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Community and Economic Development Committee (CED)

BEL-CON-CED-2026-06-01 June 01, 2026 Planning Committee City of Bellingham 20 min
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The Bellingham City Council's Community and Economic Development Committee convened on June 1, 2026, for an afternoon session covering two substantive information items: a joint presentation on regional economic development strategy and 2025 program outcomes from the Port of Bellingham and the Western Washington University Small Business Development Center (WWU SBDC), followed by a work session on downtown commercial vacancy trends and strategies to address them. The Port of Bellingham's economic development director, Tyler Schroeder, presented highlights from the 2026 program year and an update on the development of the 2027–2031 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Schroeder reported that the strategy — funded collaboratively by the City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County through a "trifunder" interlocal agreement — is in active development with community engagement underway, including 617 survey responses and approximately 100 one-on-one interviews. The top emerging themes from that engagement process are infrastructure, affordability, and accessibility. A draft vision statement — "We commit to work together to create a welcoming, innovative economy with opportunities for everyone" — was shared with the committee and remains open for input. WWU SBDC Executive Director CJ Sites reported that in 2025 the center provided one-on-one confidential business counseling to 533 entrepreneurs, helped launch 29 new businesses, and assisted clients in increasing sales by nearly $20 million. Sites highlighted a new microloan program developed in partnership with First Fed and the Whatcom Community Foundation, offering loans of $2,500 to $50,000 to borrowers not traditionally bankable, and described SBDC's role as the official business recovery communication hub for flood-affected businesses, with over 2,000 unique visits to its flood recovery page since December 2025. Sites also announced a proposed inclusive economic summit being planned fo

No formal votes were taken at this meeting. Both agenda items were designated as information and discussion only. **AB 24953 — Port of Bellingham / WWU SBDC Presentation** - **Type:** Information/Discussion - **Staff Recommendation:** Not specified (presentation only) - **Outcome:** Received and discussed; no action required - **Practical Effect:** Council received 2025 program outcome data and an update on the 2027–2031 CEDS development process. Staff and partners invited additional council input on the draft CEDS vision statement; Schroeder distributed sub-goals to the general council email for follow-up. **AB 24912 — Downtown Occupanc…

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**Topic 1: 2027–2031 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)** The Port of Bellingham is leading development of the 2027–2031 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, which will replace the current 2022–2026 strategy. Tyler Schroeder explained that the strategy is a collaborative product of the "trifunder" partnership — the City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County — and will require formal approval by the Whatcom County Council upon completion. Schroeder noted the team has conducted approximately 100 one-on-one interviews to date (75 public-sector interviews and approximately 45 private-sector interviews), as well as 617 community survey responses collected over a 60-day period. The process has also included outreach to the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe, both of which have completed their own economic development strategies but whose perspectives are being integrated into the countywide CEDS for the first time. The emerging CEDS themes — infrastructure, affordability, and accessibility — reflect input received from business owners, local governments, and community members. "Infrastructure" encompasses not just roads, water, and sewer, but also sector-specific infrastructure such as cold storage and food processing facilities for agriculture. "Accessibility" is used broadly to include permit process clarity and ease of navigation for businesses. A draft vision statement was shared but remains in draft form, with Schroeder explicitly inviting council input. Five proposed strategic goals were described: infrastructure, business vitality, workforce, affordability, and resiliency. Schroeder noted the CEDS is intended to include specific, measurable action items with identified leads and annual reporting metrics, and that completion is anticipated by end of 2026. The full document will come back to the City Council for review before going to the Whatcom County Council for final approval. **Topic 2: Industrial Lands and Freight Corridors** Council Member Williams asked for an update on the industrial land study the Port of Bellingham presented to council in the previous year. Schroeder acknowledged the study was issued somewhat late to be fully integrated into comprehensive plan processes, but said it had been referenced in planning discussions at both the city and county level. He noted the county planning staff were working on new language in Chapter 7 of the county's comprehensive plan — with the county council anticipated to consider that language as soon as the following day (June 2, 2026). Key findings from the industrial land study included a shortage of industrial land available along freight corridors in both Bellingham and throughout Whatcom County, with specific recommendations on desirable property sizes and vacancy thresholds. Schroeder mentioned the Hannegan-Bakerview area north of the Iron Gate location as one potential Bellingham-area location for larger-scale industrial development, and cited Grand View as a Ferndale-area example. **Topic 3: Business Barriers — Capital, Regulation, and Economic Conditions** Council Member Anderson asked both Schroeder and CJ Sites what they hear from clients as the biggest barriers to business expansion and startup. Sites emphasized difficult economic conditions (rising input costs, expensive labor, tight margins), while also noting the opportunities embedded in disruption, including shifts in consumer behavior since the pandemic and a rise in r…
