# Whatcom County's Future: A Regional Conversation About Growth and Housing ## Meeting Overview On a sunny September afternoon in 2025, elected officials from across Whatcom County gathered at the Ferndale City Hall Annex for a critical conversation about the region's future. This special meeting brought together mayors, council members, and county officials to review Urban Growth Area (UGA) proposals that will shape housing, jobs, and development patterns for the next 20 years. The meeting represented a collaborative approach to growth management that has become increasingly important as the county grapples with housing shortages, environmental constraints, and the need to accommodate an expected influx of 66,000 new residents by 2045. Each jurisdiction had prepared detailed presentations outlining how they planned to accommodate their share of regional growth while balancing local priorities and state mandates. What emerged was a complex portrait of a region trying to grow smartly while wrestling with floods, wetlands, agricultural preservation, and the realities of providing affordable housing. The presentations revealed both the technical challenges of modern planning and the very human considerations that drive local decision-making. ## Bellingham: Leading with Urban Villages and Middle Housing Chris Behe, Bellingham's planning director, opened the presentations by outlining the county's largest city's approach to accommodating 30,000 new residents and 18,400 housing units over the coming planning period. Bellingham's strategy centered on continuing to develop urban villages while opening up single-family neighborhoods to middle housing options. "We are proposing to remove areas from the urban growth area and put them in urban growth area reserve status for this coming planning period out of recognition that we are not likely to annex beyond the airport in this planning period," Behe explained, describing significant boundary changes that would reduce Bellingham's UGA by nearly 1,300 acres. The most significant reductions involved removing light industrial areas between Bellingham and Ferndale near the airport, acknowledging environmental constraints and complex ownership patterns involving state, tribal, and port properties. On the east side, Bellingham proposed removing areas in the Lake Whatcom watershed that had been downzoned to rural densities, recognizing the priority of protecting the city's drinking water source. Bellingham's land use changes represent a substantial shift toward housing diversity. All existing residential single zones would be converted to residential low zones allowing middle housing types—duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and up to six units if two are affordable, in alignment with House Bill 1110. This change alone would unlock significant capacity in the yellow areas covering much of the city's established neighborhoods. The city also proposed allowing small-scale commercial uses in residential zones—corner grocery stores, coffee shops, pharmacies, and daycares—to create more complete neighborhoods and reduce vehicle trips. "We're trying to figure out how is all that going to work together," Behe said, acknowledging that many implementation details remained to be resolved. When it came to affordable housing, Behe was frank about the challenges. While Bellingham could meet overall housing targets, significant gaps remained in the lowest income categories, particularly permanent supportive housing and units for households earning 0-30% of area median income. "These are completely subsidized housing products," he explained. "There's no naturally occurring housing in these income ranges." The city leveraged about $14 million annually in federal, state, and local housing funds through nonprofit partnerships, but Behe was clear: "We just don't have enough in the way of those resources or enough partners. We need more of those and there just are not any right now in the community." ## Blaine: A Complex UGA Swap Pending Voter Approval Alex Wenger from Blaine presented perhaps the most complicated proposal of the day—a UGA swap process that hinged on a November 4th ballot measure. The city was asking voters to approve de-annexing 573 acres of wetlands and aquifer recharge areas from city limits while adding new manufacturing areas through a land exchange process. "The area that is de-annexed from the city is over our most sensitive aquifer recharge area," Wenger explained. "So we'd be looking at trying to preserve that area." The proposal would reduce Blaine's UGA by 33 acres overall while repositioning growth toward areas better suited for development and job creation. The centerpiece of Blaine's economic development strategy involved converting 263 acres from residential to manufacturing use and adding another 124 acres of manufacturing through the swap. This reflected the city's proximity to I-5 and the Canadian border, as well as recent infrastructure investments including the O'Dell Road truck route and channelization projects to handle freight movement. But the entire proposal depended on voter approval of the de-annexation. "If the ballot measure failed, for example, we wouldn't—that would remain in the incorporated city limits and so we couldn't remove it out through the UGA swap process," Wenger acknowledged. Council members pressed about the political prospects. "I know nothing about the odds of this ballot measure passing," one admitted. Wenger explained that as city employees, they couldn't advocate for the measure but would hold public meetings to discuss the comprehensive plan. The uncertainty created a dilemma for county planning commissioners who would need to review the proposal before knowing whether the foundational ballot measure would pass. Blaine had also worked to reduce what had been excessive development capacity—bringing population capacity down from over 10,000 to about 3,000 surplus above their allocation. "When you're starting with over 10,000 people of capacity, you've got a little ways to go to bring it totally into alignment with growth allocations," Wenger noted. ## Everson: Fast Growth Meets Flood Management Alex Putnam from Everson described a small city experiencing a development boom. With a 2025 population of about 3,245, Everson had added 260 people in just the past two years and expected to exceed their 