City Council - Regular Meeting

[Music] Good evening and welcome to the May 5th, 2025 regular meeting of the Bellingham City Council. I'll call this meeting to order. Before we begin, we acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unseated territory of the Lummy, Noosack, Samish, and Seamyu people who have cared for and tended this land since time and 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 brings us that bring us together here to today.

And please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events. 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.orgccoom and click on the language icon at the bottom of the screen to listen in Spanish. And I'll go ahead and let our interpreter repeat that. Thank you. On May 19th, 2025, the city council will hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance relating to amendments to the multifamily tax exemption program.

More details can be found at meetings.co.org 5 days prior to the meeting. Roll call, please. Holly Husman here. Hannah Stone here. Dan Hamill here. Skip Williams here. Lisa Anderson here. Michael Iloquist here.

Jace Cotton here. All council members are present. And next up we have mayor's report. Members of the community and staff that are here this evening. Uh tonight for mayor's report, I have one committee appointment for your approval and that is I'm seeking to appoint Kathy Fertado to her first full term on the greenways advisory committee.

Move to approve. Second. Motion by Council Member Hamill and a second by Council Member Williams. Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Thank you.

Next up tonight is an update about the North Haven Tiny Home Village. Homes Now is actively building new tiny homes and plans to open Bellingham's newest tiny home village called North Haven by the end of this month in the Birwood neighborhood.

This is the new location of the Swift Haven and Unity Villages, two tiny home villages currently on city property that must be relocated. After investing nearly two million to acquire and improve the property along Northwest Avenue, the city is working closely with Homes Now to relocate these villages.

Anyone in the community who's interested in learning more can watch the comprehensive update provided to the city council this afternoon at this at the community and economic development committee. I wanted to share that on Friday, as part of the first Friday art walk downtown, I attended the immersive experience project opening and tour the downtown buildings that have been wrapped in stunning custom window art by design department students from Western Washington University.

I was able to dive into the immersive experience project and tour the windows alive buildings firsthand. It was inspiring to listen to the artists explain their creative process to transform a vacant space into a one-of-a-kind alternative reality or embellish the windows of a transitional commercial space into vibrant canvases.

One of the downtown forward plan goals is that we have active public spaces and thriving arts and culture and that downtown be the community's gathering place with artwork woven into the public and private realm in ways that surprise and delight.

These projects absolutely embody that goal and I'm incredibly grateful to the paper well team to all of the property managers and the building owners who said yes to enabling these artists for these installations and for the city for funding this work.

There will be more opportunities for the public to dive into these experiences as more chances are planned through July. You can see the paper whale website for more details. And last but not least tonight, I wanted to share that on Sunday morning, I attended a portion of the future women in fire and EMS workshop.

It's a two-day event designed for women who are passionate about public service and interested in exploring careers in these fields. The workshop includes insights into a day in the life of a first responder with guidance on navigating the hiring process, hands-on skill training, and it helps to inspire the academy participants while also furthering the city's goal to have more women serving our community as the firefighters of the future.

I wanted to say thank you to the incredibly competent and capable Bellingham firefighters along with their colleagues from around Wakom County who helped introduce the fire service to the nearly 20 attendees.

And they even let me run a hose, set a ladder, and crawl around in a pitch black dark skills course. It was an inspiring and humbling time and so proud of the BFD and who we have. So, and a mayor's report tonight.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. And then up next, we have committee report outs from today. First up was the planning committee, and that was chaired by Michael Lilloquist. Council member Liquist, thank you.

Uh this morning, the joining me on the committee are council members um Stone and Anderson. And um we had two items for us today. They're both lengthy discussions that have to do with long range and citywide planning.

The first was a work session on shifting from neighborhood plans to to a city-wide planning process. Uh this move emphasizes a more equitable approach towards simpler, more transparent policies and regulations that are easier to understand and administer fairly and consistently in all areas of Bellingham.

This change is important for the successful implementation of state requirements expanding opportunities for more housing supply and variety and all households in our community. It was a lengthy discussion.

We actually I think only got halfway through it and so we'll continue discussing it. Basically, we've been planning using neighborhood plans, but those neighborhood plans are variable in quality and value and specificity.

Some of them are outdated. Some of them are conflicting. Um, moreover, um, much of the material that used to be in neighborhood plans is now represented in other, um, documents, citywide plans on infrastructure, on on parks, on transportation, um, and also the zoning tables were moved out of those a while ago.

