City Council - Regular Meeting
City Council - Regular Meeting
Mon, May 19, 2025
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
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Agenda items (33)
Council Business
1Council BusinessPotential Property Acquisition (Stamps, approx. 3 min.)
2Council BusinessPotential Property Acquisition (Stamps, approx. 3 min.)
3Council BusinessPotential Property Acquisition (Stamps, approx. 10 min.)
4Council BusinessLabor Relations: Discuss Collective Bargaining Strategy (Sullivan, approx. 5 min.)
6Council BusinessOld/New Business
24501Council BusinessWork Session on an Ordinance Relating to Landlord Tenant Relations, Adopting a New Chapter in Title 6 of the Bellingham Municipal Code Prohibiting Landlords from Charging Tenants Unfair or Excessive Fees in Residential Rental Agreements and
24502Council BusinessWork Session on an Ordinance Related to Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord Tenant Relations, Adopting a New Chapter in Title 6 of the Bellingham Municipal Code Prohibiting Landlords from Charging Unfair or Excessive Fees in
24545Council BusinessWhatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) Rapid Transit Study Update
24546Council BusinessContract Award for Padden Creek at 12th and 14th Streets Fish Passage (EN056) Bid #34B-2025
24547Council BusinessPresentation Regarding Water System Plan, Utility-wide Financial Information, Utility
24548Council BusinessConsideration of Letter to Canadian Municipalities
24549Council BusinessUpdate on 2025 State Legislative Session and City Lobbying Activities
24550Council BusinessAn Ordinance Relating To Land Use and Zoning, Adopting An Interim Zoning Ordinance, Applying BMC 20.28 Infill Housing in All Areas That Are Zoned Predominantly For Residential Use, Except on Property Regulated By BMC Chapter 16.80, Lake Whatcom Reservoir, To Stimulate Middle Housing Construction
24557Council BusinessContract Award for Russell-Irving Watermain Replacement (EW239), Bid #33B-2025
24558Council BusinessMayor's 2026 Budget Development Process
Procedural (3)
5ProceduralElectronically: o For a public hearing: https://cob.org/publichearing o For general public comment: E-mail all Council Members at ccmail@cob.org.
24551ProceduralApproval of the 4/28/2025 City Council Committee and Regular Meeting Minutes
24552ProceduralApproval of the 5/5/2025 City Council Committee and Regular Meeting Minutes
Adjournment
36AdjournmentTues. 12 PM: Repeat broadcast of Monday afternoon Committee meetings
37AdjournmentTues. 7 PM: Repeat broadcast of Monday night regular meeting
38AdjournmentWed. 8 AM: Repeat broadcast of Monday night regular meeting
39AdjournmentSat. 12 PM: Repeat broadcast of Monday afternoon Committee meetings
40AdjournmentSat. 7 PM: Repeat broadcast of Monday night regular meeting Online Streaming: The meetings are streamed live at https://cob.org/btv. Online viewers will see exactly what cable customers would see. Video: Video recordings of each meeting are available on the Internet at https://cob.org/meetings within five business days following each meeting.
Ordinance
24478OrdinanceAn Ordinance of the City of Bellingham, WA, Relating to Land Use and Zoning, Adopting an Interim Zoning Ordinance, Applying Bellingham Municipal Code (BMC) 20.28 Infill Housing in All Areas that are Zoned Predominantly for Residential Use, Except on Property Regulated by BMC Chapter 16.80, Lake What
Public Hearing
24540Public HearingA Public Hearing To Consider An Ordinance Amending BMC 17.82 (Multifamily Tax Exemption Program) To Expand The Areas Eligible For the Market Rate (8-Year) And Affordable Housing Exemptions (12-Year), Allow Exemptions For Co-Living Housing, Add A 20-Year Exemption For Permanently Affordable Housing
General Business
24541General BusinessMayor's Appointment to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (Information)
24542General BusinessMayor's Appointment to the Transportation Commission (Approval)
24543General BusinessMayor's Appointment to the Bellingham Arts Commission (Approval)
24544General BusinessMayor's Appointment to the Planning and Development Commission (Approval) ITEM
Consent Calendar
24553Consent CalendarAcceptance of a Technology Tool Grant Award from the Washington State Archives
24554Consent CalendarAuthorization of A/P Transactions Issued April 25, 2025 through May 01, 2025
24555Consent CalendarAuthorization of Payroll Labor Cost Payments Dated April 16, 2025 to April 30, 2025
24556Consent CalendarAuthorization of A/P Transactions Issued May 02, 2025 through May 08, 2025
Additional votes recorded in minutes
Approve ordinance amending BMC 17.82 multifamily tax exemption program
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve appointment of Aaron Miller to Transportation Commission
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve appointment of Blake Hudson to Bellingham Arts Commission
aye 1
voice voteaye
Award contract to Cursio Brothers Inc. for Russell Irving water main replacement (EW239)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Award contract to Faber Construction Corporation for Padden Creek at 12th and 14th Streets Fish Passage (EN056)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve letter to Canadian municipalities
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve interim middle housing zoning ordinance amendment (BMC 20.28, FAR reduction)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Authorize mayor to close real estate transaction with Font Viser (Lake Whatcom, 37.55 acres, $860,000)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Authorize mayor to close real estate transaction with Gary and Shirley Patterson (Lake Whatcom, 7.45 acres, $240,000)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve consent agenda
aye 1
voice voteaye
Adopt ordinance 24478 (interim middle housing zoning ordinance, BMC 20.28) — third and final reading
aye 7
Dan Hammillaye
Hannah Stoneaye
Hollie Huthmanaye
Jace Cottonaye
Lisa Andersonaye
Michael Lilliquistaye
Skip Williamsaye
Verbatim transcript available
286 transcript segments indexed
Welcome to the regular meeting of the Bellingham City Council on this May 19th, 2025. Bellingham City Council meets all requirements of the State of Washington Open Meetings Act. Before we begin, we acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unseated territory of the Lummy, Noox, Samish, and Seamyamu people who have cared for and tended this land since time in memorial.
Truth and acknowledgement are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth.
We pay respect to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together here today. And please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events.
The Bellingham City Council provides Spanish interpretation at all regular evening meetings. Interpretation can be accessed by in-person attendees by utilizing the headsets located at the front of the room.
Remote viewers can log on to co.org/cczoom and click on the language icon at the bottom of the screen to listen in span Spanish. I'll go ahead and let our interpreter repeat that. Thank you. And I have uh two upcoming meetings to announce.
The city council The city council has scheduled two upcoming special meetings. On June 2nd at 10 a.m., the council will meet in the mayor's boardroom to discuss two proposed rental fee ordinances. This will be an opportunity for the council to have an in-depth discussion of the ordinances and make further amendments.
On June 4th at 2 p.m., the council will meet at the Pacific Street Operations Center for a special joint meeting with the county council and the Lake Quaccom Water and Sewer District Board of Commissioners.
This will be a follow-up to the annual Lake Watcom joint meeting which was held in April and will allow for further questions and discussion time. More information on both of these meetings is available at meetings.co.org.
Roll call please. Hannah Stone here. Dan Hamill here. Skip Williams here. Lisa Anderson here. Michael Liiloquist. Jace Cotton here. Holly Huffman here. All council members are present. Thank you. And first up, we have a public hearing.
This is a public hearing to consider an ordinance amending BMC 17.82, the multif family tax exemption program to expand the areas eligible for the market rate 8-year and affordable housing exemptions 12-year.
Allow exemptions for co-l livingiving housing. add a 20-year exemption for permanently affordable housing, allow for extensions of the uh tax exemption, and upgrade the program to incorporate recent amendments to state law.
A public hearing to consider proposed updates to BMC 17.82 82 multifamily tax exemption program to allow the 8-year market rate tax exemption in the Fair Haven urban urban village, Barkley Village Design Review District, and the Waterfront District Urban Village, and to expand the 12-year affordable housing tax exemption to all parcels in all areas where infill housing and residential multifamily housing development is allowed outside of designed outside of designated urban villages.
