February 23, 2026 Processed under Real Briefings Basic Master Prompt v3.1

MEETING METADATA

• Meeting ID: COTW-2026-02-23
• Date: Monday, February 23, 2026
• Body: City of Bellingham — Committee of the Whole
• Meeting Type: Committee of the Whole (afternoon session)
• Time: 2:55 p.m. scheduled start; approximate duration 35 minutes (including executive session not captured in transcript)
• Location: Council Chambers, Second Floor, City Hall, 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA. Hybrid format available via BTV, Comcast channels 321 (HD) and 10 (SD), and City of Bellingham YouTube channel.
• Members Present: Chair Hannah Stone; Council Members Hollie Huthman, Daniel Hammill, Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Lisa Anderson, Michael Lilliquist, Jace Cotton (all seven members per agenda; presiding chair identified in transcript as Stone)
• Members Absent: None noted
• Staff Present: Chris Behey, Long Range Planning Manager, City of Bellingham
• Agenda Bills / Action Items:
• AB 24839 — Presentation on how to access the Bellingham Plan and related resources (information only — no vote)
• Old/New Business (no items raised)
• Executive Session: Two potential property acquisitions announced at close of public session — one with "Longman" (approximately 10 minutes) and one with "Rosenlat" (approximately 3 minutes); executive session not captured in transcript. Report-out scheduled for the regular meeting that evening.
• Next Meeting: Not specified in source documents
• Source Documents Used: Transcript (.txt); Agenda (.pdf)
• Documents Not Available: Staff Packet, Minutes, Action Summary

Meeting ID: COTW-2026-02-23

Executive Summary

The Bellingham City Council's Committee of the Whole convened on the afternoon of February 23, 2026 for a brief but substantive session focused entirely on a single informational item: a guided tour of the recently adopted Bellingham Plan and the suite of digital tools and resources available to access it. No votes were taken on the public session item — the formal adoption of the Bellingham Plan had occurred at the end of December 2025, and this presentation was an orientation for council members and the public alike on how to navigate the plan effectively now that it is live.

Long Range Planning Manager Chris Behey led the presentation, walking the full council through the plan's website landing page, its interactive features, the goal and policy search tool, the green infrastructure map, the archived neighborhood plans, and a new "Housing and Development Rule Updates" page created to help residents understand the cluster of code changes adopted alongside the plan in late 2025. The presentation also highlighted the plan's design as a living digital document — intended to be updated annually and structured so that supporting data and resources can stay current without requiring formal plan amendments.

Council Member Anderson raised substantive accessibility concerns, specifically about the screen reader version of the plan, asking about the absence of page numbers and the handling of alt text for charts and graphics. Behey acknowledged both as open items and described the alt text preparation work already underway, while noting that a forthcoming citywide website accessibility upgrade may resolve many of these issues without requiring a separate document mediation project.

Following the public business, the chair announced an executive session covering two potential property acquisitions — one with a party identified as "Longman" (approximately 10 minutes) and one with "Rosenlat" (approximately 3 minutes) — with a report-out scheduled for the regular evening meeting.

Key Decisions & Actions

1. AB 24839 — Presentation on how to access the Bellingham Plan and related resources - Action: Information only — no vote taken. Formal adoption of the Bellingham Plan occurred in December 2025. - Presenter: Chris Behey, Long Range Planning Manager - Purpose: Guided orientation for council members and the public on navigating the Bellingham Plan website, interactive tools, and related resources. - Staff recommendation: Not applicable (informational presentation)

2. Old/New Business - Action: No items raised.

3. Executive Session (announced, not transcribed) - Two potential property acquisitions: - "Longman" — approximately 10 minutes - "Rosenlat" — approximately 3 minutes - Report-out scheduled for the regular City Council meeting that same evening.

Note: No staff packet, minutes, or action summary were available for this processing run. AB number is drawn from the agenda. Executive session parties' names are drawn from the transcript and may contain transcription errors — see Editor Notes.

Policy Discussions

The Bellingham Plan — Navigation, Digital Tools, and Accessibility

This was the sole substantive topic of the public session. Chris Behey provided a comprehensive walkthrough of how to access and use the Bellingham Plan, which was adopted in December 2025 as the city's updated comprehensive plan — the culmination of a two-plus-year periodic update process. The plan replaces the previous 2016 Bellingham Plan and is designed primarily as a digital document, though hard copies were distributed to council members at the session.