22-year growth allocation within 10-12 years given current development activity. Everson's UGA proposal reflected a strategy to grow west of the Nooksack River, away from floodplains. "Our last two annexations have occurred on the west side of town outside of the floodplain," Putnam explained. "It's really our goal to continue this movement west of the river outside of the floodplain." The city proposed adding about 70 acres to their UGA while removing 65 acres of agricultural land currently in floodplains or floodways. "All of these removals are agricultural land and are currently located in the floodplain and/or floodway, and they're just not suitable for development." Like other small cities, Everson grappled with the state's Housing for All planning tool, which had generated housing unit requirements that seemed misaligned with population projections. The tool required accommodating 30% more population than allocated just to meet housing requirements by income band. "We have to meet that House Bill requirements, but because of the way this tool works, it's very difficult to make the surplus not go over." To mitigate the loss of agricultural land, Everson proposed requiring developers to make payments into the county's conservation futures fund—a mitigation approach several cities were exploring. "We're going to develop on this land. Here's some money to help compensate for taking that agricultural land," Putnam explained. ## Ferndale: Creating Complete Communities Mike Serbone from Ferndale presented a vision for creating more complete communities, particularly in the unincorporated UGA area known as Cascadia. Working with Western Washington University students, the city had developed plans to move beyond the low-density residential development that characterized most of their current UGA. "We primarily tried to look at three specific areas to see how we could do complete communities," Serbone explained, describing Cascadia, Portal Way, and Mountain View as areas where mixed-use development could integrate housing, employment, and services. The Cascadia area represented perhaps the biggest opportunity, with plans for a mix of housing densities, neighborhood commercial, and even space for a future grocery store as the population reached the threshold to support additional retail services. "We're getting to the population size where we're going to need additional grocery store. We're getting to the population size we're going to need a larger park," Serbone noted. Ferndale proposed adding two UGA reserve areas that could be developed in future planning cycles, acknowledging long-term growth pressures. "I'll be honest, we're not concerned about 10 years from now. We're not concerned about 20 years from now. We're concerned beyond that. And that's the appropriate time frame for UGA reserve." The city had achieved remarkable balance in their projections—showing a surplus of just 300 people and 22 jobs above their allocation targets. When asked about the state's housing income band requirements, Serbone echoed Bellingham's assessment: "What Chris said about Bellingham is probably just as true if not more true for the smaller cities within the county." ## Lynden: No Changes but Strategic Density Heidi Goody from Lynden presented the most straightforward proposal of the day—no changes to their UGA boundaries. Despite hosting 7% of the county's population, Lynden had accommodated 12% of regional growth over the past decade, adding nearly 3,500 people since 2013. "Our growth rates, however, are expected to slow," Goody explained, projecting a decrease from 2.5% annual growth to 1.5%. The city expected development to become more complex as they moved beyond areas with excellent soils and easy drainage to sites with groundwater and flooding challenges. Lynden's strategy focused on increasing density within existing mixed-use overlay districts along major corridors like Badger Road, Guide Meridian, and Birch Bay-Lynden Road. "Having our higher density housing adjacent to existing commercial centers is a symbiotic relationship where they can support each other," Goody noted. The city had recently completed significant annexations in the southwestern corner and felt they had adequate capacity for projected growth within existing boundaries. For employment, Lynden acknowledged having surplus capacity on the west side but noted the ongoing challenge of wage-housing mismatches in new industrial development. ## Nooksack: Small Town, Growing Fast Holly Hamilton, supporting Nooksack's planning efforts, described a small city of 1,825 people experiencing relative boom conditions. Like Everson, Nooksack had added 260 people in just two years, representing significant growth for a community of its size. Nooksack's UGA proposal was modest but strategic, bringing 37 acres from UGA reserve into active UGA status while adding small areas for light industrial, residential infill, and commercial development. The city had been "pretty strategic in identifying areas of expansion that are for the most part outside of the proposed flood hazard areas," Hamilton noted. One proposed area would allow a community church to relocate to a property with vacant farm buildings in disrepair. "Highest and best use would be well served by development and the owner's intention to relocate a community church to the property," Hamilton explained, showing how UGA adjustments sometimes reflected very local priorities. Like other small cities, Nooksack struggled with the state's housing planning tool, which generated surpluses in some income categories while leaving gaps in others. The city was revising zoning codes to accept higher density residential development and planned inclusion of planned unit developments to give developers more flexibility. ## Sumas: Moving Out of the Flood Zone Carson Cortez from Sumas presented perhaps the most dramatic proposal—a large westward expansion designed to help move population out of flood-prone areas. Sumas, with just 1,835 people, had seen 85% of structures damaged in the 2021 Nooksack River flood when the town was almost entirely inundated. "The purpose of the westward expansion is to start to move population and move housing out of the way of the flood to reduce damage and reduce risk to life and property over time," Cortez explained. "But it'll be a slow process, but allowing new development to occur