HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Jan 24 2023Whatcom County
Council Planning and Development Committee
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Committee Minutes - Final
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
10:05 AM
Hybrid Meeting
HYBRID MEETING - ADJOURNS BY 11 P.M.; MAY BEGIN EARLY
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COUNCILMEMBERS
Tyler Byrd
Ben Elenbaas
Kaylee Galloway
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C.
Council Planning and Development Committee Minutes - Final January 24, 2023
Committee
Call To Order
Roll Call
Committee Chair Ben Elenbaas called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. in
a hvbrid meetine.
Present: 3 - Tyler Byrd, Ben Elenbaas, and Kaylee Galloway
Absent: None
Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Todd Donovan, Carol Frazey, and Kathy Kershner
Announcements
Committee Discussion
1. AB2022-59 2 Discussion of the Buildable Lands Report
Matt Aamot, Planning and Development Services Department, updated the
Councilmembers and stated additional findings relating to affordability and
Growth Management Act (GMA) requirements for the housing element in
the 2025 update have been added in red since their last discussion (on file
as "Draft Ordinance (Revised Jan 17, 2023)."
Chris Behee, City of Bellingham, spoke about some of the key findings
proposed by Mr. Carmichael in the document "Proposed Draft Ordinance
from Bob Carmichael" (on file) that address the City of Bellingham. He
spoke about the findings dealing with the market factor and outreach efforts
to property owners and whether the input completely captures development
constraints within Bellingham, the amount of land available for development
in the Whatcom Falls neighborhood, and performance in those same zones.
He stated the assumptions in the Buildable Lands analysis do account for a
lot of the development challenges that Mr. Carmichael is citing. He spoke
about overall housing production and the under -production that Bellingham
had during the five-year reporting period and stated they are at about 104
percent of where they would expect to be based on the numbers in the
Comprehensive Plan to meet their population goals.
Aamot answered whether councils whose counties have gone through the
buildable lands process have had to approve an Ordinance, and how he
envisions incorporating small city housing prices into the findings.
Behee answered which finding he was referring to when he was talking
about soliciting feedback from community members. It was finding 26 in
Carmichael's redline version.
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Council Planning and Development Committee Minutes - Final January 24, 2023
Committee
Aamot answered whether they have a plan to address the proposed findings
with the Carmichael group or whether staff has a recommendation for the
findings, and stated some of the concern is that some of the proposed
findings contradict what is in the actual Buildable Lands Report so they
need to ask their legal counsel.
Elenbaas stated in his opinion the Carmichael Ordinance is pretty good even
if they delete finding 26. He would be more inclined to accept this version
of the Ordinance than any of the other ones he has seen.
Behee stated most of the findings in this version are heavily weighted
towards just single-family zoning as opposed to the more compact efficient
urban infill form which is what Bellingham's current plan focuses on.
Donovan stated he would rely on the staffs analysis rather than these
findings 11-26, and spoke about having a finding that says we need
permanently affordable housing and new policies because the market is not
producing that. We are trying to get something out of this report that the
report is not an appropriate vehicle for. He stated he likes finding 27 in
Carmichael's version (maybe worded differently) and that there is
frustration that the report is maybe not accounting for all the potential land
there, but he would not say that it is significantly overstating the amount of
land which is truly suitable for development (except maybe for single
family development). He is not thinking this is the vehicle for solving the
affordability issue.
Elenbaas stated 85% of people are looking for a single-family residence
and that is where we run into problems.
Councilmembers and the speakers discussed what they will do with land in
the UGA for which the City of Bellingham is not willing to provide
services, how rising housing prices are what made it possible for builders
and developers to buy some of this land with huge setbacks and
requirements, and how not making it economical or planning for land in the
UGAs will set us up for doubling house prices again to meet the population
needs.
Behee spoke about annexation the City has done in the last several years. He
answered questions about findings 17 and 18, whether it is true that they are
counting that vacant land for housing when, in reality, there is so much that
has to be done in order to actually build on it, adding findings that
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Council Planning and Development Committee Minutes - Final January 24, 2023
Committee
acknowledge that the City is aware of and plans to update their
Comprehensive Plan amendment to include these kinds of projects (such as
roads), and whether Lopez Avenue and San Juan Boulevard are currently in
Bellingham's neighborhood clans.
Elenbaas suggested having Aamot and Carmichael work on the versions of
the Ordinance over the next two weeks to come up with something that is
amicable to both opinions and Aamot stated they would see if Carmichael is
available for a meeting but they need to keep their independence as a
department to issue their recommendations to Council.
Elenbaas stated his recommendation would be to include the proposed
findings in the Ordinance and hold this for two weeks to see if we can shore
up some of these concerns.
Galloway stated she would like to see the findings integrated but she is
concerned about finding 77 because she does not want to null and void this
entire document. Maybe inserting the word "solely" so it reads "should not
be solely relied on..." might give them a little bit of wiggle room.
Elenbaas asked whether they need a motion to make the Carmichael version
the working copy going forward.
Galloway moved to recommend to Council the amended version as
submitted by Carmichael.
Byrd stated it is not a recommendation to Council at this point.
Byrd moved to have staff replace the current document with the Carmichael
document and bring the updated document back to Council with any changes
and other changes they have asked for at their next meeting.
Aamot said the Planning Department will come back with their revised
recommendations after they can sit down with Mr. Carmichael.
Byrd stated the intention of the Committee is for staff to use the new
document and work from that.
Galloway withdrew her motion.
Donovan asked whether the motion is to direct staff to use this
(Carmichael's version) as the working document when staff has already said
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Council Planning and Development Committee Minutes - Final January 24, 2023
Committee
a lot of it is in direct contradiction with what is in the report.
Elenbaas confirmed it is and stated they are trying to reconcile the new
version with staffs comments that it contradicts the report. We are not
moving it forward. We are saying we understand and we like some of these
recommendations and would like for them to reconcile their differences
over the next two weeks.
The motion carried by the following vote:
Aye: 3 - Byrd, Elenbaas, and Galloway
Nay: 0
This agenda item was DISCUSSED AND MOTION(S) APPROVED.
Items Added by Revision
Other Business
Adiournment
There were no agenda items added by revision.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
ATTEST:.EAoBs:: s :10!1'
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Dana frown -Da s,,Counc`il Clerk
Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transc ption
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WA
Elenbaas-via email 1/27/2023
Ben Elenbaas, Committee Chair
97:atcom County Page 4