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**Tyler Schroeder, Director of Economic Development, Port of Bellingham** Presented the 2026 annual update and CEDS development process. Emphasized infrastructure shortages (industrial land, cold storage, roads, water/sewer) as the top concern heard from the business community. Acknowledged the regulatory environment as "extremely challenging," described by one stakeholder as "death by a thousand cuts." Encouraged the council to evaluate city policies through a "welcoming to business" lens, and cited a positive permitting anecdote as evidence that improvements are noticed. Invited council input on the draft CEDS vision statement and distributed sub-goals via email. **CJ Sites, Executive Director, WWU Small Business Development Center** Presented 2025 SBDC outcomes and future initiatives. Characterized the current environment as challenging but expressed optimism rooted in entrepreneurs' demonstrated ability to adapt (citing COVID-era pivots). Emphasized capital access as a persistent barrier. Highlighted new tools including the microloan program (with First Fed and Whatcom Community Foundation) and recently acquired crowdfunding certification. Described SBDC's role as the official business recovery communication hub for flood-affected businesses. Announced a proposed 2027 inclusive economic summit in partnership with Whatcom Community Foundation CEO Mory Ingram. **Eric Grimstead, WWU SBDC Business Advisor** Addressed Council Member Anderson's question about business barriers. Used the brewery industry as an example of an industry forced to pivot. Identified capital access — specifically, the challenge of becoming "bankable" — as the primary barrier for most small businesses. **Dr. Liliana Deck, WWU SBDC** Present at the meeting and named by Sites as an example of SBDC's collaboration-first approach — working with the Whatcom Conservation District to help first-generation farmers access USDA grants and bridge loans from the Whatcom Community Foundation. **Council Member Jace Cotton (Chair)** Asked about the SBDC's role in the city's pending home occupations code update, signaling i…
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**Tyler Schroeder, on what the CEDS community engagement has heard:** "We've heard infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure — and a number of different infrastructure. So roads and sewer and water as cities provide, but also industry or sector-specific infrastructure." **Tyler Schroeder, on the regulatory environment:** "The regulatory environment is extremely challenging. One indicated as a death by a thousand cuts." **Tyler Schroeder, on economic development philosophy:** "Economic …
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- **CEDS Community Engagement:** Continuing through June 2026. Input on the draft CEDS vision statement invited from council members; Schroeder emailed sub-goals to the general council email and invited feedback. - **CEDS Action Items Development:** Target completion by end of 2026, including specific measurable action items with identified leads and timelines. - **CEDS Council Presentation:** Schroeder indicated the CEDS will come back to the City Council before going to the Whatcom County Council for formal approval. No specific date set. - **Whatcom County Comp Plan — Industrial Land Language:** County council was anticipated to consider new industrial land language in Chapter 7 of the county's comp plan as soon as June 2, 2026 (the following day). - **Downtown Vacancy Implementation Plan — Business Advocate Position:** Targeted for 2027. City and Downtown Bellingham Partnership to explore cost-sharing for the FTE. No funding committed at this meeting. - **Vacancy Registry:** Flagged by Council President Stone and Gallaghan for further discussion at full council. No date set. - **Vacancy Tax Advocacy:** Requires state au…

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**Before this meeting:** - The 2022–2026 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy was the operative regional economic development roadmap. - Downtown vacancy data was known to be incomplete; staff and community were discussing vacancies without reliable figures. - The SBDC's five-year impact metrics (1,800+ clients, 125 business starts, ~1,000 jobs, $50M+ capital investment) had not been presented in this aggregated form to the committee. - The microloan program with First Fed and Whatcom Community Foundation had not been publicly reported to this committee. - The city's home occupations code update was in progress without a formal connection to the SBDC's incubation perspective. **After this meeting:** - Council has received the 2027–2031 CEDS draft vision statement, five proposed goals, and an invitation to submit input. Sub-goals were emailed to all council members, creating a direct channel for shaping the strategy before it is finalized. - Council now has confirmed vacancy figures: 10% overall, 14.6% in the pedestrian core, again…
