The Whatcom County Council needs to hear from you!

Email them * Please click here to email the Whatcom County Council today!

Attend the Hearing * Tuesday, February 12th at 7pm, 311 Grand Ave, Bellingham.

Background

Whatcom County faces a host of growth-related problems. Traffic congestion and water pollution are worsening. Property taxes are increasing to pay for the public infrastructure needed to accommodate growth. The County’s rural areas - forests, farms, wildlife habitat, and open spaces - are threatened by inappropriate development.

It is critically important that we focus development within our urban areas before expanding outward, or we will continue these adverse trends. Expanding Bellingham’s UGA would have a profound effect on our environment and quality of life and is the wrong choice for Whatcom County.

Futurewise Whatcom believes there is no need to expand the UGA at all; Bellingham’s existing boundaries are sufficient to accommodate planned population growth - without adverse effects on Bellingham neighborhoods. Indeed, Bellingham has been accommodating steady growth within existing neighborhoods without sacrificing neighborhood character. With proactive leadership, we can guide beneficial infill within current limits.

While no UGA expansion is necessary, the county’s proposal to expand the UGA by about 250 acres is far more reasonable than the original Bellingham request for almost 2,200 acres. We applaud the County Council for their work in developing a more realistic proposal. We are pleased that Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike proposed a resolution “to protect rural areas and prevent sprawl by accommodating Bellingham’s future growth with a more limited UGA boundary ...” (Agenda Bill 017756).

Take Action

Please urge the Whatcom County Council to support the recommendation to limit the size of the Bellingham UGA and, thereby, serve the long-run interests of our citizens. Email the County Council today at council@co.whatcom.wa.us

Please attend the Whatcom County  Council hearing on Tuesday (2/12) at 7 pm, 311 Grand Ave, Bellingham. During the public hearing, please tell the Council to minimize expansion of the Bellingham UGA.

Here are some suggested points to make in your email and/or public statement:

• Accommodating population growth is more a policy issue than one of analysis. Regardless of what any technical land-supply analysis says, the key issue is whether we want to grow responsibly or sprawl across the county. We are delighted that the County Council has the long-term vision to require that cities create compact, livable communities.

• To meet that smart-growth commitment, we must protect our declining stock of farmlands, forests, parks, wildlife habitat, and open space. The only way to protect and preserve our rural areas is to limit the outward expansion of our cities.

• At some point society will have to respond to resource scarcity - global climate change, peak oil, and water quality and quantity. We must act now to stop sprawl and to concentrate development inside existing urban boundaries. This concentration of development is likely the best way to reduce motor vehicle use and the associated carbon emissions.

• Expanding UGA boundaries would encourage leapfrog development and lead to further fragmentation of Whatcom County farmland by encouraging urban-type developments in rural areas, both residential and commercial.

• Expanding the Bellingham UGA would discourage development in downtown Bellingham, the opposite of what we want. How will we create the vibrant waterfront on the GP site if we allow development in outlying areas?