Project FAQs

The Bellingham Plan is a two-year project to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Comprehensive plans are used by communities to establish a vision for the future and a framework for building toward that vision. Our 2016 Comprehensive Plan is being renamed as “the Bellingham Plan” to help people understand that it’s everyone’s plan and impacts the whole city. The 2025 Bellingham Plan will establish high-level goals and policies that will guide the city’s growth for the next 20 years. Those goals and policies will guide development, capital investments, city programs, and other actions across Bellingham as we work toward our vision for 2045.

The Growth Management Act (GMA) of Washington State (RCW 36.70a) includes legal requirements for growing cities and counties across the state to adopt a comprehensive plan to guide future growth. The GMA sets out both mandatory and optional comprehensive plan elements, or topics. Current state law requires that we update the Bellingham Plan once every decade, so the next update will take place in 2035. To learn more about the Growth Management Act, visit MRSC - Growth Management Act. Beyond these requirements, creating and updating a comprehensive plan is also a great opportunity for the community to evaluate the direction we are headed and intentionally plan for the future.

The Bellingham Plan will cover a wide range of topics; some are mandatory (required by the Growth Management Act) and some are voluntarily included based on our community’s unique vision and values. Anticipated topic areas are summarized in the following list, based on the current plan’s chapters: 

• Land Use: what can be built and where
• Community Design: how things look and function in the community
• Housing and Human Services*: where and what forms of living spaces for all of us.
• Multimodal Transportation: how we move in and through Bellingham.
• Economic Development: where we work, what we do
• Environment: protecting our natural surroundings
• Climate*: reducing greenhouse gases; preparing for, and adapting to change.
• Parks, Recreation and Open Space: our outdoor play spaces and connections
• Capital Facilities and Utilities: our sidewalks, roads, pipes, libraries, museums, etc.
• Community Engagement*: connecting with and hearing from the public
• Community Wellbeing*: health, safety and community cohesion

* Indicates a potential change to the 2016 Comprehensive Plan chapter title, or a proposed new chapter/area of focus.

Visit Washington Department of Commerce Growth Management Topics to learn more about required comprehensive planning topics.

The Bellingham Plan will need to address recent requirements from the state legislature. For example, House Bill 1220 requires that comprehensive plans plan for and accommodate housing for all income levels, and identify the number of units needed for each income level. It also requires comprehensive plans to remove policies with racially disparate impacts, such as those giving precedence to certain neighborhoods over others. Another recent bill, House Bill 1110, requires “middle housing” to be allowed in all residential zones. Middle housing types include but are not limited to: accessory dwelling units (ADUs), duplexes, tri- or fourplexes, townhouses, shared court housing, and more. House Bill 1337 also requires cities to plan for climate change with greenhouse gas emissions reductions and resiliency efforts.

The Bellingham Plan will be used to intentionally plan for how we want our community to look and feel in the next 20 years. Our city is growing, so we need a framework for accommodating this anticipated population change. The Bellingham Plan will be used to address a variety of topics and answer important questions such as: What types of buildings should we encourage? Where will community members gather? How will we tackle some of the biggest challenges we face? What can we, as a community, aspire to? Ultimately, this process will have a long-term impact on critical issues which touch each of us who live, work, go to school, or play in Bellingham.

The Bellingham Plan is a collaborative community-driven planning process that will be a reflection of broad and representative feedback from a range of community members. The update process includes the following summary of essential steps: 

1. Providing community members with information about why this plan is significant to everyone.
2. Learning what’s important to community members and laying the groundwork for addressing those topics in coming years.
3. Drafting a plan for the community and Bellingham boards and commissions to review
4. Submitting the draft plan to the State.
5. Legislative adoption, which includes Planning Commission review and City Council approval.

The core team leading the update process consists of several City planners from the Planning and Community Development Department, with assistance and support from staff members across all city departments as well as partner agencies like Whatcom County, Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA), and others.

The project launched in summer, 2023. Plan updates will be adopted by June 2025. Once completed, the City will begin implementing new zoning rules and regulations, and other actions based upon the vision and framework laid out in the Bellingham Plan.

Community feedback is key to the Bellingham Plan. We want to know how the community wants to plan for Bellingham’s next 20 years by offering city residents - and those who visit, work or go to school in the city – opportunities to share their vision for the future of Bellingham. Our community includes a diversity of people, and we want to hear from everyone to ensure the plan takes many perspectives into account.

Alongside public events and engagement opportunities, a small number of community members – including those who have traditionally been under-represented in planning projects – are/were specifically recruited for involvement in a Community Work Group or one of several focus groups on key issues. The individuals in these groups will meet to provide informed and representative feedback on a variety of topics, discuss critical issues, and identify successful methods of communication for the public.

Glad you asked! This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to shape the future of Bellingham and join the conversation. Until the Bellingham Plan is adopted in 2025, we will gather input by hosting both virtual and in-person public events or meetings, conducting surveys, and organizing activities you can participate in when convenient. Visit EngageBellingham.org for current opportunities to participate, sign up for updates, and learn more. Additionally, you are welcome to:

• Email us at thebellinghamplan@cob.org
• Call us at (360) 778-8310

Bellingham’s last comprehensive plan update was in 2016. Current state law will require the plan to be updated again in 2035.