A lot of discussion had to do with the fact that, um, we still want to have, um, when you get rid of the neighborhood plans, you still have neighborhood specific zoning tables. And so the discussion had to do with the need to also reform those zoning tables for the same reason to bring those into alignment so there's not over too much complexity too much conflict conflict with state law and that zoning table uh process um as was explained by staff today will not be done all in one step.

We may be able to reform say the residential aspects of those zoning tables but not the industrial or commercial or institutional aspects. Staff expressed a long-term hope we might have one large master zoning table for the city.

um that would the future goal, but there also was discussion about what might be lost and what needs to be retained in terms of local engagement and neighborhood guidance. And it was emphasized that this is still a community of neighborhoods.

We will continue to celebrate the neighborhoods and um for example, the mayor's neighborhood advisory commission will still have neighborhood representatives. Uh this discussion is um has not been finished.

Um, I think the council is still or at least the committee members are still expressing and looking for asurances that we still have kind of like the right degree of local input but nonetheless still have aligned values across the city.

The second item was a similarly high level discussion. This one is a work session to discuss approaches to changing residential zoning. Um implementation of House Bill 11110 allowing multiple middle housing units on all residential lots will require the city to change its residential zoning.

Staff were here this morning to get feedback from the city council on potential approaches early in the process to inform development of proposal proposed updates to the Bingham municipal code uh title 20.

Topics of discussion include consideration of minimum densities or maximum lot sizes for areas currently zoned for residential uh single or residential detached development and consideration of a single or a tiered density pattern across the city.

At the end of the presentation, staff actually put up six questions. I think we barely got through two of them. It was still a lively discussion. Um, we are going to be adopting an interim ordinance on uh allowing middle housing types, but that doesn't really answer some of the longer term questions with uh how we uh consolidate and collapse our zoning tables.

I think there's oh gosh 400 and some zoning designations in the city. But truthfully, those could be collapsed. Uh potentially all of the residential low density are very similar. Can we treat them in one table or one line in the table?

all the residential medium density, all the residential high density. Can we collapse these um uh in our zoning regulations which would then map onto our um um which then would map on to the the previous discussion.

Um I'm kind of losing my train of thought here. Um again, we only answer two of the six questions and we'll continue to discuss that. Um, and also reviewing the idea of of lot sizes and density also require looking at issues with regard to ability to split lots.

Um, how utility service goes to these smaller lots or these split lots and how impact fees are tied to those uh fees. Uh, in addition, when you're having to do with lot size, it also implicates issues of lot coverage, height, and mass and setbacks because these affect how much housing you can actually get onto a lot.

Um, all in all, I summarizes this by saying we're looking for more effective ways of doing our residential zoning to allow for and create more opportunities for housing. I think that's really the take-home message.

What can we do to our our zoning and housing regulations to my pride? More opportunities for housing without creating unintended consequences or some other negative impacts in the community. This these two items were discussion only and no action was taken.

End of committee report. Thank you, Council Member Liquist. And then up next this morning, we had the committee of the whole executive session. We had two items. The first was a potential property acquisition with Mariner.

Staff provided information on a potential property acquisition for information and discussion. No action was taken. Next up, we had a potential litigation matter with chaplain. Staff provided information on a potential litigation matter for information and discussion.

No action was taken. And then up next this afternoon, we had committee of the whole. We had three agenda items. Uh first was the annual update on the Bellingham Watcom County Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Bellingham Watcom County uh Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence was formed jointly by the city of Bellingham and Watcom County in 1998. The commission inspires and coordinates our community's efforts to address sexual and domestic violence.

Each year, staff from the domestic violence commission provide an update to inform the council of their work as well as provide education about the impact of domestic violence in our community. That was for information and discussion only.

No action was taken. Next up, we had agenda bill 24501, a work session on an ordinance relating to landlord tenant relations adopting a new chapter in title six of the Bellingham Municipal Code prohibiting landlords from charging tenants unfair or excessive fees in residential rental agreements and leases.

Billingham City Council is weighing two proposed ordinances that define which rental fees are permitted, limit amounts for some rental fees, and promote fee transparency. As part of considering these ordinances, council directed staff to seek p public feedback about the ordinances.

At the March 24th, 2025 council meeting, staff presented a summary of p the public engagement findings. An executive summary and full report of this public engagement work are also available at engagebellingham.org.

org. This work session was intended to give council a chance to further discuss the ordinances, suggest amendments, and provide direction on how to move forward. So, there were quite a few amendments made and a lot of discussion had, and we will move forward with a new amended draft of this ordinance uh next I believe next meeting.