Behey demonstrated several key features of the plan's web presence:

The main plan document is accessible via the city's website by searching "Bellingham Plan" or "comprehensive plan," or by navigating to Services → Community Planning. The plan functions best as a downloaded PDF rather than a browser-based document due to interactive element compatibility differences across browsers. The document features hyperlinked chapter navigation, cross-linked policy references (allowing users to jump between related goals and policies in different chapters), a glossary with linked term definitions, and an interactive land use map that launches a GIS viewer showing parcel-level land use designations.

A goal and policy search tool is accessible from the plan's main resource page, allowing users to filter goals and policies by chapter, select multiple goals simultaneously, and search for specific terms across the full policy text. Behey demonstrated keyword search functionality and noted its current limitations (basic text matching, not semantic search), while flagging that GIS staff may be able to enhance the tool in a future version.

The resource page also hosts: a print-formatted 8.5"×11" version of the plan; a screen reader-accessible text-only version; a link to the adopting ordinance from December 2025; links to the annual docket process; links to the full periodic update process and engagement history; and a chapter-by-chapter section of data, maps, and supporting documents — designed to replace the static background data sections in the 2016 plan that quickly became outdated. A new "Housing and Development Rule Updates" page was created to help residents and permit center staff navigate the five separate ordinances adopted in November and December 2025 alongside the plan.

The discussion surfaced two substantive issues around the screen reader version of the document:

Page numbering: Council Member Huthman observed that the screen reader version lacks page numbers, which would make cross-referencing between users difficult. Behey confirmed this is an open item and said the team would assess whether it is feasible to add page numbers either natively or aligned to the main document's pagination. He noted that a forthcoming citywide website upgrade may make this moot by handling accessibility on the fly through the browser.

Alt text for charts and graphics: Council Member Anderson raised the broader issue of accessibility compliance, noting that charts, graphs, and tables embedded as images require alt text descriptions to be usable by screen readers, and asking whether that work had been done. Behey confirmed that alt text for every visual element in the main plan document has been prepared in a worksheet and is ready to be incorporated when the document is "mediated" — a professional accessibility process the team has not yet completed. He noted the same forthcoming citywide technology upgrade may render the manual mediation process unnecessary. The mayor's office staff member present (not named in transcript) noted that document accessibility is part of a broader citywide initiative involving the communications team and IT department, and that an update to council is planned.

The plan is designed as a living document, with an annual docket update process built in. A placeholder section at the back of the plan will track amendments over time, so by the 2033 periodic update (the next major cycle), there will be a running log of changes. The behavioral care center's behavioral health campus on Division Street and neighborhood plans are archived and accessible through the resources page — the latter with a clear explanation of the decision not to adopt neighborhood plans under the Bellingham Plan framework, along with all historical documents preserved.

Stakeholder Positions

Chair Hannah Stone (Council President) Presided over the meeting. Made brief remarks welcoming the presentation. At the close of public business, announced the executive session and its two items. No substantive policy positions stated on the Bellingham Plan content.

Chris Behey, Long Range Planning Manager Primary presenter. Demonstrated the website navigation, interactive tools, and resource structure clearly and methodically. Was transparent about open items — page numbering, alt text mediation — and provided context for why those had not yet been completed. Acknowledged that a forthcoming citywide web accessibility upgrade may resolve both issues. Credited the broader city team (all departments contributed to the plan) and expressed genuine appreciation for the council's role in the process.

Council Member Hollie Huthman Raised the page numbering gap in the screen reader version — a practical accessibility concern for users cross-referencing the text-only and full plan documents simultaneously. Noted that a forthcoming tool may make this unnecessary but asked for follow-up regardless.

Council Member Lisa Anderson Raised the more substantive accessibility compliance question around alt text for visual elements (charts, graphs, tables). Noted awareness of state accessibility laws and asked specifically about whether charts and graphics would have descriptive callouts for screen reader users. Demonstrated familiarity with the technical requirements of document accessibility (describing the need for alt text and describing how screen readers interact with image-embedded data elements).

Unnamed staff/mayor's office representative Briefly noted that Anderson's question connects to a citywide body of work on document and website accessibility being led by the communications team and IT department, and that an update to the full council is planned. Mentioned personal familiarity with the same challenges from work at a college.