Additional proposed amendments would expand property tax exemption options, allow property tax exemptions for co-living, create a 20-year tax exemption for permanently affordable home ownership, and allow extensions to property tax under certain uh conditions, and make technical changes consistent with recent amendments to state law, RCW84.14.
And here to present to us we have Chris Beehey the long range division manager and Chris Cop uh planner two. Thank you Council President Huffman and for making your way through that very long agenda bill title.
Appreciate that. Good evening, members of the public, council, mayor, and again, yeah, I'm joined by Chris Cook, who's been the planner that's been instrumental in administering our MFTTE program to date over a good number of years and also has had um his fingers in most of the code updates in all of the code updates that are in the draft ordinance before you.
Uh tonight, we're going to touch just briefly on again the program purpose and intent that the state lays out, a reminder of the research findings from our touch point last fall and also the work session in March.
uh review the goals of the proposed amendments uh real quickly step through the main parts uh summarize the draft ordinance before you and then finish with a staff recommendation before um going on to the public hearing.
Again, just a reminder from the RCWS that uh the MFTTE program or the multif family tax exemption program rather is has two main uh approaches. One is housing production in multif family areas and that's really what the eight-year program is designed for.
it does not provide affordability necessarily. It's about housing production in areas where we've made uh infrastructure investments and really want to see uh really leverage those investments with higher density housing.
And then the 12-year and um the new 20-year programs are really aimed more at mixed income development. And so it's not those are designed more for projects um that already make uh they they pencil out and are economically feasible.
and that uh MFTTE exemption is designed to provide that extra incentive to provide a mix of affordability in with the market rate units. Just to touch on the research findings again, we uh reviewed these with you in September of last year and then um touched on them again in March during the work session.
the uh market report that was done to uh examine the MFTTE projects to date and the current market conditions really concluded that uh multif family construction of any type within the city and the way the market is right now is infeasible and that the majority of the projects that we see under construction around town uh really had their either their financing or their land secured under better market conditions than what we would find today.
Um, and then also importantly, the report found that with uh modestly improved market conditions, the eight-year program uh could be successful in our community and also with adjustments to the 12-year program uh specifically looking at the income thresholds that that program could also be successful in today's market um with excuse me in a modestly improved market.
The goals for these uh amendments that are in the draft ordinance before you uh align with the mayor's executive order on housing and they specifically call for expanding the eligible areas around town and you'll see um that we've done that with expansion of target areas for the program.
They uh adjust their required income thresholds. Again, that was one of the key findings of the report that was that we had done uh to look at the performance of the program to date. uh they provide uh provisions for permanently affordable home ownership and that's including the uh re relatively recent updates from the state allowing for a 20-year uh permanently affordable home ownership program and then adding the option for extension of the tax exemptions.
Um in our case, those would be for 8-year program. It could be for 12-year program uh properties as well, but since we don't have any 12-year currently in our community, it would be as eight-year program properties approach their sunset dates for their exemption, they have the opportunity to reenroll um as long as they provide a level of affordability.
And we'll touch on that in the um as we walk through the ordinance. So, again, just moving right to the main parts of the draft ordinance. And again, the the actual ordinance itself as proposed is included in your packet um on pages 11 to 29.
And so these will be just kind of stepping through the main pieces of that uh at a summary level. For the 8-year uh market rate program, uh we propose to expand the target areas to include the Barkley, Fair Haven, and Waterfront urban villages.
The other urban villages are are already included in the existing program. We propose increasing the minimum project size to five units. Right now it's set at four and we uh feel that moving to five would align it with the interim middle housing and eventually the permanent middle housing regulations.
Um also allowing co-living housing and this is something new that's been proposed since the March work session. This is in alignment with additional state laws that were passed in 2023 requiring us to allow co-living housing outright in our uh development code.
And co-living housing, as a reminder, is uh it can take many different forms, but the the most typical is that you have a multi-bedroom unit and each individual unit is individually leased. So you could have for instance um key code locking interior doors.
Maybe each individually rented bedroom has an attached bathroom, perhaps not, but that they have shared kitchen facilities in that unit. Could be four, six, seven bedrooms. There's there's a variety of them.
Um, we do have some examples in Bellingham. Uh, the examples we have are typically aimed at the student population, but there's no reason why they couldn't be uh to anybody. And so that's that's an important piece.
Um, and we also, um, in that the minimum project size for a standard unit, we're proposing five units. For the co-living housing, we're proposing 10 bedroom units or 10 living units. And that's kind of getting at that equivalent that a two-bedroom unit is a very common size requiring 10 of the co-living units could be seen as equivalent to a five standard unit size project.
So, kind of just again keeping an equivalency there for the size of that of that uh project. This is a graphic showing the uh reconfiguration or expansion of the target areas. And I'll just call your attention.
The areas uh these are our urban village areas. The ones with a black outline are the ones in the current program that we've had in place for a number of years. And you can see that the red outlined areas are the Fair Haven, the Barkley, and then the portion of the waterfront that allows mixeduse development that we would be proposing to add to the 8-year program.
So that all of these would be part of the the available target areas for expansion of that program. And again, that program, just to remind you, the focus is on production of market rate housing where we've made significant community investments in infrastructure.
The 12-year program, again, that's uh provides a longer exemption period, and the trade-off there is that 20% of the units in a project must be provided at an affordable rate to either renters or owners.
And uh we propose uh expanding those target areas to include all urban villages. Um also expanding those to all areas where uh under the new interim middle housing ordinance, you can build uh either multif family housing uh or that middle housing forms that are allowed under that ordinance with the exception of the Lake Watcom wershed.
Um again increasing the project size to five units to align with those middle housing code amendments. And then for rental housing, uh increasing the area median income requirement from 60% which is what it's currently set at for zero and onebedroom to 80% um for not just uh two plus bedroom but also for those zero and onebedroom units.
So bringing them all up to that same 80% threshold um because we feel that's that's one of the reasons why we have not seen any participation to date in that program is because that 60% threshold was just set too low to be feasible in in the housing market.
Also, just like the 8-year program, we propose allowing co-living housing and uh again with a minimum size of 10 sleeping units. And then also um the for the 20% if it's a co-l livingiving housing project, the 20% of those units would be provided at 50% AMI instead of 80%.
And that's reflective of the uh market rates that we see those units being rented at in the community. That uh 50% is is an achievable level for those units. Some of them are a little bit above that in the community, but we feel like that deeper affordability is a is a fair trade-off um for those units.
And then for owner occupancy, it's so that would be again like condominiums if you can imagine in a lot of these projects. Um those would be at the moderate income level of uh 80% to 115% AMI for creation of condominiums.
And again, this is just an showing an expansion of those target areas. The black are the ones that we currently have. You can see Fountain, downtown and Oldtown, Samish, and Fair Haven. We'd be adding again that mixeduse portion of the waterfront district.
And then for Barkley, there is a portion of the proposed new Barkley Urban Village that's already included in that area. We would be adding this red area to align with the new proposed urban village boundary and then removing this area, which is not part of the new urban village area.
And then this is the second area uh just because it was too much to include on one map with all the labels, but the the uh light purple that you see in the background are all the areas associated with the middle housing code amendments.
So those are where the uh either multif family housing or the uh middle housing types would be allowed under those interim rules. And so again, these urban village areas and then also all of these uh light purple areas that are shown on the map here.
And then the third piece is again in alignment with those changes of state law a few years back to allow a 20-year program. And so that's a 20-year exemption where uh homes are offered for sale. And what that requirement is is that the uh project provide 25% of the units in that project to be permanently affordable.
And permanently affordable, the definition is that they are offered as a deed restricted 80% of area median income or less for a period of 99 years. And um again also co-l livingiving being uh allowed uh much like it is in the eight and the proposed 12-year uh program changes again requiring uh instead of a 5unit minimum a 10 unit minimum uh for those but again 25% and then the income there is 50% AMI to align with what we're proposing for the 12-year program.
And then we talked about allowing the option for the extension of the tax exemption for those properties that are currently in our community. They'd be those eight-year projects, but it could be an eight or a 12-year project.
As they approach the end of their exemption period, they have the opportunity to reenroll in that and extend that exemption. The uh requirement being that like the ones in our community, they're currently market rate projects.