in that direction is a good start to start moving people out of harm's way." The proposal involved 10 expansion areas, including spaces for industrial growth south of an east-west road and residential development to the north. Sumas faced the challenge that "every direction around us is in the floodplain. There's not really a way for us to grow our UGA that doesn't involve the floodplain in some capacity." Sumas also dealt with unique infrastructure challenges. Unlike other cities, Sumas didn't operate its own sewage treatment plant, instead sending wastewater to Abbotsford, BC, for treatment—an arrangement dating to the late 1990s or early 2000s when their own plant ran out of capacity. This created complications for UGA expansion since the Growth Management Act typically required sewage treatment capacity, and Abbotsford wasn't planning to update their master plan until 2028. The city also faced concerns about naturally occurring asbestos from Swift Creek sediment deposits along the Sumas River, requiring coordination with county mitigation efforts. Like Everson, Sumas was exploring payment-in-lieu mechanisms to address agricultural land conversion. ## Whatcom County: Birch Bay, Columbia Valley, and Cherry Point Matt Omedt from Whatcom County concluded the presentations with updates on three unincorporated UGAs. For Birch Bay, the county proposed no UGA expansion but two new UGA reserves. The community faced ongoing challenges from sea level rise and coastal flooding, with new mapping showing water ingress even with protective berms during 20-year storm scenarios. "Even with the berm you get that," county staff confirmed when asked about flood impacts. The area was adjusting zoning from R-5A to R-10A to prevent development of large homes on small parcels that couldn't easily be redeveloped at urban densities if later incorporated. Columbia Valley would see no UGA boundary changes but significant zoning updates to accommodate different housing types required by House Bill 1220. Some areas would be rezoned from rural forestry to light impact industrial to provide employment opportunities, while residential zoning would be updated to allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes. Cherry Point, the county's industrial UGA, would actually shrink slightly with removal of BP wetland mitigation areas that weren't suitable for industrial development. The area would continue to accommodate the 1,200 jobs projected in the multi-jurisdictional resolution. ## The Housing Challenge: State Mandates vs. Local Reality Throughout the presentations, a consistent theme emerged around the disconnect between state housing mandates and local capacity to deliver affordable housing. Every jurisdiction struggled with the Department of Commerce's "Housing for All" planning tool, which generated requirements that often seemed misaligned with actual development patterns and financial realities. Bellingham's Chris Behe provided the clearest explanation of the fundamental challenge: while zoning changes could enable various housing types, creating truly affordable housing required subsidies and organizational capacity that didn't exist. "The forms can be built under the regulations. It's just how do we move them out of this market rate category into the subsidized category." Several officials noted that the tool appeared to be a "black box" that generated numbers based on existing community demographics and housing stock but without clear logic about how all the calculations connected. "We put information in. It spits information out based on the demographics of our community," Ferndale's Serbone explained. "But how those all add up? You would have to get Andrew here and he could probably explain it to you." The challenge was particularly acute in the 0-30% income range, where permanent supportive housing required not just capital for construction but ongoing operational funding for services. As Behe noted, "It's not just the capital construction costs. It's actually the entities to run it. That's the real deal." ## Regional Coordination and Future Challenges The meeting highlighted both the promise and challenges of regional coordination. While each jurisdiction presented local solutions, broader questions remained about how individual proposals would add up to address regional housing needs, climate goals, and economic development objectives. County Council member Don Bouker raised this concern in closing: "Council's been getting these as just jurisdiction by jurisdiction by jurisdiction and I don't have a feel for yet is like how this all adds up into what maybe we're looking at in the climate chapter with vehicle trips and increased travel and how these proposals relate to that." The observation captured a fundamental tension in growth management: while local control allowed communities to tailor solutions to their specific circumstances, someone needed to consider whether the sum of local decisions achieved regional objectives around sustainability, equity, and economic development. ## Looking Ahead As the meeting concluded with plans for a follow-up session in December, several threads remained to be woven together. Blaine's UGA swap awaited voter approval. Sumas needed to resolve infrastructure challenges with Canadian partners. Multiple cities were still refining land capacity analyses to address county concerns. Perhaps most significantly, the region was still grappling with how to move beyond zoning for affordable housing to actually building it. The presentations revealed sophisticated planning work and genuine commitment to accommodation growth, but also highlighted the gap between planning for housing and delivering housing that working families could afford. The conversation represented an important moment in Whatcom County's evolution—a chance for local leaders to think regionally while maintaining local autonomy, to balance growth with environmental protection, and to plan for a future that would inevitably bring both opportunities and challenges to every community around the table. As officials packed up their presentations and headed back to their respective communities, the real work of implementation lay ahead: turning these carefully crafted proposals into actual places where people could live, work, and thrive in one of the Pacific Northwest's most beautiful and rapidly changing regions.