveys, public meetings, and focused outreach to historically underrepresented groups. The plan addresses major challenges including Bellingham's housing affordability crisis - the city has seen home prices increase 129% from 2014-2024 while wages haven't kept pace, making it one of the least affordable small cities in the country. State legislation now requires cities to plan for housing at all income levels and allow more diverse housing types. Climate change is another major focus, with new state requirements to plan for both climate mitigation (reducing emissions) and resilience (adapting to climate impacts). The plan emphasizes compact, transit-oriented development in urban villages to reduce vehicle miles traveled. ### What Happened — The Short Version Staff presented analysis of two potential Urban Growth Areas - North Bellingham and South U Street. Based on terrain, infrastructure costs, and development capacity, they recommended prioritizing the North area for the 20-year planning period while keeping the South area in "UGA Reserve" status. Public commenter Brian Gas criticized middle housing policies, arguing they primarily create rentals rather than homeownership opportunities and don't address Bellingham's lack of affordable starter homes. The commission discussed infrastructure planning challenges, the relationship between UGA status and city responsibilities, and how middle housing might work in existing neighborhoods. They made one minor amendment to housing policy wording before unanimously approving the plan. ### What to Watch Next - City Council will hold public hearings and work sessions on the comprehensive plan in coming months - October 9: Planning Commission will consider ADU regulations - October 16: Planning Commission will review co-living housing rules - State deadline for plan adoption is December 31, 2025 - Implementation will require updating city development codes to match the new comprehensive plan policies ---

**Q:** What is the Bellingham Plan? **A:** Bellingham's comprehensive plan for growth - a 20-year vision document that guides the city's physical, social and economic development, updated every decade as required by state law. **Q:** What are the four focus areas of the plan update? **A:** Bellingham for All, More Housing Choice, Sustainable Growth, and Climate Resilience. **Q:** How much has Bellingham's median home price increased from 2014-2024? **A:** About 129%, while wages did not come close to matching that increase, making Bellingham one of the least affordable small cities in the country. **Q:** What is the difference between UGA and UGA Reserve status? **A:** UGA areas are planned for development during the 20-year planning period with full city infrastructure planning. UGA Reserve areas are identified for potential future growth but not expected to be fully developed due to resource constraints. **Q:** Why did staff recommend the North Bellingham UGA over South U Street? **A:** The North area has flatter terrain, better infrastructure opportunities, more housing capacity (1,300 vs. 200 units), employment potential (1,800 jobs), and a willing property owner ready to develop. **Q:** What did Brian Gas criticize about middle housing? **A:** He argued it creates rentals rather than homeownership opportunities, doesn't provide affordable starter homes, and misleads people about ownership possibilities. **Q:** What is House Bill 1110? **A:** State legislation requiring cities to allow middle housing types like duplexes and townhomes in areas previously zoned only for single-family homes. **Q:** How much does Bellingham spend annually on housing needs? **A:** About $14 million on a continuum of housing services including shelter, tiny home villages, transitional housing, and subsidized affordable units. **Q:** What are impact fees versus system development charges? **A:** Both charge developers for new infrastructure. Impact fees cover roads, parks, and schools. System development charges specifically cover utilities like water tanks and pump stations. **Q:** What was the final commission vote? **A:** Unanimous approval (6-0) to recommend the comprehensive plan to City Council with one minor language amendment to housing policy H-11. **Q:** When must the plan be adopted? **A:** By December 31, 2025, to meet state Growth Management Act requirements. **Q:** How many housing units does Bellingham need to build by 2045? **A:** Approximately 18,390 new housing units, with about 40% needing to be affordable to households earning 80% or below area median income. **Q:** What is the city's current population? **A:** Just under 100,000 people within city limits. **Q:** What happens after comprehensive plan adoption? **A:** The city must update its development regulations and codes to implement the plan's policies and goals. **Q:** How often are comprehensive plans updated? **A:** Major "periodic updates" happen every 10 years, with smaller annual updates possible in between. **Q:** What role does Whatcom County play? **A:** The county must approve urban growth area amendments and coordinates growth projections across all cities in the county. **Q:** How long has this planning process taken? **A:** Since 2023, including extensive community engagement with nearly 4,000 people on the project email list. **Q:** What is the planning period for this comprehensive plan? **A:** 2025-2045 (20 years). **Q:** Who owns the majority of the North Bellingham UGA area? **A:** Kitec Corporation, which has a proven development track record and willingness to participate in infrastructure development. **Q:** What comes next for the Planning Commission? **A:** October meetings on ADU regulations and co-living housing rules to implement state housing legislation. ---