Community Design Chapter

Site & Building Design
• Implement light pollution control measures; e.g., lighting needs to be aimed and shaded so that it is limited to any individual property and not flooding nearby areas and other properties.
• Reconsider CPTED standards that dramatically amplify light pollution in the name of limiting petty crimes.
• Develop an aggressive tree planting program for aesthetics, carbon sequestration, recreation, shade, oxygen production, habitat, etc. and apply it to all construction review and development proposals in the City.

Integrating natural features and open space into new housing areas is a great idea. These natural features should be linked and designs should work around these with flexible rules to accommodate site specific issues. In already dense areas, move utilities to alleys and allow large scale native trees along street frontage. New developments should be grid streets adapted to landscapes (thinking Broadway). Trees are culturally significant and should be included as resources needing protection.

The Community Design updates are spot on. Love to see walkability, preservation, sustainability, diversity, renovation, and a mix of other concepts included in this section.

I support flexibility of street standards, especially for private street access. Use of alleys can be helpful where site access is constrained by topography and is useful where full standards are excessive for access to a few units, however they are often limited by environmental constraints and the cost of providing access to both sides of a parcel.

Preserving the character of our unique neighborhoods is a high priority in the face of mandated infill. More mindful interaction with the existing stakeholders and active neighborhood associations can help ease the trepidation. Solutions and strategies are out there, one neighborhood at a time. Ideas around co-housing, form based zoning, re-use of existing buildings, townhomes, etc... are intriguing. It seems however that our visions for peaceful neighborhood streetscapes will become dominated by parked cars as the densities increase (more than they already are). How can we design around the fact that people drive cars ?

Appreciate the removal of redundancy in all the sub-plans and urban villages. Permit review time should also be greatly reduced so that construction of much needed housing can happen. Review times are still being touted as 8-12 weeks for FIRST review after a permit application is submitted. Make the design requirements standards and take out the arbitrary opinion of the non-licensed city reviewers. If staff can't tell the applicant why they don't meet a standard. or tell the applicant what will meet the standard, then the proposal meets the requirement. Design review process must be part of the building permit review process, not a stand alone review. This only adds to the backlog of permitting.

It would be lovely if Bellingham could have more cohesion with sidewalks to promote the "human-scale streetscapes." As it stands now, some neighborhoods have sidewalks, others don't (and may have a ditch one needs to retreat to from careless drivers, and in many more cases sidewalks start and stop with little reason. More cohesion will help the pedestrian experience.

I also support better connections to the waterfront. It's unfortunate that we have a very large area from F street to Lafayette where there is no reasonable access to the waterfront. Ideally, there would be new pedestrian infrastructure that allows for access between the waterfront and neighborhoods over the bluff and railroad tracks.

I love that Bellingham is adding a Community Design chapter to the Comp Plan, and I really like what I'm reading. I hope the City will provide ample, well-advertised opportunities for the public to comment on the design criteria that will be established. (For my part, I am very tired of seeing new apartment buildings going up that are just big boxes painted three different shades of gray. Come on, folks, the sky is gray 3/4 of the year! And colored paint can't cost that much more!)

Future residential alleyways could be designed with more open space in mind. Leave a lot or two that would otherwise be for a home and dedicate it to a mini community garden, a basketball court, a fenced-in dog run, food truck parking, secure bike parking, an outdoor kitchen space, or simply an intentionally designed, well-lit, community gathering open space. Something that would be considered a hidden gem in an alley. The possibilities are endless!

I support activating our alleyways both downtown and throughout neighborhoods that are lucky enough to have alley homes. Streeteries in alleys, vendors and markets in alleys, hanging plants and floating art work along with string lights. Allow blank canvases for guerilla street art (thinking about WayPoint Park here). Encourage unique placemaking opportunities! There is such potential to make our downtown alleyways a "hidden" tourist destination.