--- ### Meeting Overview The Bellingham City Council held its regular meeting on June 1, 2026, with Council President Pro Tempore Hollie Huthman presiding in the absence of Council President Hannah Stone. The meeting featured a public hearing on the city's 2027–2032 Transportation Improvement Program, committee reports covering infrastructure, parks, public safety, and economic development, approval of three Lake Whatcom watershed land acquisitions and a PFAS litigation authorization, and final passage of two ordinances. --- ### Key Terms and Concepts **Transportation Improvement Program (TIP):** A state-required, annually updated six-year plan that lists capital transportation projects a city intends to fund and build. Under RCW 35.77.010, cities that plan under the Growth Management Act must prepare a TIP, hold a public hearing on it, and submit it to the Washington State Secretary of Transportation by July 1 each year. **Multimodal transportation:** Transportation infrastructure that serves multiple travel modes — cars, bicycles, pedestrians, and transit — rather than motor vehicles alone. Bellingham's TIP explicitly scores projects on their multimodal benefits. **Grant eligibility / "Is it on the TIP?":** A practical function of the TIP: most state and federal transportation grants require a project to appear on the TIP before the city can even apply. Being on the TIP does not guarantee funding, but being off it forecloses most grant opportunities. **Funding stack:** The combination of multiple funding sources — local, state, federal grants, transportation impact fees, city street funds — that together pay for a single capital project. Some Bellingham TIP projects draw from six to eight distinct sources. **Transportation Impact Fees:** Fees charged to new development to help pay for transportation infrastructure needed to serve that growth. The 2027–2032 TIP makes these fees a clearly identified line item, a change from prior practice of folding them into general street fund entries. **Quiet zone (railroad crossing):** A railroad crossing designation where additional safety improvements — typically four-quadrant gate systems — allow trains to pass without sounding their horns. The Pine Street Crossing project upgrades that crossing to quiet zone standards. **PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances):** A class of synthetic chemicals used in manufacturing and firefighting foam. Cities and water utilities nationwide are pursuing class action litigation against manufacturers because PFAS contamination affects drinking water systems. The council authorized outside counsel to join such litigation. **Lake Whatcom Watershed Land Acquisition Program:** A city program that purchases private land within the Lake Whatcom watershed to protect Bellingham's primary drinking water source. It is funded by a dedicated charge on city water customers' utility bills. **Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO):** A Washington State agency that awards competitive grants to local governments for parks, trails, and open space acquisition and development. **Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA):** In transit planning, the route and technology option a community officially selects for a rapid transit corridor after studying alternatives. WTA's recently adopted LPA for rapid transit in Bellingham is now generating new TIP projects, including the Gold Line transit signal prioritization project. --- ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role /…