I don't think we established that. that if this is coming back next meeting potentially potentially. Uh anything further further on that one council? Okay, moving on. A similar agenda item, agenda bill 24502, work session on an ordinance related to manufactured mobile home landlord tenant relations, adopting a new tra chapter in title six of the Bellingham mun municipal code prohibiting landlords from charging unfair or excessive fees in manufactured and mobile home lease agreements.

again. Um, we moved forward a draft uh of this ordinance to further discuss at our next meeting. Um, old and new. Council member Stone. So, I was just going to share that on Thursday, which was May 1st, Mayday, um shortly afternoon at the county courthouse here in Bellingham, there was an opportunity for members of the local bar chapter.

So, local attorneys and judges to sort of reaffirm take our oath again that we took when we initially joined the um the bar to sort of yeah, just reaffirm our commitment to the Washington State Constitution and the US Constitution.

And it was really inspiring just the number of people who showed up. Um so Judge David Freeman administered the oath. There were um they were sort of joking that it was probably the largest gathering maybe in Watcom County history of of attorneys in one in one place there over spilling the um just the the walkway there.

So, but it was just nice to see the solidarity and just everybody coming out from, you know, sort of all different types of work within the legal field and throughout the the county and community, but all coming together sort of to um to unite around that that sole um sort of mandate as members of the field.

So, I just wanted to share that. Um you council member Stone else. Well, I will note this Saturday afternoon we had uh the pro procession of the species back after a six-year hiatus and I took my little harbor seal down there.

Um and we had I think 600 um signed up for that parade if I'm correct. I'm getting a little bit of a head nod. Um and it felt like more possibly. And I just wanted to thank the parks department for helping coordinate that.

Um there's a little party down at Maritime Heritage Park afterwards. Um there park staff down there. Saw a couple police officers talking to some frogs. Um and I think it it was just a really nice event and it felt it felt wonderful to be uh out and about with a bunch of kids downtown.

So uh again, thanks to the parks department for coordinating that. Thank you, brother. Okay, we will move on. Next up in the afternoon was Parks and Recreation and that was chaired by council member Williams.

Thank you, President Huffman. Uh our afternoon meeting uh today I was joined by Council Member Cotton and Council Member Stone. and we received the 2024 greenways program and park impact fee fund annual report.

The report was uh presented by um parks and recreation director Nicole Oliver and parks development manager Lane Potter and it summarized basically the last year of the greenways advisory committee work, the use of greenways five levy funds and um provided some transparency on existing and future priorities consistent with the uh 2022 to 2026 greenways strategic plan.

The uh tax revenue for this was at around n well no it was $9.28 28 million and this year marked the first year of a 10-year levy to carry on. And the council resolution in uh included the following spending percentage recommendations which I don't believe has ever happened here with the following.

So 35% of the funds are are going to be uh targeted for land acquisition which also includes the completion of trail connections as designated in the greenways plan and the parks and wreck open space plan.

uh 20% for the development of properties purchased by the city consistent with the two plans. 20% for the ongoing maintenance and operation and capital replacement needs for the parks properties. 15% for reducing emissions and increasing the climate resiliency of the city park properties and facilities.

And then finally 10% for flex funds. Um approximately 3.7 million in in the green waste funds was uh spent to acquire four properties throughout the city totaling 127 acres of open space and parkland which includes a combination of purchases at uh Telegraph Road along the Squallum Creek uh corridor and adjacent to Royal Park and Connelly Creek Nature Area um to complete safety and access improvements to the pier at Little Squallikham Park.

And I've been down there a number of times and it's fantastic. Um uh uh funding to protect the cultural resources at Woodstock Farm and to build the new King Mountain Community Garden. The design and permitting progress was made on other greenways projects which were the 100 acre wood fave phase one improvements, the trail at East Bear Creek and Cordata Park and the Sunset Pond Loop uh trail.

Another 1.2 $2 million uh dollars went towards projects such as the Boulevard Park Shoreline enhancement, energy efficiency upgrades at the Bloodell Donovan Park community building and the stewardship and volunteer program staff as well as the support staff and projects across the uh trails grounds and other facilities in the park operations division.

ision. So, all that being said, the green waste priorities for 2025 and beyond are going to be um uh continuing with the 100 acre wood phase one improvements, uh community garden improvements, the big rock garden fence and irrigation uh repairs, uh Roosevelt Park LED light upgrades, Maritime Heritage Park, Park Trail decommissioning and Boulevard Park shoreline enhancement and continuing with the Sunset Pond Loop Trail project.

