HomeComp Plans Bellingham › Community Design
Bellingham · BEL-CP-2025 · Pages 48-59

Community Design

The Community Design chapter guides how the city looks, feels, and functions by establishing policies for building design, streetscapes, open spaces, and historic preservation. It promotes pedestrian-oriented, human-scale environments that enhance community identity, economic vitality, and livability across neighborhoods and urban villages. The chapter also emphasizes integration of natural features, public art, and preservation of historic and cultural resources as foundational elements of Bellingham's unique character.

Community Design Economy Social Environment Governance
Goals (5 total)
  • CD-A: Community Identity and Sense of Place – Express community identity through improvements to appearance, function, and design of new development and public realm
  • CD-B: Streets as Places – Promote streetscapes that enhance economic vitality, visual quality, and support pedestrian-scale activity
  • CD-C: Site and Building Design – Provide a built environment of well-designed, pedestrian-friendly and community-oriented sites and buildings
  • CD-D: Natural Features and Open Space – Integrate and emphasize natural features and open space in community design and new development
  • CD-E: Historic and Cultural Resources – Preserve Bellingham's heritage and diverse identities through preservation of historic buildings, sites, and cultural resources
Stronger Policy Language (19 policies)
  • CD-15: Install, protect and maintain curbside street trees in the public right-of-way.
  • CD-16: Require new and retrofitted sidewalks to be set back from the curb and designed to include curbside street trees.
  • CD-37: Require the installation and maintenance of adequate landscaping throughout the city and in development projects, prohibiting invasive plant species.
  • CD-19: Establish and maintain a predictable, clear and objective set of design standards and review processes for development.
Aspirational / Monitoring Language (26 policies)
  • CD-10: Foster placemaking by supporting unique design themes in building facades, public spaces, streetscapes and other built elements within the visual public realm.
  • CD-11: Encourage the incorporation of creativity, culture and public art features with new and existing development.
  • CD-33: Identify and strive to preserve scenic vistas of important natural features from public spaces such as the Cascade Mountains, Lake Whatcom, Bellingham Bay.
  • CD-41: Promote the many benefits of historic preservation beyond the aesthetic and expand historic preservation to embrace tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

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