To get that exemption, they need to become mixed income projects. And so 20% of the units in those projects would be required to be offered. And we're setting the this the proposal is at 70% AMI. The thinking that um they're they're at least eight years into their uh since being constructed and so that those properties are at a place financially where they can dig a little bit deeper and offer that 70% instead of 80% threshold for affordability.
And then uh addressing the uh displacement risk and its impact on tenants in any of these projects. Uh we propose under the current the current MFTTE rules to remove the vacancy requirement that we've had in those programs for both the 8 and 12 year and replace those with new requirements that for new construction or rehabilitation of a property would address uh displacement of tenants by requiring them to be provided housing of comparable size, quality and price and a reasonable opportunity to relocate.
Um and the way that that would be administered is we would also say that um part of that comparable size and quality would would include things like if it is a uh if it's in close proximity to transit and the household is dependent on transit for employment that they be provided housing that is for instance close to transit somewhere else.
Um and so that it's a a way that they can continue the lifestyle that they have in the current housing. Again, just continuing on that. Um, also adding a requirement as properties that are within a current 12-year for the in the future when the properties are under the 12-year tax exemption as they approach the end of that period of exemption if they revert to market rate units that there be relocation assistance offered to those households that have been getting that lower below market rate rental rate.
Um, and that takes the form of one month's rent within the final month of that lease. And then uh wanting to make sure that as as units within these properties are designated as the affordable units that qualify for either the the 20 or the 25% depending on the program.
Uh providing some rules within the uh these regulations that require that they don't all fall in one particular part of the project or that they aren't all the smallest units in that project. That the mix be representative of the mix in the entire project.
that if there are views on one side and an alley on the other that they find affordable units on both sides of the building and those kinds of things to make sure that they're uh they're consistent in their distribution.
Um and also that they be constructed as similar quality finishes to other units in the project. Again, making sure that they don't all have some obviously lesser standard that they're built to. One of the points that was expressed by council in the last work session was concern about uh uh the possibility of affordable housing uh dis or sorry of historic housing disappearing as part of this program and there being tearowns.
Um, we wanted to just highlight that the existing MFT program does not allow uh the MFT program to apply for uh two um projects that result in demolition of any either listed or contributing historic property um that's on any of the city's resource inventories.
Um and additionally the draft uh or the uh interim middle housing regulations that were before you earlier today um also include provisions for density bonuses for retention of that existing housing on the property whether it's of historic nature or not.
Um so that we feel like that those uh two pieces together do uh um provide a measure of protection for our existing housing stock and in particular the existing historic housing stock. There is also a a provision within the ordinance to re-examine the uh entire MFTTE program in 2032 in alignment with the state's uh current sunset date that's in the RCWS.
The state may choose to extend the program. And if they do, we feel like that's an important point for us to reexamine the performance and participation in the program and also the housing market at that time and um our just communitywide housing needs.
So that is just a check-in point that we have built into there uh into the code. And just to close out, we feel that the draft ordinance does uh expand opportunities for production of housing across Bellingham, both those mixed income and also the market rate housing in areas where we've uh leveraged investments.
And also uh we feel like it does provide a balanced approach um balancing both again those market rate and mixed income projects um in particular with the income threshold adjustments we've suggested.
We feel like it's it's a significant step uh um change in the market and we feel like that's it's placed at the appropriate place based on again some of the research and findings that we presented at the work session in March.
Um and uh we recommend that the city council pass the ordinance. And with that, I'll I'll finish up there and we're happy to answer additional questions after the hearing if there are any. Thank you, Mr.
Behe Council. Any clarifying questions? Okay, we'll go ahead and open up the public comment. How many names? All right, we have seven individuals who signed up for the public comment. This and uh this is public hearing.
So, just regarding the MFTTE uh program that was just referred to, the public public comment will be later. public hearing. Uh, so first up we have Adam Bellinger, uh, Brian Garan, Ben Besley, Dan Blumcker, and I believe a few folks might be in the the mayor's boardroom as well.
So, we'll we'll push their names if we need to. a timer. Otherwise, I'll just rattle on. You've heard enough of me probably. Good evening, council. My name is Adam Bellinger and Maryland and uh particularly the uh um planning development staff.
Um I have spent a lot of time looking at the MFTTE program uh for a lay person. U I have a little bit of a background in finance uh and I've looked at uh MFTTES in a couple of different jurisdictions.
Um, so I'm talking a little bit of some experience from those other jurisdictions as well as here in Bellingham. Um, and kind of taking a big picture, there's a couple things that are the weaknesses of MFTTE.
Um, they're not really uh directly impacting the ability to build something. They're really more making it financially more attractive to do so. Um, and so, uh, it really incentivizes the landlord to be, uh, more profitable, um, versus making it easier to build.
Um, and I think one of the things that we need to look at, uh, on this is, um, what we're giving up uh, for these MFTTE. So, I didn't see any um uh information on how much it costs us as a uh city and also the the other tax revenues that we're giving up to do this.
Um you know, cuz 8, 12 or 20 years is a very long time to not be paying for the infrastructure, the you know, the police, the fire, everything that goes into um making the city great. And so, I think we need to measure it in terms of that.
And so I think we should look at the um um the full cycle cost of that. Um and then uh the other thing that I uh wanted to kind of talk about was um where I've seen like in particular the MFTTE be gamed uh particularly in Seattle.
So they in Seattle they only have a a lowinccome uh MFTTE and what I would witness is they take for one example that stuck out to me was a three-unit uh uh triplex that would probably house about nine people.
Well, they scraped it and they put uh nine small efficiency dwelling units in the same parcel. So they were able to increase their rents by uh three or four times, but they uh and they took out a significant amount of uh affordable housing and so there was the same number of people uh housed in that same facility, but then they were getting much higher rents as a result.
So I think there's um always the potential for that sort of thing. So, I think as we go forward, we need to take a look at how it's working out and if there's uh gaming of the system, uh particularly as we get into those uh um lowincome multifamily MFTts.
Thank you. Thank you, Adam. Hi, good evening. I'm Brian Gard. I'm the environmental planning director for the Port of Bellingham and I'm speaking on behalf of the port uh just to to support uh the extension of the um multif family tax exemption to all urban villages in uh in Bellingham.
Partially, you know, for a while we have we've always talked about the waterfront looking for kind of a level playing field and consistency. So, I think this accomplishes that. But then on top of that, you know, I think that the waterfront district has for the subary plan for years.
We've been working on that has always looked for one of the areas that is a opportunity for more density. And of course, we've had um some challenges uh in the pace of development down there for lots of different reasons, which we all know.
But uh working specifically with our local development partners, the Boardmill Group and the Mill Works team, you know, this is an issue that has been a challenge. It's a site that's difficult to build on uh the geotechnical considerations, the environmental considerations.
Uh and this has been an issue that could really push those over over the hump for for for making those projects more feasible. Uh so we do support that. Um, I think this growth in the downtown waterfront and then the in the waterfront really does support, you know, the dense dense urban development we'd hoped for for years in the downtown core, which, you know, rather than growing outward and that also then will in the long term support the the the downtown itself as well.
So, just want to say that from the from the waterfront district management team, we really do support this. So, thank you. Thank you, Brian. Good evening, council members. My name is Ben Besley and I'm here with Talbot Group representing Barkley Village.
And I'll just make this short. Uh I am here strongly in support of of this ordinance. And uh I can tell you that I was on the phone this afternoon with our ownership and our CFO and our architect uh working very hard on a multif family project that would qualify for this if it's passed.
And um you know I think in the case of Barkley Village uh it it really would make housing production happen at a greater pace. I can guarantee that. And it also allows us to preserve the density of what we're building out there.
And I think that's another important consideration is that with the uh with the ability to finance higher density means we're even preserving more land for future growth. So um thank you. Thank you Ben.
All right. And then after uh Dan we'll have Alexandria Spalding Paul Schistler and then we'll switch online to Sean Hstead. Good evening all. My name is Dan Blempker. I'm a resident in the Birwood neighborhood and I'm here representing those who currently live in single room occupancy like I do.