Other council members (Hammill, Williams, Lilliquist, Cotton) Present; no substantive comments recorded in transcript. Lilliquist received a brief moment of friendly acknowledgment from Behey when the green infrastructure map's individual tree data was demonstrated ("Michael, I knew you'd be excited about that").

Notable Quotes

Chris Behey, on the plan's design as a living document: "We do anticipate it's a living document. It'll get updated annually as we move forward."

Chris Behey, on the data resources page replacing the 2016 plan's static background sections: "Those things after the 2016 plan was adopted quickly became stale or out of date. They weren't things that we updated on a regular basis... This page is our attempt to say we have all that same information to support each of the chapters, but it's in a live format that we can update as needed."

Chris Behey, on the goal and policy search tool's current limitations: "It's not that sophisticated. So it's really just a text search tool at this point."

Council Member Lisa Anderson, on accessibility compliance: "I know the state has some laws and stuff for compliance, for accessibility. Looking at the screen reader, I imagine if you've gotten rid of all the pictures... I'm also wondering how are we dealing with any of the other graphics like charts and stuff because those often are images but you would have to have a callout box that would have that description."

Chris Behey, on alt text preparation: "We do have a worksheet ready to go that has what's called the alt text for every picture, every chart, table, pie chart, graphic... The idea had been to incorporate that in when we mediate the document, which we have not done yet."

Chris Behey, on the team behind the plan: "I just wanted to reiterate I'm here showing you this but you all know there's a huge team that is responsible for all this work... I know for a fact every single department had people with their hands on this for several years."

What's Next

Bellingham Plan — Implementation and Accessibility - Annual docket process: amendments tracked and adopted at end of each year; first docket update expected end of 2026 - Next periodic update: anticipated to begin approximately 2033 - Screen reader version — page numbers: Behey to assess feasibility of adding page numbers; may be superseded by citywide web accessibility upgrade - Alt text / document mediation: alt text worksheet complete and ready; formal mediation process pending; citywide website accessibility upgrade may make manual mediation unnecessary - Citywide website/document accessibility update: communications team and IT department working on this; update to full council planned (date not specified) - Housing and Development Rule Updates page: live on city website at cob.org for permit center and public reference - Goal and policy search tool: potential version 2.0 enhancements under discussion with GIS staff (semantic/whole-word search improvements)

Executive Session Property Acquisitions - Two potential property acquisitions (parties: "Longman" and "Rosenlat" per transcript — see Editor Notes) - Report-out scheduled for the February 23, 2026 regular City Council meeting (evening session)

What Changed

Before this meeting: - The Bellingham Plan had been adopted in December 2025 but no formal council-level orientation on the plan's digital tools and access resources had been conducted in a public session. - The accessibility gaps in the screen reader version (missing page numbers, unmediated alt text) had not been publicly flagged or formally acknowledged.

After this meeting: - The full council received a public, on-the-record orientation on how to navigate the Bellingham Plan's digital tools — creating a public record and a resource for community members who watch the recording. - The screen reader accessibility gaps (page numbers, alt text) are now formally on the record with acknowledged follow-up commitments from staff. - The connection between the Bellingham Plan's accessibility needs and the broader citywide web/document accessibility initiative was made explicit on the public record for the first time in this session. - Two potential property acquisitions were authorized to proceed into executive session; outcomes to be reported at the evening regular meeting.

Section 8: HubSpot Blog Tags

PUBLIC TAGS (display on blog post): - city-council-committee - comprehensive-plan - land-use - community-planning - bellingham-plan

DATA TAGS (HubSpot CRM / HubDB — do not publish): - person-hannah-stone - person-hollie-huthman - person-lisa-anderson - person-michael-lilliquist - person-chris-behey - entity-city-of-bellingham - topic-bellingham-plan - topic-comprehensive-plan - topic-digital-accessibility - topic-annual-docket - topic-goal-policy-search - topic-green-infrastructure - topic-neighborhood-plans - topic-housing-development-rules - topic-screen-reader-accessibility - topic-property-acquisition

Real Briefings Basic Master Prompt v3.1 | Real Housing Reform Initiative | realhousingreform.org Source documents: Transcript (.txt), Agenda (.pdf) | Processing date: 2026-03-10