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Whatcom County Council (Special Meeting)

BEL-CON-SPC-2025-01-23 January 23, 2025 Committee of the Whole City of Bellingham
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On January 23, 2025, Whatcom County hosted a special inter-jurisdictional meeting at Ferndale City Hall to coordinate growth management planning across all seven cities in the county. This was the sixth meeting in a series designed to facilitate collaboration on the 2025 comprehensive plan update, focusing on population projections, urban growth area management, and long-term regional planning strategies. The meeting addressed several critical planning challenges, including how to manage urban growth areas (UGAs) that have become difficult or impossible to develop due to flooding, environmental constraints, or infrastructure costs. Cities expressed frustration with UGAs that sit undeveloped for decades while being zoned for rural densities, preventing efficient urban development. A significant portion of the discussion centered on the need for more flexible tools to modify UGAs, including the possibility of "land swaps" where jurisdictions could trade problematic growth areas for more suitable locations. County staff confirmed that the current comprehensive plan update cycle provides an opportunity to make such changes more easily than during non-update periods. The group also explored innovative approaches to development, including master-planned communities and public-private partnerships where developers would fund infrastructure in exchange for development rights. There was particular interest in mechanisms that would allow counties to pre-zone UGAs according to city preferences while conditioning development on annexation and urban-level infrastructure.

No formal votes were taken as this was an informational coordination meeting. However, several important agreements emerged: **Population Projections Agreement:** Cities agreed to move forward with preliminary population and employment projections for their comprehensive plan updates, with the understanding that minor adjustments could be made later. Bellingham's projections include accommodating 30,310 more people with 18,390 housing units and 19,384 employment opportunities. **UGA Modification Window:** County planning staff confirm…

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**Growth Management Challenges:** Cities described being caught between state requirements to accommodate growth and practical limitations of their designated urban growth areas. Several jurisdictions noted that UGAs designated 30+ years ago are no longer suitable due to flooding, wetland restrictions, or prohibitive infrastructure costs. **Density vs. Infrastructure Costs:** A major theme was the tension between accommodating growth through infill and middle housing (which minimizes infrastructure costs) versus traditional annexation and expansion (which creates significant fiscal burdens for cities). Bellingham officials emphasized focusing on the "wh…
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**County Executive Sidhu** advocated for bold thinking about development, including master-planned communities and private-funded infrastructure, arguing that governments shouldn't assume they must fund all development infrastructure. **Ferndale Officials** expressed desire for better tools to manage their UGAs, including the ability to swap unsuitable areas for better locations and to have more control over zoning in UGAs to prevent low-density development that becomes difficult to annex. **Bellingham Council M…
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**County Executive Sidhu, on development funding:** "We have the power of policy, we don't have power of dollars... if we designate [areas for development], there would be people falling over each other to come and do that." **Bellingham representative, on growth management priorities:** "What's more important to me... is not those numbers but the character or nature of the growth because if we accommodate that with middle housing types or infill housing types... our infrastructural challenge…
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**February 20, 2025:** Next inter-jurisdictional coordination meeting, location to be determined between Lynden and other cities. **February 4, 2025:** Special County Council meeting where city planners will present their preferred growth scenarios and targets. **February 11, 2025:** Regular County Council meeting w…

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This meeting established greater clarity on the window of opportunity for UGA modifications during the current comprehensive plan update cycle. Cities gained confirmation that they can propose significant changes to their urban growth areas without the normal legal restrictions that apply outside of update periods. The discussion advanced regional thinking about development patterns, moving beyond individual city planning to consider how adjacent jurisdict…
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# Charting Whatcom County's Future: A Regional Growth Planning Summit On a crisp January afternoon in Ferndale, elected officials from across Whatcom County gathered for what proved to be one of the most substantive regional planning discussions in recent memory. The meeting, hosted at Ferndale City Hall Annex, brought together representatives from seven municipalities and the county to tackle the complex challenges of managing growth over the next two decades. ## Setting the Foundation: Population and Housing Numbers The meeting opened with a crucial discussion about population projections that will shape comprehensive planning across the region. Bellingham's representatives laid out their planning framework: accommodating 30,310 new residents, requiring 18,390 housing units and 19,384 new jobs over the 20-year planning horizon. "What's more important to me as I've been saying for over a year now is not those numbers but the character or nature of the growth," emphasized one Bellingham council member. "If we accommodate that with middle housing types or infill housing types from the city's point of view, our infrastructural challenges are small. But if we accommodate that growth through traditional annexations, then the infrastructure and economic impacts fiscal impacts are huge." The sentiment reflected a broader regional understanding that the "where" and "how" of growth matters as much as the raw numbers. Ferndale's representatives expressed similar concerns, noting they had chosen medium-high projections because medium projections had consistently underestimated their actual population growth. A county planning official offered reassurance about the numbers, explaining that beyond a reduction from 10,000 to 9,000 planned residents in unincorporated areas, there wouldn't be significant ch…
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### Meeting Overview This was a special joint meeting between Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County officials held at Ferndale City Hall Annex on January 23, 2025. The main focus was coordinating growth management planning for the 2025 comprehensive plan update, specifically discussing population projections, urban growth areas, and long-range planning strategies for the region. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Urban Growth Area (UGA):** Designated areas around cities where urban development is expected to occur over the next 20 years, as required by the Growth Management Act. **Urban Growth Reserve:** Areas designated for potential future urban development beyond the 20-year planning horizon, typically for 40-50 year planning. **Growth Management Act (GMA):** Washington State law requiring cities and counties to plan for growth and development in a coordinated manner. **Non-binding Interlocal Resolution:** A preliminary agreement between jurisdictions about population and employment growth allocations that is not legally binding but provides planning guidance. **Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):** Required environmental review for comprehensive plan updates that analyzes potential impacts of proposed growth scenarios. **UGA Land Swaps:** Process allowed under state law to exchange existing urban growth areas for different areas, though with difficult requirements to meet. **Annexation:** Process by which cities expand their boundaries to include adjacent areas, typically from urban growth areas. **Comprehensive Plan Update:** Required periodic review and update of long-term planning documents, occurring every 20 years under the Growth Management Act. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Kim Lund | Mayor, City of Bellingham | | Lisa Anderson | Bellingham City Council Member | | Michael Lilliquist | Bellingham City Council Member | | Council Member Donovan | County Council Member | | Executive Satpal Sidhu | Whatcom County Executive | | Mayor Hansen | Ferndale Mayor | | Mayor Stewart | Blaine Mayor | | Mayor Cortez | Lynden Mayor | | Council Member Scanland | Participating remotely | | Mark Personius | County Planning Staff | ### Background…
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Land Use & Planning Government Operations City Of Bellingham City Of Blaine City Of Ferndale City Of Lynden Washington State Association Of Counties Whatcom County Council Member Donovan Council Member Maron Lisa Anderson Mayor Hansen Michael Lilliquist Satpal Sidhu Affordable Housing Annexation Comprehensive Plan Flood Mitigation Growth Management Act Infrastructure Investment Land Use Policy Middle Housing Public Private Partnerships Regional Planning Urban Growth Area Zoning