My rent is $670 a month. It is some of the most affordable housing that can be provided. General is to have this kind of split up room kitchen joint. uh adding it to the MFTt program is a great benefit for the city as well as the expansion into all these other parts of the city as a way to provide more housing as we need.
Thank you so much. Thank you Dan Andrea or Paul. Not we can switch online to Sean really quick and give them a couple more minutes. or Alexandra Spalding. Hi, I'm Alexandria Spalding representing the Wakom Community Foundation.
For context, the Wakom Community Foundation is the master developer of the Millworks project, a two-phase mixeduse project in the waterfront district designed to integrate community and economic development.
Phase one, built, owned, and operated by Mercy Housing Northwest, is complete and fully occupied. Phase 1 includes 83 units of permanent permanently affordable rental family rental housing and a sixclassroom early learning center operated by the Wakom family YMCA.
Phase 2 is in the latter stages of predevelopment and will include over 90 additional housing units that will further diversify the overall project's household income mix. Waterfront redevelopment remains a long-standing community priority for Bellingham residents.
We appreciate the city staff being so responsive to our feedback following the first comment period regarding the MFTTE. We are grateful for the staff's support and for amending their recommendation regarding multif family tax exemption program expansion to include these three additional urban villages.
We appreciate that it must be difficult to entertain expansion of a tax exemption program given the city's current budget challenges. However, these incentives will help to reduce the housing shortage and related stress on families, create more housing stability, which improves educational health outcomes, create construction job opportunities, leverage private and public investment dollars, leverage the city's investments in infrastructure, and generate tax revenue.
We hope the council will support the staff's recommendation. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Alexandria. All right. And then if Paul is not here, we're going to try and shift online to Sean Hexstead.
Sean, you should receive an invitation to be promoted to a panelist. There we go. Sean, you should be able to unmute and turn on your camera if you wish. All right. Thank you. I'm Sean Hagstead and I'm a local architect and developer and I am in full support of the expansion of the MFT to Barkley too.
A lot of the areas south of us are expanding the AMI to 100%. for certain areas. And I think the areas that we're talking about with Fair Haven, the waterfront and also the um Barkley area, that may be a consideration to expand it to 100%.
Because you're going to have higher cost of living there. good thing to consider is the fact that to get that 12-year expansion um it goes down to 70% if it's extended. And I think what may be a consequence of that idea is that you may have some people that have to get kicked out of the house.
Some people may have to move out because of the 80% requirement. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. And I'll just let you know, you did cut out quite a bit. You are welcome to uh send us an email at ccmail@cub.org if you want to make sure we get that that whole statement.
But thank you. All right. Thank you. All right, that concluded our sign up. Okay, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Council, Council Member Anderson, I'll start off. Um, not that I struggled with this, but um, over the weekend and last the last few days after really looking at this agenda.
Um, one of my past concerns, and I've talked about this with planning, is that along Samish Way, we have the eight-year, and I had always questioned, and this is years ago, um, how far of a buildout do we go until we take that away and encourage more of the um the 12 or now the 20 in order to increase uh the opportunity for affordable housing.
And then when I was looking at Barkley coming in and the port, the part of the hope was with the port now eliminating the contract um with their uh their past developer and hopefully with renewed public access and interest of our um more regional local developers, we would actually see some action down at the port.
And Barkley being primarily privately owned um and doing pretty well with their development. I mean, they seem to have a project every year or two coming in. So, it seems like they're moving along. Um, I really started questioning whether or not we needed to expand the eight-year to those areas.
So, that was in one pile. My next thought um was going back historically and looking at every time that um nationally and in Washington there was times of turbulence, whether it was during times of war or during times of economic suppression and um recessions.
You take a look at the algorithm of um building and industry and jobs and stuff gets pretty suppressed. And then what is the recovery time before there's more of a boom towards um building more housing?
And that curve that kind of upside down bell curve could run anywhere from a few to eight years. So looking at the landscape currently um on a national level there's a really good chance I mean we're all sweating.
Are we we know we have economic downturn right now. We know that there's a chance of a recession and hopefully not a depression, but it's just really um unstable. And so I can see where big investors wanting to put in housing when the costs are much higher to the instability um is there.
So it's really hard to look at do I want to build an eight-story building of 120 houses right now even in Barkley or even in the waterfront. um those buildings not only create jobs um and housing, it does um as one of our speakers, it does create economic opportunity because you know there's like the utility, there's uh property, you know, individual like if there's condos, people who purchase um and I feel that if we're on that upside down kind of bell curve and we have four years of this, how long is it going to take to come out the other end, we very well could be up against where at the state level they're making a decision.
Do they continue it? So, probably it might make some people nervous. I'm the first to speak because I'm the one that typically is really pushing um you know, inclusionary zoning, creating more opportunities to have that mixed affordable housing.
And at this point, I think because of all the uncertainty, the one thing that we can't afford is for a very stagnant or negative housing um build. So, because of that, um I do support these changes in these locations even though the waterfront could be desirable and Barkley is a lot of investment in private funding.
So hopefully they they have and it's a kind of planned development. Hopefully they can um generate a lot of housing but the reality is given the market the cost and the uncertainty even those pools are going to struggle a bit to create the housing.
So um I appreciate staff bringing this forward. Um, I don't know if I'll be sitting here in seven years to uh re-evaluate whether or not this will come forward, but I might be on that other side if things need to be changed or um augmented.
And if all of this goes away and everything turns out sunny and wonderful, I'm sure a council member can make a proposal to bring this back for reconsideration before those seven years if the market is drastically positive and we can push a little bit more and harder for looking at the affordable housing.
questions, comments, motions. Council member Hamill. Yeah, I just wanted to point out um uh to the public that that are here uh in chambers and also folks that are viewing at home that um urban villages comprise less than 4% of our land supply in the city of Bellingham.
the expectation is that they will um create about 30% of new housing. And this is important because the the or the new residential and so this is important because um it's close to services, it's close to fire, it's close to police, and uh response times can be um life-saving in many cases.
And so um I just want to make sure that we are all moving forward towards uh infill that makes sense. Um within the city of Bellingham, we do not have a lot of room to grow. Uh especially I the northern end of uh Bellingham is where the the main uh growth is happening right now, Keitech development and um the Cordata area and it's going to be fairly limited.
Uh we don't have an urban village in that area and I think that we should be reconsidering that at some point. We've talked about that before in in these chambers. Um this is the third touch on this. um on this uh topic.
We had uh a briefing on the 30th of um uh September last year and then again in March of this year. And I I think that we just I think we need to move forward here um with all deliberate speed. So the recommendation from staff is to vote to approve the ordinance within the packet and I so move second.
Motion by council member Hamill and a second by council member Liiloquist. Council member Liquist. Yeah Dan, you beat me to the punch. Um our our practice, you know, this is we usually don't vote after a hearing if it seems like it's substantive or there's things to be worked out or it's controversial.
It's none of those. As you said, this has been we've gone around on on these and worked through the details. The public comments are all positive. Um I I I think it's entirely appropriate to vote on it uh tonight and I plan on putting in favor.
Let me tell you some of the things I like about it. One thing that's broken about one of our affordable housing projects is a federal rule on LITC properties where it's indexed to area median income, not income of the household who actually has to pay the bill.
in the definitions of affordability, it's indexed to household size. That's really important to me because otherwise we have affordable housing projects that are surprisingly not affordable and that that doesn't sit well with me.
Um I also appreciate the inclusion of of co-l livingiving when there's 10 or more units where it's a genuine multifamily size facility. That was a very good catch. Thank you staff for that. Um we had a uh Mr.
Bellinger asked about the cost of foregone revenue. I believe we actually issue reports and we've done so several times and it's been a it's been a substantial chunk of money that in tax revenue that we have foregone but in exchange for over 1,400 units.
Um and uh we are facing a budget crisis but as the mayor outlined in her um budget priorities. One of the areas where we're not looking to cut is supporting housing. So we're going to safeguard that to the extent that we feel that's possible.
So that foregone revenue I still think is money well spent even in this time including Fair Haven Barkley and the waterfront. The reason why they weren't included is we're really worried about those places being nothing but luxury condominiums.
