Whatcom County Council

# Whatcom County Council Meeting — February 10, 2026 ## Meeting Overview The Whatcom County Council convened on Tuesday evening, February 10, 2026, in a hybrid format at the county courthouse. All seven council members were present: Elizabeth Boyle, Barry Buchanan, Ben Elenbaas (who serves as both a councilmember and apparently has a daughter who applied for the Planning Commission), Kaylee Galloway (serving as chair), Jessica Rienstra, John Scanlon, and Mark Stremler. The meeting ran for 2 hours and 22 minutes, with much of that time devoted to extensive public comment on industrial zoning issues. The agenda was relatively routine except for a significant debate that emerged around comprehensive plan policy changes affecting heavy industrial zoning — an issue that brought representatives from Heidelberg Materials cement plant and other industrial stakeholders to the meeting in force. The council also handled several property acquisition matters, including an $8 million purchase from Western Washington University, and wrestling with difficult questions around needle exchange funding. ## Streamlining Outdoor Event Permits The meeting opened with a straightforward public hearing on an ordinance that emerged from real-world experience in Point Roberts. As Councilmember Scanlon explained, the change came about "out of a scenario we went through last year where there was a small music festival in Point Roberts. They had to go through a lot of red tape to get their festival approved, including having us vote on it and our staff do a whole bunch of work." The ordinance would streamline permit requirements for smaller outdoor musical events and assemblies. The change was uncontroversial — no one spoke during the public hearing, and the council voted 7-0 to approve it. But Councilmember Elenbaas offered grudging support, saying "I'm not incredibly happy with it. I'm gonna support it because I think it's better than what it could be. I see ample opportunity to make it better except for state law getting in the way again. So I will reluctantly support it." Scanlon thanked "the folks who organized that festival for bringing that to us, to our attention, and our staff for doing the work to get us here and make this easier." ## Industrial Zoning Under Fire The evening's most contentious issue wasn't on the formal agenda but dominated public comment: proposed comprehensive plan policy 2U-9, which would begin a process to downzone heavy industrial land in the Alderwood area to light industrial use. This seemingly technical planning matter sparked passionate testimony from cement industry workers, managers, and supporters who painted it as an existential threat to local manufacturing jobs. The controversy began, as Peter Condelias from Heidelberg Materials explained, when they were "surprised earlier this year in January when we discovered policy 2U-9, which essentially in your comp plan calls for the down zoning of the Bellingham HII zone to light industrial." He emphasized that "we were hoping to have been a part of a stakeholder process through 2025 to get to a permanent solution. And we feel like the stakeholders were left out of this process." Corey Shaw from the Washington Aggregate and Concrete Association warned that "downsizing undermines the Growth Management Act's core mandates for protecting industrial lands" and cited examples from other counties where similar efforts failed after legal challenges. But it was the workers themselves who made the most compelling case. Craig Zimmerman, an 11-year Heidelberg employee, told the council: "I'm grateful to have a steady, well-paid, blue-collar job, especially as opportunities like this become harder to find in Whatcom County. Heavy industrial provides real career paths for people who want to work with their hands, build things, and stay in a community they call home." Coleman Hoyt, Heidelberg's environment and sustainability manager, explained the practical consequences: "If we wanted to add one of these new uses after being down zoned and grandfathered, our entire facility would instantly lose its grandfather status and we'd be required to obtain a site-wide CUP." More troubling, he said, was that "our parent company will view this down zoning as a critical and fatal obstacle to continued long-term operations in the Bellingham plant." The economic and environmental arguments were substantial. Plant manager David Parsons noted they support "good-paying family wage jobs" and have earned top safety awards for five consecutive years. Paul Marsh from Heidelberg North America estimated that losing local cement production would require "more than 3,000 additional truck trips per year" and "roughly 400 tons of CO2 each year" from trucking cement from Seattle or importing it from overseas. Even a competitor spoke up. Derek Hergenheim from Amrise Building Materials said: "Not every day do you get to be up here on behalf of your chief competition, but that's what they are... I know what this will do for the industry. It will rise your costs. It will increase diesel consumption." The cement industry's case was bolstered