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Real Briefings

Ferndale Planning Commission

FER-PLN-2026-04-15 April 15, 2026 Planning Commission Meeting City of Ferndale
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The Ferndale Planning Commission held a work session on the draft Land Use Element of the city's 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update. Director Michael Cerbone presented a preliminary draft, emphasizing that significant portions remain incomplete pending City Council direction on zoning changes. The commission reviewed proposed revisions, deletions, and additions to the Land Use Element, which serves as the central component of the comprehensive plan governing all future development decisions. Staff acknowledged the draft's incomplete state, noting they are awaiting council feedback from their April 20 work session before finalizing key sections including land use distribution, future land use needs, and district planning areas. The commission focused primarily on reviewing proposed structural changes, deletions of outdated information, and formatting consistency with other plan elements. The commission discussed preserving district planning maps in some form while removing specific numerical projections that staff deemed difficult to accurately forecast. Director Cerbone outlined an aggressive timeline to complete the element and submit to the state by mid-June, with a public hearing tentatively scheduled for May 13. The session concluded with plans to bring a complete draft for public hearing next month, streamlining the process to meet state deadlines while ensuring adequate public input opportunities.

**Motion to Excuse Absences:** - Commissioner Houston moved to excuse Commissioner Cool (unanimous) - Commissioner Houston moved to excuse Commissioner Fimbres (unanimous) - Commissioner Houston moved to excuse Commissioner Bode (unanimous) **March 11, 2026 Minutes Approval:** - Approved without formal motion or discussion - No objections noted **Workshop Scheduling Decision:*…

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**Land Use Element Structure and Content:** The commission reviewed substantial proposed changes to reorganize the Land Use Element for consistency with other comprehensive plan elements. Staff added executive summaries, rationale statements, and reformatted goals and policies while removing outdated information and graphics deemed no longer relevant. **District Planning Areas:** Significant discussion centered on whether to retain district planning maps showing projected housing and employment growth by area. Director Cerbone acknowledged these maps are "difficult to produce" and questioned their benefit, noting job projections are particularly unreliable. Commissioner Houston argued for retaining visual representations of residential versus employment balance across districts, suggesting maps showing permitted uses rather than numerical projections. Staff agreed to modify approach to show land use types without specific growth forecasts. **Neighborhood Commercial Zoning:** Ce…
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**Planning Commission Members:** Commissioner Houston advocated for maintaining visual representation of land use planning across districts, emphasizing the importance of balancing residential and employment areas throughout the city. Expressed concern about setting numerical expectations that may not be achievable while supporting conceptual planning graphics. **Community Development Staff:** Director Cerbone emphasized streamlining the document by removing outdated information while maint…
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**Director Cerbone, on document preparation approach:** "The intent is not for you to be like, this looks great, let's go, because there's a lot of stuff missing from it. What we really are seeking to do with it, all the things out we don't need there." **Commissioner Houston, on district planning value:** "I think for me the value is not so much in looking at the graphs and the numbers specifically, it's more sort of like what are we either encouraging in certain areas where what are we, wha…
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**Immediate Timeline:** - April 20, 2026: City Council work session on zoning changes - May 13, 2026: Planning Commission public hearing on complete Land Use Element draft - Mid-June 2026: Target submission to state - Summer 2026: State review period - End of summer 2026: Council adoption of complete comprehensive plan **Outstanding Items:** - Completion of land use distribution data based on Council zoning decisions - Updates to all maps, tables, and graphics - Finalization of district planning area descriptions - Industrial lands section expansion regarding…

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**Document Organization:** The Land Use Element structure was significantly reorganized to match formatting and presentation style of other comprehensive plan elements, including addition of executive summaries and rationale statements. **Content Removal:** Multiple outdated maps, graphics, and data tables were identified for deletion, particularly those containing information duplicated in other plan elements or technical reports. **District Planning Approach:** Agreement reached to modify district planning maps from numerical projections to…
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Land Use & Planning Government Operations Ferndale City Council Ferndale Planning Commission Port Of Bellingham Washington State Department Of Commerce Western Washington University Whatcom County Wta David Rubina Jesse Ashbaugh Kyla Boswell Michael Cerbone Michael Contaczak Patti Gearhart Price Houston Annexation Climate Action Comprehensive Plan Downtown Development Flood Mitigation Growth Management Act Industrial Development Infrastructure Investment Land Use Policy Zoning Ferndale Ferndale Planning Commission