Um I think it's still kind of a concern but there are affordable housing projects in each of these areas. Chucknut uh uh village or Chucknut Center uh right there in Fair Haven where I live is affordable housing project.
Has been for years. Barkley Village there's Trail View is an affordable housing project. I think that's almost 100 units. And on the waterfront, we just heard uh from Mr. Gowron about one, but now two affordable housing projects going in the waterfront.
I am still concerned that there won't be enough affordable housing built into our urban villages and we may need to adjust this. But for the moment, we have affordable housing even in those areas. So, I'm feeling comfortable about that at the moment.
The main thing is that as was outlined in the beginning, this this tool can accomplish two things and they're not identical but they're related. One is simply production and we do need production but the other is affordability and the thing that I think is the real improvement about this one is the extension of this um uh possible tax break where you have mixed income middle housing types.
One of the things I dislike the most about the way we fund affordable housing is we segregate people by income here. This is where we have poor people live and this is where everyone else lives. Mixed income is a community value.
That's why I like this program and I like extending to middle housing in particular because those are modest scale, naturally affordable, made more affordable uh with a tax break. Um, so this is checking off, I think, a lot of our public policy goals and I appreciate the staff for working so hard for nine months at least.
I think you've been working on this. So, you've worked out all the details. Thank you, Council Member Anderson. Thank you. I did have a request. Um, it's not a motion because it wasn't written as code.
It was more narrative for the uh displacement and relocation. you you site um similar type, size, uh close to transportation, I would like you to consider adding to that list school district if children are involved because if my child goes to um Seome High School and is a freshman and now I have to they have to go to another school district.
Our school district is pretty good about swapping kids, but it's not always a given and it's a process to do that. Harder at the elementary than it is perhaps at the high school age. Point of clarification.
Yes. District or actual school because if we're talking Bellingham School District, there are multiple high schools in the district. So, are you particular? I would prefer school. Um because school would impact elementary and middle and then high school, but you know, by the time you get to high school, usually you could take a bus, but smaller children, they either parent has to transport them.
My daughter never went to a elementary or middle school where we lived within the boundaries for various reasons. And so I had to transport her. I had the ability to do that. Not everybody would. And um we know for children instability is difficult and having to go to a new school, especially if it's midyear, can be very um traumatic for them.
So I would like that to be part of the consideration. Council member Lquist. Yeah, I got excited by Dan's motion, so I forgot I had actually a question. Um this has to do with the possibility of city support for compliance.
One of the things I've suggested is that a private developer who may want to do a mixed income project with this tax incentive still has to fill out the paperwork. And I thought that we should hold their hands on that.
Um in the memo it talks about administrative support for state required annual income reporting support to whom am I are we talking about um the the developers who have to fill out the paperwork? And I see in in oh gosh I don't know on page 26 J annual compliance review um it's it talks about um uh qualified nonprofit or local government that will assure permanent affordable housing about the review are we going to be providing handholding support so that people can file their paperwork because I don't want them to walk away from this because they're afraid of the paperwork.
Do you want Yes. the the both support at the the application phase or the the interest phase, if you will, when they're looking at a project feasibility. Um there's an important piece that we currently have for the 12-year program, but again that that has not been utilized to date, but it will be uh and it's there are proposed amendments to that, but it's it's there's an internal handbook um that we have that will include a variety of forms used at the beginning to get into the program and to um also for those annual update procedures.
There are forms and things that are um we have models provided by the state. Our community development staff will be at least in the initial years will be the ones responsible for assisting with the needs for those those annual monitoring of folks tax documents and other kind of income qualification documents working with either the the building owner the property management company whatever the point of contact is there.
Um, and then, you know, again, depending on growth and participation in the program, we'll evaluate that as the years go by and see what needs to be done with with staffing and what the best approach is to to continue that.
But initially, we've worked with our community development people because they have that skill set for the programs that the city already has money in. I think I would like us to be aggressively helpful at least in the first few years and I'm sure we can let the training wheels go.
Motion on the table. Further discussion. The motion is to approve the amendments to the multif family tax exemption program. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Abstensions. That passes 70. Thanks to the staff for that.
And next up we have the mayor's report. Good evening, members of council, members of the community and staff that are here tonight. I have a few appointments and the first is for information only and that is I'll be appointing Steve Walker to their second term on the parks and recreation advisory board.
The next appointment is for your approval and that is that I'm seeking to appoint Aaron Miller to a first term on the transportation commission. Move approval. Motion by council member Williams and a second by council member Hamill.
Further discussion. Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Abstensions. That passes 70. Thank you. The next for your approval tonight is that I'm seeking to appoint Blake Hudson to their first term to the Bellingham Arts Commission.
Move approval. Second. Motion by Council Member Williams, second by Council Member Hamill. Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Extensions. That passes 70. Thank you.
Next, I wanted to speak about how we continue to hear from and appreciate the voices from our trans community members and their allies. We thank everyone who has been engaged and attended meetings, including all of you who are here tonight.
My team is working with Council President Hathman and Council Member Stone to bring forward work based on what we have heard and council member Stone will be providing an update later during tonight's meeting.
And one thing that I have heard while listening to your stories is urgent concern for trans safety and for protection for the trans and queer communities. And as mayor, I am committed to a safe community for all.
As a tangible commitment to this pledge, I have directed staff to bring the National Safe Place Program to Bellingham. The program involves a collaboration between schools, police, businesses, and other organizations in reporting hate and bias crimes.
When a hate crime occurs, victims can seek shelter within a safe place where they have a sticker displayed. This means that staff have been trained and that your police department will treat victims with care, dignity, and respect.
We expect to have this program up and running no later than July 1st. We will have more details, including a web page and an announcement in the weeks ahead. Next, I wanted to share that this weekend in Bellingham offers many different ways for everyone to connect and come together to celebrate the wonderful community that we are.
On Saturday, May 24th, there are two significant community events. The first is the Gathering of the Eagles, where canoes arrive in Bellingham's Waypoint Park at approximately 10:00 a.m. as part of a week-long journey to celebrate indigenous cultural heritage.
And later that day will be our traditional Memorial Day parade, a tradition of remembrance and respect beginning in downtown Bellingham. The city of Bellingham will have a significant presence in the parade as we unite to honor and remember the bravery of service members that we've lost, their families, and the community they so selfishly defended.
And Sunday, May 25th brings the return of the legendary ski to sea race, bringing teams together for the epic relay from the mountains to Bellingham Bay. Please be aware that this lively weekend will bring increased activity and opportunities for connection as well as traffic impacts.
We encourage everyone to plan ahead, allow for extra travel time, and follow any posted signage or directions from event staff to ensure a safe and enjoyable weekend for all. I will be at all three and I hope to see you there.
And last but not least, today has been a really good day as it relates to expanding housing opportunity in Bellingham. There were two key items from the housing executive order under council's uh consideration, one that you just took action on, and another thoughtful discussion surrounding unfair and excessive fees.
I'm incredibly grateful for council's attention and for staff's hard work on these matters. And that's the end of mayor's report tonight. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. And up next, we have our committee report outs.
The first this morning was the budget and finance committee and that was chaired by council member Anderson. Thank you and good evening to all. Um today um starting at 10:00 this morning, we had two items for consideration.
The first um was council agenda bill 24547. And joining me today was council member Lilloquist and Hamill. We had a presentation regarding the water system plan, utilitywide financial information, utility rates, and customer assistance program.
Um the city of Bellingham is actively engaged in long range planning for the essential utility services through the water system plan update. An update on this effort um was provided with a focus on financial information from a utilitywide perspective.
Um concepts related to the city's approach to modifying the utility customer assistance program was shared during the presentation. Um over the next 20 years we're going to be spending a significant amount of money in upgrading post point our sewer treatment plant a lot of our infrastructure for water and then also um storm water and through that um there will be fee increases.
We are going to be uh re-reviewing some of the proposals of things for replacement to make sure that um all of the expenditures are truly warranted. But we do know that there are going to be um infrastructure upgrades.