by unexpected support from Perry Eskridge of the Whatcom County Association of Realtors, who noted the environmental hypocrisy: "They were absolutely upset at the environmental impact of the cement plant left. They talked about the trucking. They talked about importing materials from countries that have no mining restrictions, horrible environmental records, and then transporting all of that across the ocean on huge ships burning bunker fuel." Lane Stremler, a citizen speaker, captured the absurdity: "I don't know what kind of world we live in where major employers have to kind of beg to keep their existence here... We have a high impact use that's happening in a high impact zone area. Why are we trying to change it?" ## Property Acquisition Debate The council approved several major property transactions, though not without controversy. The largest was an $8.056 million purchase of a building at 333 32nd Street from Western Washington University to house the Planning Department and potentially other county offices. Councilmember Scanlon defended the purchase as better than previous plans: "The original idea was to redevelop what's called the Northwest Antics, so Smith and Northwest there... it was very costly to redevelop at that site... comparing those two options, this is a better deal for the county and for the taxpayers." But the location drew sharp criticism. Councilmember Elenbaas called it possibly "the worst location to do it from" for serving county residents. Councilmember Stremler agreed: "South Bellingham is not a convenient place to go these days... Functionally, I'm struggling with it." The council also approved leasing back part of the building to WWU for $174,878 over two years, which prompted Elenbaas to question the financial logic: "At $174,878 for one floor for two years, we could rent that ourselves for 92 years. So why would we buy the building then? Why wouldn't we just have rented it?" Despite the concerns, both measures passed 5-2, with Elenbaas and Stremler dissenting. ## Needle Exchange Controversy One of the more philosophically challenging votes involved authorizing $166,766 in state health department funding that included support for a needle exchange program. The debate revealed deeply personal struggles with harm reduction policy. Councilmember Stremler was direct: "buried within this package is funding for a needle exchange program, which I find very ethically challenging. And so I cannot support money going towards programs like this." Councilmember Elenbaas wrestled with the issue more publicly: "I like to think of these things, and how would I handle this if it was my child? And I would never, if my child was an addict, I would never say, here, son, here's a clean needle, go ahead and shoot up." But he ultimately supported it, saying "with the system that we have, I can understand the reasoning for doing it... it's not the way I want to do it. But I think it's the best option that we have at the moment." Councilmember Rienstra defended the approach: "this is the act of reducing harm. And it's one method on a spectrum, where we are looking to engage folks who are not actively engaging healthcare and find ways to meet them where they are, but not leave them there and bring them into the system of care, treatment, and support." The measure passed 6-1, with Stremler dissenting. ## Geneva Neighborhood Cougar Concerns A persistent public safety issue emerged during public comment as three Geneva neighborhood residents described a cougar that has been present in their residential area since December 7th. Nathan Stewart provided detailed documentation: "This cougar has been documented throughout the neighborhood on multiple streets, including multiple daytime sightings. It has cached deer kills within feet of residents' front doors, twice in the same location." The residents expressed frustration with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which Stewart said "repeatedly told us that because the cougar hasn't shown direct aggression, they don't plan to intervene" despite providing residents with written authorization to remove the cougar themselves if necessary. Denise Bruce, a 35-year Geneva resident, emphasized the impact on families: "This is a concern for all these parents. They're not living their lives like they normally would... But this is out in the daytime." Jonathan Haas, whose child attends nearby school, described changing promises from WDFW: "We've been told a lot of different things. We've been told originally that it wasn't going to get that close, so we don't have to worry about it. Then it did. And then we were told that if it showed odd behavior, then it would be dealt with. Then it did. And it wasn't." ## Rural Child Care Challenges Stephanie Anderson from Little Sprouts Preschool in Nooksack brought attention to barriers in expanding rural child care, specifically county restrictions on using Healthy Children's Fund money for land acquisition. She explained that "the majority of child care owners in the county are family home child care owners, just like myself. I'm not centers with an established building. In