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--- # Bellingham's Economic Engine: A Committee Hears About Business Growth, Industrial Land, and a Downtown With Too Many Empty Storefronts ## Meeting Overview On the afternoon of June 1, 2026, the City of Bellingham's Community and Economic Development Committee convened in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall for what turned out to be a substantive and wide-ranging session on the state of the local economy. The committee — chaired by Council Member Jace Cotton and joined by Council Members Hollie Huffman and Skip Williams — had two items on its agenda, but both proved rich enough to spill past their allotted time, and the full Council president eventually joined the discussion as well. The meeting was essentially a check-in on two parallel economic development efforts that the city co-funds through a regional interlocal agreement with the Port of Bellingham and Whatcom County. The first item featured presentations from Tyler Schroeder, the Port of Bellingham's director of economic development, and CJ Sites, executive director of the Western Washington University Small Business Development Center. Together, they offered a portrait of a regional economy navigating real headwinds — rising costs, tight credit, regulatory complexity, a persistent labor shortage — but also one with genuine energy, from a clean-tech company expanding into a waterfront facility to first-generation farmers accessing USDA grants through a newly forged bridge-lending partnership. The second item picked up a thread from a previous committee meeting: what to do about downtown Bellingham's commercial vacancies. City staff Tara Sundine and Darby Gallaghan walked the committee through the numbers — a 14.6 percent vacancy rate in the pedestrian core — and an emerging implementation strategy that involved everything from expedited permitting to a proposed business advocate position to the politically fraught question of whether a vacancy registry could serve as a "lever" to move stalled properties. The mood throughout was collaborative rather than contentious — a committee and its partners thinking aloud together about tools, gaps, and next steps. No votes were taken. Both agenda items were presented for information and discussion only. --- ## The Port's Economic Development Report: Clean Tech, Agriculture, and a Five-Year Roadmap in Progress Tyler Schroeder opened by situating his presentation within a larger context: the Port of Bellingham's economic development t…
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--- ### Meeting Overview The City of Bellingham's Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee met on June 1, 2026, chaired by Council Member Jace Cotton. The meeting featured two agenda items: a joint presentation from the Port of Bellingham's Regional Economic Partnership and the WWU Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on their 2025 accomplishments and a new five-year economic strategy under development, followed by a work session on downtown commercial vacancy trends and strategies to address them. --- ### Key Terms and Concepts **Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS, referred to as "SDS" or "SEDS" throughout the meeting):** A five-year regional planning document — in this case covering 2027–2031 — that sets goals, sub-goals, and measurable action items for economic development across the City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County. It must be approved by the Whatcom County Council. **Trifunders:** The informal historical name for the three-way funding partnership among the City of Bellingham, Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County that supports the Port's regional economic development programs, including the WWU SBDC. **Regional Economic Partnership Interlocal Agreement:** A formal legal agreement between the City of Bellingham, the Port of Bellingham, and Whatcom County that establishes shared funding commitments for collaborative economic development programs. **WWU Small Business Development Center (SBDC):** A federally and locally funded program, administered through Western Washington University, that provides free one-on-one confidential business counseling, training, and technical assistance to entrepreneurs and small business owners in Whatcom County. **Stalled Assets:** A category used in the city's downtown vacancy analysis referring to properties that have been vacant for an extended period, often due to complex ownership situations, unrealistic pricing, structural challenges, or other factors that make them difficult to reactivate through normal market forces. **Vacancy Registry:** A proposed local policy tool — not yet authorized — that would require owners of vacant downtown commercial spaces to register their properties, potentially linked to compliance requirements or fees to incentivize activation. **Vacancy Tax:** A potential state-level policy tool — currently not permitted under Washington state law — that would impose a tax on owners of long-term vacant commercial properties to create a financial incentive to lease or sell. **Historic Tax Credit Program:** An existing state and/or federal incentive that allows owners of qualifying historic buildings to deduct the cost of eligible improvements from their tax liability over a set number of years, effectively reducing the after-tax cost of renovation. **Tenant Improvements (TIs):** Physical changes or renovations made to a commercial space to make it suitable for a specific tenant's use. These can be a major financial barrier to filling vacant storefronts, especially in older downtown buildings. **Pedestrian Core:** The subset of Bellingham's downtown study area — within the larger 61-block, 204-acre main street boundary — where the concentration of foot-traffic-oriented retail and services is highest, and where the city found a vacancy rate of 14.6%. **Pre-Inspection Program:** A city tool that allows businesses or property owners interested in occupying or renovating a downtown space to invite the Building Ser…
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