And because of that, um, council and the mayor's office was concerned about, um, our lower income, uh, utility payers, whether or not they're going to be able to afford over the next 10 years the potential of the water bill doubling.
So, currently, our um, our assistance goes towards low-income seniors and lowincome individuals um, with disabilities. And so one of the things that council has asked was for a review of being able to look at all lowincome uh utility payers who have an account in their name.
So that will also include our renters which potentially could take us from about 750 households up to perhaps 4,000. And so we did the um analysis on what would that cost. The state of Washington is unique in the nation.
it does allow um for subsidy to be passed through other rate payers. And so if we were to meet the potential for the full need to um based on income have a 2550 or 75% reduction in that utility um bill.
Um the worst case scenario the pass through to other rate payers might be at the higher end of close to like $5 a month. So, we're um still doing some analysis and serious consideration because um we have a lot of people in our community who because of housing costs being high and because of income not being high enough, um we just don't want to have a situation of displacement because of utility bills.
And um it is work we're going to have to do. We have pipes underground for our water that are probably a hundred years old and 50 years past replacement. Um so we'll be making some hard decisions going forward because it's not fair to pass these type of decisions on five 10 years to other council because the cost will be substantially higher overall to um our rateayers.
So, we have a lot of work in the upcoming year, but as a council and as a a mayor and staff, we're um doing really due diligence to ensure that those who could be most harmed by these rate increases um will have an opportunity hopefully to have those bills lower to make things affordable for them.
So, that was the first one. And then the next um even more tough conversations is the mayor's 2026 budget development process bill number 24558. Um Mayor Kim Lun and staff presented their 2026 budget.
Um this is just the beginning process. Uh we're not going departmentto department yet. um some savings in this year's budget has been identified through some costsaving through multiple departments which is saving um maybe about a million dollars in this year's budget.
But um the mayor and team has been meeting with council and we've been discussing um in small groups what our priorities are and those priorities is to ensure through the general fund where there will be um more of a squeeze on our um availability of perhaps expansion.
Um we'll continue to focus on public safety um including evaluating the revenue sources that will ma maintain our current levels of service. um programs and policies that support the expansion of housing supply um across the continuum of need.
And another priority is the continued support of our internal service systems and the people that allow the city to effectively and efficiently deliver services to the public. So, we're going to keep prioritizing public safety.
um you know our EMS, our fire, all those great people who are providing emergency services um will continue to work on housing. Today was a good example of two projects that the staff has moved forward.
how we prior prior prioritize housing is ensuring that we have the staff to be able to do the work in the planning department and then also um one of our most important um assets in the community is our staff which is our internal services who brings those services to you and um these things can be impacted by the general budget I mean the general fund but there's a lot of really good work that will be happening across the city because of very specialized ized fund designations like greenways and um some of the the new levy I mean some of the new taxations coming in through the jail fund which will help fund some of our mental health services and things along the addiction and services.
So we'll have specialized funds that are not impacted through the general fund where we'll still be able to provide some really great services um that the city expects. So with that, um, it was a good meeting today and more to come and end of committee.
Thank you, Council Member Anderson. Up next, we had public works and natural resources and that was chaired by Council Member Stone. Thank you, President Husman. So, I was joined this afternoon on the public works and natural resources committee by council members Anderson and Cotton.
We had three items before us. The first was agenda bill 24545. This is regarding Watcom Transportation Authority WTA rapid transit study update. So WTA is studying how to deliver better bus service by implementing rapid transit that will reduce delays and improve reliability in order to support population and employment growth here in Bellingham.
Provide sustainable transportation options and grow the capacity of our transportation network. WTA completed a rapid transit feasibility study in the summer of 2023 that determined project feasibility as well as identified infrastructure needs and a potential phased implementation approach.
WTTA is funding phase two of the rapid transit study with the goal of shaping and gaining consensus around a locally preferred alternative. WTA and city staff are working together closely on the rapid transit study and provided today an update on the status of phase two.
In addition, they also presented the preliminary locally preferred alternative. So today we were joined by Joel Fint um interim public works co-director and Tim Wilder from WTA. Um Hayden presided presented um the presentation on behalf of um both groups and wanting to highlight that there were a couple of options being looked at.
So one is rap bus rapid transit which would really require some pretty substantial um infrastructure commitments. Sometimes you will see like dedicated bus lanes in a community um with bus rapid transit, but looking at the cost of you know potentially tens of millions of dollars um in addition to the the time that it would take to bring that type of project to fruition um at this time the preferred alternative is enhanced go lanes.
And so here in Bellingham those go lines um we're looking at the blue, gold, green and plum in particular. So, the blue line, most of you up at Western would be familiar with that line. There are multiple routes um that cover the blue line, but that goes up to campus um and swings around to Bill McDonald parkway and down through Lincoln Creek.
Um in addition, the gold line, that's bus 331. So, that goes up Cornwall and down Alabama, out to Barkley, Sunset, Telegraph, and up to Bellis Fair. Then the green line is bus 232 and that heads out DuPont and Northwest up through Birchwood Center and out to Baker View um and Watcom Community College.
And then finally the plum line that's a 500 series um which goes out Lakeway to the east but the focus right now is increasing so the frequency of those um those bus lines those go lines to ensure that people are not waiting you know the ideal target would be you know five minutes between buses um coming to those locations.
And so the hope is is to be able to increase writership um through that um through that additional service. And along those lines, we would also look at the um the improvements to I mean infrastructure along those lines, right?
when you're thinking about the the bus stops and ensuring that we've made a commitment here locally with our bus and I mean our bike and pedestrian master plans to to really increase and um to help develop further that infrastructure which helps to to cover sort of the beginning and end of of bus routes finish that um call it that final mile.
Um but really wanting to look at our comprehensive plan and transportation more holistically and make sure that um we're leveraging the the WTA you know facility and those resources that we have here most effectively to again increase writership um and hopefully help meet some of our climate action goals as well.
So at this time um the information is just being presented as an update um for information and discussion only. So no action being taken at this time, but for individuals who are interested um in those projects, I would encourage you to watch this afternoon's meeting.
Um so again, that was for information and discussion only. The next item before the committee was agenda bill 24557. This is a contract award for Russell Irving water main replacement. This is EW239, bid number 33B-2025.
For this item, you may want to look at the map that's included in the packet, but the project replaces water manes on Russell Street from Broadway to West Illinois Street and then on Irving Street from Young Street to Sea Street and on Sea Street from Irving Street to Dupont Street and then on Dupont from the section between Ca Street and D Street.
The project will also perform Americans with Disabilities Act complaint um compliant ramp upgrades throughout and will overlay Russell Street and Irving Street. The city received six bids for this project which were publicly opened on April 30th, 2025.
Um a um Cursio Brothers Inc. was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of $2,688,577 including any applicable Washington state sales or use tax. The engineers estimate for this project was $3,558,180 and the project is subject to the apprenticeship program requirements per BMC 4.94.
So any project over a million dollars has those apprenticeship requirements. But for this project, the um the responsive bid was well under the engineers um estimate. So that was good news. Um wanting to highlight that um for these water manes, some date back to 1918 and others to 1927, so have you know well past their expected life.
So definitely priority projects for the city. Um there are eight blocks covered for the overlay and then 58 ADA ramps included. So you would see four at each intersection. Um this project we are expecting to begin in late spring or early summer this year and it's expected to be approximately a 90-day time frame, but that work would happen during the day.
So hopefully there would be um minimal disruption, but we do expect right to have flaggers out on the roadways to help with traffic. There was a unanimous recommendation from um the committee this afternoon to move to award the contract to Colio Brothers Inc.
and I so move second motion by the chair, second by council member Cotton. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? for abstensions passes 70 and I will note that council member Hamill is now virtual.
Okay, thank you very much. Um the next item before the committee was agenda bill 24546. This is a contract award for Paddent Creek at 12th and 14th Streets Fish Passage. This is EN056 bid number 34B-2025.
So, the Patent Creek at 12th and 14th Streets fish passage project will remove partial fish passage barriers to two inner urban trail creek crossings. The city received four bids which were publicly opened on May 7th, 2025 and Faber Construction Corporation was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of $4,326,715.82 82 including any applicable Washington state sales or use tax.
