Bellingham City Council (Special Meeting)
On the afternoon of Friday, August 2, 2024, the Bellingham City Council convened a special meeting at City Hall to host a joint Growth Management Coordination Workgroup — a roundtable discussion among elected officials from across Whatcom County focused on the upcoming 2025 comprehensive plan updates. The meeting was not a formal legislative session and no votes were taken. Instead, it functioned as an unstructured dialogue, the first of its kind in this planning cycle, among city council members, county council members, and representatives from Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine, Nooksack, Everson, and Sumas, along with planning staff and stakeholders. The conversation was framed at the outset by Council Member Michael Lilliquist, who clarified that while the City of Bellingham was hosting, the meeting was properly part of Whatcom County's ongoing comprehensive planning process. Council President Daniel Hammill noted that Bellingham's seven Urban Villages — comprising just under 4% of city land — are currently projected to absorb 30% of all future growth, a statistic that framed much of the tension in the room. County Council Member Todd Donovan pressed Bellingham representatives directly: does the city intend to annex any of its long-lingering urban growth areas (UGAs), and if not, how can planning staff be expected to model realistic population allocations? Multiple themes surfaced repeatedly: the inadequacy of planning based solely on historical trends; the mismatch between urban growth area boundaries established decades ago and current development realities; the need to expand accessory dwelling units (ADUs) countywide; the challenge of accommodating housing at all AMI levels when private development gravitates toward higher-income units; the constraints imposed by flood plains in Nooksack and Sumas; the tension between farmland preservation rhetoric and actual agricultural viability; water rights limitations in Lynden; and the question of how to align county-level zo
This meeting was designated "Information/Discussion" with no recommended motion. No formal votes were taken. The sole concrete outcome was an agreed-upon next step: **Agreed Action — Next Workgroup Meeting:** - Participants agreed to schedule an additional workgroup meeting on **August 29, 2024, at 1:00 PM** at the **Lynden City Annex**, to be hosted by Mayor Scott Korthuis of Lynden. - Proposed agenda structure: approximately 15-minute overviews on three topics (ag…
- **August 29, 2024, 1:00 PM** — Follow-up Growth Management Coordination Workgroup meeting at Lynden City Annex (across the street from Lynden City Hall, closer to Grover). Hosted by Mayor Scott Korthuis of Lynden. Proposed agenda: (1) 15-minute overview on agricultural land policy (with Ben Ellenbogen participating), (2) 15-minute overview on industrial growth (possibly with Gina Stark, Port of Bellingham Economic Development, or Ken Bell), (3) 15-minute overview on UGA review (John Scanley indicated interest in hosting this segment); followed by 45-minute breakout groups (open attendance) on each topic; then 30-minute reconvening for summary reports. - **September 11, 2024** (time not confirmed) — Quarterly Growth Management Coordination Meeting with consultants. Agenda will include: update on draft EIS schedule; update on the Housing for All Tool (HAT), implementing HB 1220 (housing allocation tool for all income levels); update on 0-30…