Economic Development Chapter

I find the topic "Employment Lands and Supporting Infrastructure" confusing and not clear at all. Please change the title but I'm not opposed to the general underlying idea.

Rezone the whole city to allow any and all sorts of giant buildings. In 50 years this place could be like Vancouver BC or Chicago, with jobs and housing a-plenty. Imagine a 100 story skyscraper right next to the acid ball. We could become a boom-town with lots of local career paths and exciting growth.

You seem to recognize multiple issues (housing, childcare costs, wages, etc.) are connected in terms of economic development. This makes sense as few businesses will want to locate here if housing is unaffordable and wage mandates exceed worker productivity. However, the intent signaled seems to be towards central planning and micromanagement. Instead, recognize that such planning is what makes Bellingham a poor location for opening and running a business. Zoning and housing regulations have destroyed housing affordability. Minimum wage mandates make it difficult to hire entry level employees. Rather than more economic development planning focus instead on eliminating the current regulatory impediments to development--get out of the way, in other words. Focus city activities on policing, a solid infrastructure of roads and utilities, and other issues rightly within the purview of a city. Create an environment for entrepreneurship and employment without onerous regulation and central planning and the rest will take care of itself.

Leveraging Bellingham's location between Seattle and Vancouver to foster regional development and integration seems promising. How can private and public institutions support industry clusters or innovation hubs in technology, television, tourism, and healthcare to create job opportunities?

We need 'learn to earn' opportunities as alternatives to college. As a community, we are good at getting kids 'to' adulthood, but not 'through' it. How can the Bellingham Promise and Bellingham Plan forge 'roots to fruits' pathways to train and retain local youth?

Given Bellingham's unique mix of colleges, non-profits, and foundations, can we create 'cradle to career' pathways into the job market or service opportunities that offer a kind of 'rite of passage' for high school graduates who want to remain in Bellingham?

We acknowledge that Bellingham is located on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples and express respect and gratitude for the Lummi Nation's (and Nooksack Tribe's) enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways. However, what responsibilities does this recognition compel us to undertake? As two of the largest employers in Whatcom County, to what extent does it make sense to align efforts?

Accessibility, inclusivity, living wages, and everything that can help the lower and middle SES folks (like myself) need to be implemented yesterday. We need things like affordable housing and childcare.

If the UGAs are expanded, this will further encourage sprawl which will then encourage more UGAs and burden more rural areas with the effects of urbanization. Build up, not out. I also like the idea of neighborhood businesses like Nelson’s Store in the York District. There are places for these small businesses to allow people to gather and actually communicate much like the small town diners.

Staff Note: Comments made early than this one were based on an older version of the chapter material released in November 2024.

I see increasing numbers of small businesses such as restaurants and gift shops closing. It may have been the minimum wages recently enacted or that they didn’t have a sound business plan. Or, could it be because of the increasing crime, homeless squatting and litter? I no longer go downtown. It isn’t safe.
As far as economic growth, small productive businesses are more likely to help with employment. Encourage their incubation with a few tax breaks.

I'm looking forward to hearing about what "creating a business friendly culture" looks like. I've heard this being said for years but haven't seen the city take action, nor have I heard any real plans for creating this "culture". Kim Lund recently signed an order relieving restrictions on residential development which is great, but we also need to be doing those things for small businesses in our city.

It's getting very difficult to operate a business within the city because of minimum wage mandates, parking availability, public safety, difficulties getting permits for TI's, noise ordinances etc. Small businesses are the heart of this economy, but they continually get shoved aside in the name of worker's rights, and more tax dollars. Why should small operators be paying $2 more per hour than the already highest in the nation minimum wage....to workers that receive tips? How about an exemption for having tipped workers? This would protect restaurateurs and bar/taproom operators from paying unnecessarily inflated wages to workers who are making more than the owners in tips, and leaving nothing for the business. Food and drink in Bellingham is becoming too expensive because of minimum wage and tip pressure.

I'd like to see safer and more functional, and more affordable parking areas downtown as well as in the Urban Village areas. Between the dangerous bike lane additions to our main motorist arterials, and lack of publicly provided parking, driving into downtown or UBA's is becoming a challenge and downright dangerous. As much as we all want people to ride their bikes, mother nature calls the shots around here 9 months of the year. We can't fight people driving their cars in in-climate weather and we should be way more thoughtful about where we're putting bike lanes. Get bikes off our main arterial roads.

Bellingham is the cultural and economic heart of Whatcom County. This should continue to be our goal. City leaders should actively seek to accommodate the majority of Whatcom County's population growth and also plan well for it. Building and maintaining a vibrant, resilient downtown will require achieving a critical mass of population made up of a diversity of people and businesses throughout the entire City. We need to embrace the future with proactive infrastructure planning and directed growth strategies for a variety of housing opportunities.

I favor expanding the UGAs to enable growth of all housing types, but UGA expansion will also allow the city to build small commercial in new residential areas.

As we expand, we need to add child care facilities, especially those accommodating very young children. I'm not sure if there is anything the city can do to encourage that, but the city should consider whether zoning laws can be amended to make it childcare a permitted use in more zones.

Do not rezone town centers as 79-unit multifamily residential areas if our intention is to support the integration of small-scale commercial in residential areas.