The engineers estimate was $4,61,800 and the project is again subject to apprenticeship program requirements per BMC 4.94. Um this project looks at anou too with Washington fish and wildlife and nooks and ly um in moving this addressing these um fish passage barriers just focusing on the fact that these are trails and not roadways um that will be impacted but the construction is expected to begin in late June of this year and wrapping up in approximately February um of next year.
So there will be some reroute, you know, to the trails that are impacted. Um, but hopefully that will be minimal. Obviously needing to take on this work during times when the impact to the fish will be minimal.
Um, and that's why it's focused on these summer months. There was a unanimous recommendation from the committee to move to award the contract to Faber Construction Corporation and I so move. Second. Motion by the chair, second by council member Anderson.
Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I any opposed or abstensions? Passes 70. Great. I just wanted to highlight that. Um so Tim Hman, who is the um engineering manager for public works and Anelise Burns, habitat and restoration manager, also joined us this afternoon for that presentation.
Um that was the end of the agenda items for public works and natural resources. And so with that, I'll turn it back to you, President Hudman. Thank you, Council Member Stone. Also, congratulations on saying fish passage project so many times.
Uh, next up we had committee of the whole. We were all present for that. We had fi five agenda items. First up was agenda bill 24549, an update on the 2025 state legislative session and city lobby activities.
city staff and contracted lobbyists provided an update on the 2025 legislative session. Um, and just a couple notes on that. Uh, we just completed our first legislative session with a new lobbying team that we hired this year.
So, that was a new experience for the city. Um, it was clearly a challenging year for the state legislature for many reasons, largely financial ones. Um, but we had some wins. Um, we got some library funding for capital improvements, uh, as as an example.
It's one of one of our wishes. And, um, a big thanks to our local state representatives, um, for for working so diligently to to, uh, to work on our requests this year. Um, one disappointing note was that we were uh seeking MKA funds for the RG Haley site uh cleanup, environmental cleanup.
And you may know that site from the white tarps down by at the end of Cornwall. Um there is a there's a plan in the works to turn that into a park, a really amazing park. Um and we didn't make the cut for state funding.
barely didn't make the cut for state funding, but we got some great news today uh from Amy Cra and our legal department that she and the city uh been collaborating with the port and the department of ecology.
Um and there's been an agreement to make some funds from the port uh available. So, they're going to put off some of their projects in order to to put some some funds into this project to to keep it moving along since it is ready to go.
Um so, that is very exciting news. Um, and a big thanks to Nick Federici and Luke Esser, our our new lobbying team. Um, it was great working with them this year and and we look forward to doing it again hopefully soon.
Um, next up we had agenda bill 24548, a consideration of a letter to Canadian municipalities. During the April 28th, 2025 committee of the whole meeting, council member Michael Illoquist proposed writing a letter to nearby Canadian cities to affirm a commitment to continuing a positive relationship.
City staff have drafted a letter for council consideration and possible vote and we did. If approved, this letter will be and it was will be sent to the cities of Delta, Richmond, White Rock, Abbottzford, Langley, Vancouver, Siri, Kquitlam, and Burnaby.
the uh the the committee made a me recommendation to approve and I so move. Second. Motion by the chair and a second by council member Williams. Further discussion. Council member Lilquist. I want to thank the mayor for uh joining and signing this letter and um David Brown and the communication team for writing it.
Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? Passes 70. Next up, uh, and I will pair the next two agenda items together. We had agenda bill 24501 and 24502, a work session on, uh, ordinances relating to landlord tenant relations, adopting a new chapter in the title six of the Bellingham Municipal Code prohibiting landlords from charging tenants unfair or excessive fees and residential rental agreements and leases.
And then the other agenda bill, work session on an ordinance related to manufactured and mobile home landlord tenant relations adopting a new chapter in the title six of the Bellingham municipal code prohibiting landlords from charging unfair or excessive fees in manufactured and mobile home lease agreements.
Uh so this was uh for information and discussion only. A couple of points that were presented by staff. um some some conflicts in the draft with uh recently passed state legislation that were discussed as well as uh potential complications of uh the element of city enforcement for the ordinance.
Um there will be a special meeting two Mondays from now on June 2nd to discuss these ordinances further. And next up we had agenda bill 24550, an ordinance relating to land use and zoning adopting an interim zoning ordinance applying BMC 20 uh.28 infill housing in all areas that are zoned predominantly for residential use except on property regulated by BMC chapter 16.80 80 Lake Watcom Reservoir to stimulate middle housing construction.
On March 24th, 2025, the city council had a public hearing to consider an interim middle housing ordinance to allow development under the infill housing toolkit in all areas of the city zone predominantly for residential uses.
City council passed a motion to amend the floor area ratios, also known as F, in the draft ordinance to match the middle housing model ordinance from the Department of Commerce. Staff recommended amend amending the draft ordinance to reduce the maximum F for lots with one dwelling unit from 0.6 to 0.4 and other nonsubstantive edits.
Staff's recommended amendment would reduce the potential volume of allowable building mass on properties with one dwelling unit, including lots developed under the small lot designation in the infill housing regulations.
Uh this The council or the committee recommended approval to amend the ordinance and I so move. Second. Um motion made by the chair and a second by council member Lilloquist. Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I.
I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. And with that, we can move to old and new. Council member Cotton, um, just to mention and committee to hold this afternoon, we also there's unanimous motion to um, send a letter to Western Washington University in support of the operational student employees organized with um, Western academic workers, UAW.
Um and um I don't looking at the city attorney, but I don't believe we need to repeat that motion here tonight. That's correct. So um but thank you all for your work on that this afternoon. Council member Stone, thank you very much.
Um so I just wanted to provide a a brief update regarding the the work that's been going on be behind the scenes. It was about a month ago, I guess now, that I'd mentioned wanting to take on a sort of reddrafting and reaffirmation of the resolution 2017-10, which was adopted by the council back in 2017 under sort of circum um similar circumstances um when members of the community had expressed right concerns about their rights and safety based on things that were happening at the the federal level in particular.
Um and so having taken that on now the close to final draft of this resolution now is eight pages I think and still working on that but wanted to explain some of what has been taken on with respect to this resolution.
So I think about resolutions as sort of a you know a declaration of our our values and really a a public statement um to affirm those those values. wanting to take this resolution as an opportunity to really look back at the work that the city has done at different points in time.
So related to resolutions that we have passed, ordinances that have been passed specifically um related to members of our community who may have been particularly vulnerable or targeted at different points in time.
Um and so it goes through um thinking about our you know relationship with local tribes as well as language access um members of the immigrant community as well as communities of um color and thinking about also our you know climate um concerns and the police presence and you know how we handle hate crimes and issues that were highlighted by the mayor during um her report and wanting to add now our commitment to the National Safe Place um work that will go forward.
And there was, you know, language that had been previously um included to address LGBTQ. I think at that time it was LGBTQ um community and wanting to speak specifically to the LGBT the LGBTQ um I to S plus, you know, community and in particular the trans community and those concerns that have been brought forward um you know, currently over the last several weeks.
And so the resolution is sort of a high level declaration of values that speaks specifically to um this community as well. But then in in tandem with that wanting to bring forward what at this point is really an ordinance.
I know that the community has brought forward a draft resolution and what I'm looking to do is to incorporate the resolution and especially you know whereas clauses and requests from the community and um direct action calls to action that would help you know increase the feeling of safety and security within our community.
And when I look at a resolution versus an ordinance, I think about a resolution as again sort of a a declaration to our values and an ordinance as sort of a a call to action and you know um really looking at what is the work that that we can do.
So some of that is um is looking at the template that we'd used for the immigrant community back in 2017. There was a similar ordinance passed at that time. but also wanting to incorporate work from other communities here within the state of Washington.
So, Olympia, you know, has adopted similar legislation. Spokane now has passed an ordinance as well. Um, and some of that looks more specifically at the Washington um the Washington laws against discrimination.