order to expand child care in the county, land acquisition or the purchase of an existing structure is what needs to happen." Anderson outlined the practical constraints of family home day cares: "Family home child cares are maxed out at a capacity of 12" and expanding beyond that requires expensive safety upgrades including "a permitted sprinkler system in your house, a heat detector in the kitchen, and exit path lighting." Hannah Ortis spoke during public comment to endorse Anderson's request: "Little Sprouts is exactly what this tax was for and it would restore and build trust in those who did not want this tax if we could see it provided to places like Little Sprouts." ## Sumas Flood Concerns Continue Stacy Daily from Sumas delivered a brief but urgent message about ongoing flood risk: "Sumas is here and we are still in a war zone. And the threat is still very imminent... But enough planning. This has been studied and planned and planned to death. And you have lives at risk." She questioned who has authority to push for action rather than more planning: "So who goes to the planners and says we need action, not planning? Is that you guys?" ## Planning Commission Appointment Process The council faced an unusual situation when appointing to Planning Commission vacancies. Councilmember Elenbaas recused himself because his daughter Lindsey had applied, creating potential conflict of interest concerns. After accepting late applications, two candidates addressed the council: Matt Berry and Selena Knoblauch. The council attempted to appoint two people to two vacancies, but the voting process became complicated. Matthew Berry received five votes and was appointed. However, for the second position, no candidate received the required four votes: Selena Knoblauch received three votes (Galloway, Rienstra, and Boyle), Lindsey Elenbaas received two votes (Stremler and Buchanan), and Gurdeep Bains received one vote (Scanlon). Chair Galloway decided to reopen the application process rather than continue voting, inviting both existing applicants and new ones to apply for the remaining District 1 or District 5 vacancy. ## Transparency and Accountability Concerns Several speakers raised concerns about government transparency and accountability. Lyle Sorenson, who operates a media outlet with "1.4 million views a month," criticized the inaccessibility of court records: "public information in Whatcom County in our judicial system, in our district and superior courts is all but inaccessible. Judges are elected by the people, but yet most people have no way to know any of the data." He called for immediate action: "I would encourage this council and the executive's office to move forward rather quickly with data transparency... It shouldn't take a full-time staff person putting in individual public records requests for public information. That should be in a forward-facing database that anyone can look at." Brian Gass made serious allegations about the planning department, claiming conflicts of interest: "I literally am going to start accusing the Whatcom County Planning Department and the prosecuting attorney of conspiring to defraud people" based on his research into property transactions involving county employees. ## Mental Health Treatment Advocacy Adam Bellinger returned to continue his advocacy for changes to involuntary treatment laws, particularly around addiction. He pointed to data showing overdose deaths now exceed suicides in Whatcom County: "Since 2020, we've started to hear locally and according to the Whatcom County Medical Examiner's annual reports, we've surpassed our suicide deaths by a considerable margin." Bellinger advocated for lowering the threshold for involuntary treatment: "The state of Oregon just implemented as of January 1, under House Bill 2005, that they were going to reduce the imminent threat language to a lower burden of requirement so that it's more like a likely threat to themselves ongoing." Cynthia Sue Ripke-Kutzagoitz shared personal experience with mental illness in her family, emphasizing the need for involuntary treatment options: "there are people that need your help... You need to know that there are people even in your jails that are suffering from psychosis that need the help." ## Meeting Conclusion The meeting concluded at 8:22 p.m. after council members gave brief committee reports and updates. The session highlighted the tension between economic development and land use regulation, the challenges of harm reduction approaches to addiction, and ongoing struggles with transparent governance. The industrial zoning debate seems likely to continue as the comprehensive plan update process moves forward, with significant economic and environmental stakes on both sides. Meanwhile, practical issues like cougar management, rural child care expansion, and flood protection remain unresolved, awaiting action from various levels of government. The council's handling of multiple complex issues in a single evening demonstrated both the breadth of county government responsibilities and the difficulty of balancing competing interests and values in local governance.