### Meeting Overview The City of Bellingham Planning Committee met on May 5, 2025 to discuss major changes to how the city handles land use planning, focusing on retiring 25 neighborhood plans in favor of citywide planning and implementing state-required middle housing regulations. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Neighborhood Plans:** 25 local planning documents adopted in 1980, covering 434 unique land use subareas with varying levels of detail and complexity across different neighborhoods. **Middle Housing:** State-required housing types including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and cottage housing that bridge the gap between single-family homes and large apartment buildings. **House Bill 1110:** 2023 state legislation requiring cities to allow up to 4 housing units per residential lot, with up to 6 units if affordable housing is provided. **Zoning Tables:** Regulatory documents in the municipal code that specify what can be built in each area, currently organized into 25 separate tables with hundreds of unique subareas. **Systemic Inequities:** Differences in planning resources and outcomes across neighborhoods, largely based on which communities had residents with time, resources, and expertise to engage in planning processes. **Lot Splitting:** The process of dividing one lot into multiple smaller lots, each of which can then accommodate additional housing units under the new state requirements. **Minimum Density:** A planning tool that sets a floor for how many housing units must be built per acre to ensure efficient use of infrastructure and land. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role | |---|---| | Lisa Anderson | Council Member, Fifth Ward (chaired meeting) | | Michael Lilliquist | Council Member, Sixth Ward (Committee Chair) | | Hannah Stone | Council Member, First Ward | | Chris Behe | Long Range Division Manager, Planning & Community Development | | Blake Lyon | Planning Director | ### Background Context This meeting addressed two interconnected planning challenges facing Bellingham. First, the city's current neighborhood-based planning system, established in 1980, has become increasingly complex and inequitable, with 25 different neighborhood plans creating 434 unique zoning subareas. Some neighborhoods have robust 60-page plans while others have just 10-15 pages, largely depending on which communities had residents with resources to engage in planning processes. Second, new state laws require major changes to residential zoning. House Bill 1110 mandates that cities allow up to 4 housing units on every residential lot, with potential for 6 units if affordable housing is provided. This represents a fundamental shift from traditional single-family zoning to accommodate "missing middle" housing types that can help address the housing crisis. ### What Happened — The Short Version Staff presented their recommendation to retire all 25 neighborhood plans and move to a simpler, citywide planning system. They argued this would eliminate inequities between neighborhoods and make the planning system more transparent and easier to navigate. The infrastructure and policy elements from neighborhood plans would be incorporated into citywide plans or the comprehensive plan. For middle housing implementation, staff proposed consolidating current residential zones into fewer categories: Residential Watershed (for Lake Whatcom area), Residential Low, Residential Medium, and Residential High. Council members raised detailed questions about lot sizes, setbacks, and how to preserve neighborhood livability while accommodating more housing. Key unresolved questions included what minimum density standards to set and how to handle the transition between different housing types. ### What to Watch Next - A follow-up work session to continue discussing zoning table consolidation and address unanswered questions about lot sizes and density standards - Development of the permanent middle housing code, due by June 2026 - Adoption of The Bellingham Plan (comprehensive plan update) by end of 2025, which will determine whether neighborhood plans are retired ---