And so, wanting to look at our internal policies and procedures within the police department when hate crimes are reported in particular and discrimination um is of concern. So that's one piece of you know the action as well as thinking about access to services and facilities here within the city um and making sure that there's equal equal access um to those as well.
So with respect to these again looking at to stamp a a draft on these the next step is meeting with President Hudman as well as Mayor Lond and city attorney um to review those. There are a couple of just legal questions that I want to confirm before disseminating that further.
Wanting to receive feedback from the community obviously with respect most importantly to the proposed ordinance um to receive feedback on you know how how that either meets concerns that have been brought forward or maybe falls short and where we need to continue um that collaboration as a community.
um and then wanting to bring this formally forward at I'm hoping our next council meeting for us to um to just grapple with some of the pieces which some of its language um questions when we think about you know safety and safe haven and sanctuary and what that you know what that looks like and how best to um articulate that.
One of the important things to me at this time is wanting to be very clear about the separation of, you know, powers and work. thinking about our police powers um here and the power that we have locally, right?
To regulate for protection and rights of the people who live, work, and play here in our community and wanting to make sure that um Bellingham that we are exercising that authority of, you know, our internal resources and policing and how that's that's handled.
um especially when members of the community have um have expressed concern about you know potential conflicts between local and you know maybe federal policies and so how we navigate that to ensure the safety um of our entire community here in Bellingham.
Um so at this time I don't know if there are you know specific questions from council. I had just wanted to provide, you know, an update that this has taken a lot longer than maybe I at first anticipated because just wanting to be very thorough and meaningful in the work that's brought forward.
Anyone who's met me or spent any significant time, I think, with me will appreciate the fact that I don't um I don't ever want to do something that is, you know, just to sort of check a box and and say that we've done something and move forward.
I if we're going to take on the work, I want that to be meaningfully done and I want it to be something that withstands, you know, time as well and that it filters through sort of all layers of and levels of our work as a city government as well to make sure that um it is a collective commitment not just from the council but from you know staff as well and the mayor because that's where the implementation happens.
So, I feel like if we pass a resolution and, you know, then don't take the next steps to take the action needed, um, then it's not nearly as meaningful or impactful for our community. Um, so I just want to express appreciation for everyone that's, you know, continued to come out and speak and mention that, you know, over the last couple of weeks that the stories that have been shared and comments that have been shared have been very impactful and very compelling and hearing from other, you know, members of the community who may not have been as aware about the struggles and concerns um, have commented as well just about how it's been, I think, eye openening for, you know, the community at large.
So, just wanting to express that appreciation as well for the willingness to, you know, show up. I know it's a it can be a very vulnerable space. Um, and especially if you already feel like there's a target on you, then to, you know, come forward and speak publicly that it takes a lot um to do that.
And I know that feeling like that target is on you at this time. I feel like if you know if there's something that we can do if you know collectively as a community if we feel like speaking out puts a target on all of us hopefully by you know having a target on all of us collectively that makes the target on each person individually that much smaller um because we know that there's a support system um you know behind us as a community.
So, um really just wanting to provide that update to know that um once I have a chance to debrief with again President Huffman and the mayor and the city attorney's office um that this work will be coming in forward in a formal capacity to the council for further consideration and for feedback from the broader community.
So, thank you. Follow up to that council member Anderson. Thank you. Um, thank you, Council Member Stone. Um, I know we're being asked to make a declaration to be a sanctuary city. Um, and like a resolution, I've always kind of stated a resolution is a way to say it's a feel-good statement.
These are our values and beliefs. To do an ordinance that codifies not only those beliefs, but what are the actions that we will be responsible for in order to support that. So we don't have like conversations outside of this dis like I could only talk to two people on council about things that I want to work on.
So I haven't been able to hear what council member Stone is working on because I'm not one of the people she is meeting with because otherwise we end up in a chain meeting which is a violation of the open meetings act.
And I'm like a little tearary right now because I was hoping when um Council Member Stone stepped forward to work on this that an ordinance would be born out of it. So um I know codes and politics and terminology can be a lot to get your head around, but an ordinance is kind of like getting the diamond of opportunity.
So, um I'm really proud that she's taken that on and look forward to what that's going to look like. Also getting feedback from members of the community to make sure that that code like what codifies what our responsibility and actions that we'll take um will be meeting the needs of the community who is coming forward to speak to us.
So um it's it's a big thing to take this and put it into an ordinance. So really proud of Council Member Stone for um taking it to that level and bringing that forward. So thank you, Council Member Williams.
One of the reasons that I enjoy living here is because in my 33 years of living here and experiencing similar situations like you all have, um I'm very proud to live in a city that just doesn't take a symbolic step forward.
they actually we actually do the do the symbolic step but then we put policy into action that reflects the values that we have and that is one of the reasons that I'm very very proud of living here and thank you Hannah for taking this on and if there's any assistance or help or just another set of eyes you need, you can call on me anytime to help out.
But I very much appreciate that work. So, I uh I checked in with Hannah expecting to talk about the next steps and she says to me, "Oh, I'm so sorry this has taken so long. I'm not done with the drafts yet." And I was like, "Excuse me?
What? done with the drafts yet and instead of a resolution, she's working on an ordinance, which is it's a bigger deal. Um, and and she's taken one page of one resolution to five, six. Uh, Hannah doesn't do anything um lightly.
Uh, so I you what what she's working on is incredibly impressive. um and thorough um full of lots of research um uncovering some really interesting things about the history of Bellingham and city council and uh so I'm I'm looking forward to some of the rest of us and staff shouldering some of this work with you.
Um but really really appreciate you moving on this so quickly. I know it feels like it's not quick, but local government is slow. It's really slow and I mean part of it is intentionally slow. Um and you know like we can't talk to each other unless we're in front of cameras.
Um makes things really slow. So uh so appreciate it Hannah and look forward to working on this more. Anything else on this subject or more for old and new? Okay, one more report out. We had an executive session.
Uh we had four items. First was a potential property acquisition with stamps. Staff provided information on a potential Lake Watcomm property acquisition totaling 37.55 acres with seven potential development units.
I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to close the real estate transaction described in the city's executed purchase and sale agreement with the property owner Font Viser with a purchase price of $860,000.
So moved. Hold on. Closing is to occur on or around May 28th, 2025. So moved. Second. Second. Motion by Council Member Williams and a second by Council Member Cotton. Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I.
I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Next up, we had a potential property acquisition with stamps. Staff provided information on a potential Lake Watcom wershed property acquisition totaling 7.45 acres with one potential development unit.
I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to close the real estate transaction described in the city's executed purchase and sale agreement with the property owner Gary and Shirley Patterson with a purchase price of $240,000.
Closing is to occur on or around June 2nd, 2025. Some moved second. Motion by council member Cotton and a second by council member Williams. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Any opposed or abstensions?
That passes 70. Next up, we had another property acquisition, potential property acquisition with stamps. Staff provided information on a potential property acquisition for information and discussion.
No action was taken. We then had a labor relations matter with Sullivan. Staff provided information on a labor relations item for information and discussion. No action was taken. Consent agenda. Move approval.
Second. Motion by council member Williams and a second by council member Liiloquist. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Final consideration of ordinances.
Agenda bill 24478. An ordinance of the city of Bellingham, Washington relating to land use and zoning adopting an interim zoning ordinance applying Bellingham Municipal Code BMC 20.28 28 infill housing in all areas that are zoned predominantly for residential use except on property regulated by BMC chapter 16.80 Lake Watcom reservoir regulatory provisions to stimulate the construction of middle housing.
Move third and final second motion by council member Anderson and a second by council will member Williams. Roll call, please. Anna Stone, I'm going to say I but I just wanted to confirm. We confirmed this afternoon, right?
Nothing else needs to be read into the record or the amendment is already incorporated. Yeah, we did that this afternoon and then voted uh earlier this evening also. We're all good. Yep. I Dan Hamill I Skip Williams I Lisa Anderson I Michael Lillquiz I Jace Cotton I Holly Huffman I motion carries.
Thank you. Okay, it's the end of our regular meeting. So with that, that concludes the regular business of the meeting and we will now move on to the public comment session. If you're watching live online or on BTV, the broadcast will now end.
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