Uh the park impact fee fund expenditures. Um these are usually spent on purchases or capital projects that expand and provide new uses in the park system. Uh last year the revenue and expenditures for the park impact fee pro uh uh provided an overview of the balance by neighborhood and major P uh PIF that's what park impact fees are called expenditures are the Cardata community park phase 2 construction Baker View neighborhood park infrastructure in housing analysis.

Story Brook Park phase one development, the purchase of property on Telegraph Road, upgrades to the lodge at Van Wick Park, Waypoint Park, restroom and sports pl HVAC improvements and electrical service upgrades.

because all of this was uh for information and uh uh discussion only f further action by the committee was not uh taken and if members of the community want to see the whole presentation they can do so at the city of Bellingham website.

So seeing no further business the meeting was adjourned and I'm going to pass it back to you President Huffman. Thank you Council Member Williams. Next up, we had community and economic development and that was chaired by cons council member Cotton.

Thanks, President Huffman. Um, so I'm joined on that committee um by Council Member Williams and um Hamill. We had two agenda items before us today. The first was a resolution to adopt the 2025 consolidated action plan.

And um this consolidated action plan is required by the federal department of housing and urban development and identifies activities to be funded by the community development block grant and home investment partnership program um from July to June um each program year.

And these activities um have to be consistent with our five-year consolidated plan that outlines priority community needs. And the city also uses the action plan to budget for all of its local housing levy, affordable housing sales tax, and related general fund and just a sales tax expenditures.

And uh it was a great presentation. Um and uh the need far outpaces our available resources, but um it's great to see our local dollars um continue to do great work. Um the committee uh unanimously recommended uh we pass the resolution adopting the 2025 consolidated actual annual action plan and I so move second.

Motion by the chair and a second by council member Hamill. Any further discussion? Council member Anderson. Thank you for recognizing me. I'm going to be abstaining from this vote. Um I'm on the DVS board of directors and they'll be a recipient of some of the funding.

You council member Anderson. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And an abstension. I. That passes 601 abstension. And I encourage people to go back and watch that recording if you're interested to learn more.

Um, our second item, um, the mayor as usual stole my thunder was a presentation on the North Haven Tiny House Village Project update. And um we're very excited um to see that partnership with homes now um reach um culmination here.

So um with that end of committee report back to you, President Hman. Thank you, Council Member Cotton. Up next is consent agenda. Move approval. Second. Motion by Council Member Williams, a second by Council Member Hamill.

Any further discussion? Council Member Stone. So, just highlighting it was highlighted during the presentation about the tiny homes, but um that one of the items in the consent agenda is regarding the sale of the surplus swift haven tiny homes um and that they will be going to the United Way of Scadget County.

Um so, just wanted to highlight that. Thank you, Council Me. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed or abstensions? That passes 70. Final consideration of ordinances.

First up, an ordinance amending the 2025 adopted budget, reconciling the differences between estimated 2025 beginning reserve balances and actual 2025 beginning reserve balances, and applying the differences to the ending reserve balances.

Second motion by council member Hamill, second by council member Liiloquist. Roll call, please. Anna Stone. Hi Dan Hamill. Hi Skip Williams. I Lisa Anderson. I Michael Illoquist. I Jace Cotton. Hi. Motion carries 70.

President Husman vote. Oh, I'm so sorry. Holly Huffman. Hi. This isn't my normal gig. Uh, okay. Next up, we've got an ordinance amending the 2025 budget increasing appropriation authority and various funds to pay for goods and services authorized in the previous budget cycle.

Mr. P. Second motion by council member Hamill and a second by council member Williams. Roll call, please. Dan Hamill. Hi. Skip Williams. Hi. Lisa Anderson. Hi. Michael. Hi. Jace Cotton. Hi. Holly Huffman.

Hi. Hannah Stone. Hi. Motion carries 70. And finally, we have an ordinance amending the 2025 budget amendment number one. Second. Motion by Council Member Hamill, second by Council Member Williams. Roll call, please.

Skip Williams. I. Lisa Anderson. Hi. Michael Loquist. Hi. Jace Cotton. Hi. Holly Huffman. Hi. Hannah Stone. I Dan Hamill. Hi. Motion carries 70. All right. Thank you. And that concludes the regular business of the meeting and we will now move to the public comment session.

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