Housing Chapter

Please remember that mobile home parks are affordable homes. They should be protected by unnecessary fees and absurd space rental increases per year

It is somewhat difficult to find actual text changes to the BMC proposed rather than just broad strokes.

It's great the city is looking at more housing types as a diversity of housing is critical to providing for a diversity of needs. We desperately need more housing in Bellingham and there are still too many restrictions on new construction. Setbacks, height limits, and FAR continue to put upward pressure on rents and need to be scaled back. Small lots are still limited to FARs of 0.35 which does not leave any room for the moderate density we need to deliver affordability. Please consider going bold and doing something to seriously move the needle on housing supply.

I’m wondering if there will be financial compensation for homeowners in the various neighborhoods where these high rise apartment complexes (with little to no parking spots) are going to be constructed? I do understand the need for more housing but I also know that structures like the ones being proposed can drastically reduce home value. For some of us our home is our one and only investment and retirement nest egg. How will developers and the city compensate homeowners and prevent us from losing what we’ve worked so hard to make “ours”?

We need to see a cooperative relationship with the City and the developers and the builders you should meet with them and community leaders to develop housing that they will build and will meet the community needs. The only time they have a chance to comment is 2min at the public hearing there is no way to full discuss the issues and as a result we get policy that does not work.

My family has been here over 30 yrs. My son grew up, a disabled young man. Supported living structures are needed to house our disabled, and caregiving teams (built in office/ staff area) I've always loved the homes in East Lynden. Attached but spread out, one floor design that attaches to the same layout.
Our Residential supports rely on rentals. If, within our community an enclave of connection community homes for our families seniors/disabilities that many live with here in town. Thank you.

I would like to see more intergenerational housing. We tend to segregate areas of town for seniors, segregating them from neighborhoods. Fairhaven Pkwy, for example. Senior housing with daycare for children works beautifully, the elders and the young get to interact in ways that have positive outcomes for both population segments.

As housing expands into green space it's often in areas beyond city sewer services, so these properties have septic tanks. Yet we are billed for sewage service. We must also pay to maintain our septic tanks. We're being charged for services not received. What can we do about this?

The ability to use one’s own property to house others—by creating DADUs or ADUs, or other rental, stand-alone, or connected independent living spaces—should have friendlier and more affordable code compliances for the small individual property owners—not just the mega-property management moguls should be favored in this process.

Many older, single adults in Bellingham are remaining in their single family home and keeping their home off the market. One reason is that they feel the only alternative is stay there or go to an expensive senior home which provides geriatric services. IF there was senior housing on the market in a group setting which was appealing to relatively affluent middle class seniors, this could help loosen up the housing market. Instead, they will be approaching the city to ask for more services aimed at keeping them in their private homes. There should be an alternative which is appealing to seniors with disposable income.

First of all, thank you for this serious planning effort including the various ways you are seeking community input. I say that as a former member of the American Institute of Certified Planners in another century and another state. My comments are some I would not have made as a young planner, but rather those of a downsizing retiree.

I would like to second a previous comment about the need to address noise in Bellingham. The noisy apartments near Interstate 5 are not suitable places to live for many people. The City of Bellingham needs to ask the Washington Department of Transportation to erect berms or walls to deflect sound that degrades the livability of housing in the freeway corridor. The noisy trucks run all night. We learned this the hard in our three month stay in an apartment next to I-5 upon first moving to Bellingham in 2021.

We were able to find a much quieter place to live in the Cordata area, but this experience made me aware that this is an impediment to available housing. We had to find places remotely during the pandemic with little direct knowledge of Bellingham. Why would a retiree downsizing here in Bellingham and thus making a single family home available to a young family leave a spacious and quiet house for a cramped and noisy apartment? For filtering in the housing market to occur all apartments need to be quiet. Furthermore, and now speaking as someone with a total knee replacement more apartments need to be on one level without stairs.

Finally, I may have missed it in the documents, but I believe the City should have a goal for the proportion of housing that meets universal design standards.

I want the City to develop more protections for renters. I don't believe home ownership is a attainable for me as a working class person and Bellingham is one of the worst places I have lived as a renter. Corporate landlords use algorithms to keep rents high. Many landlords do not provide sufficient maintenance or repairs to their properties. I appreciate the inspection by the City, but more is needed. Last year our rent when up 26% when a new landlord bought the building - they simply gave six months notice so they were not required to stay under the 8% threshold.

I'm a small residential builder here in Whatcom. I've built infill houses/duplexes and an ADU in Bellingham, Ferndale and Blaine. I want to comment on missing middle housing.

First, although there are needs for housing at all income levels, I believe the sweet spot for missing middle housing is addressing the "starter home" that has become almost entirely out of reach. For young couples with reasonable incomes, say two teachers, and maybe plans for children, the traditional, small starter home would be ideal: maybe 1200 square feet, 2 or 3 bedrooms, and a small yard of some kind. This has become prohibitively expensive in Bellingham and really, throughout the county. But middle housing, say a 3 bedroom apartment in a fourplex, or a townhome on a 1500 sq. ft. lot is the perfect "modern starter home". It provides enough size, outdoor space and integration into a neighborhood with potentially other families, near walkable, parent-friendly amenities like parks and schools. There is really no other affordable alternative, and without these options, young couples and families may be forced out of the area.

Second, as a builder, I firmly believe that TWO of the missing middle categories will dominate, because they provide the greatest value while remaining understandable to builders and mostly easy to build: townhomes (in groups of 4) and fourplexes. These two types fit perfectly on infill city lots, especially with alleys, providing a natural division of 4, so that buildings are reasonably sized (width/height) with an opportunity for green space for each. And while townhomes provide easier ownership opportunities (which is important), fourplexes may even be more critical, as they are a steppingstone into family housing for people who are not ready to be owners. A 2-story fourplex can provide half a floor for each resident (with windows on 3 sides!) and a single common entry, so they look very much like single family homes, making them easy to integrate into existing neighborhoods. Great for residents, builders, and existing neighbors! The Casa Blanca fourplex at 1800 D Street is a perfect example of something that would fit very naturally in all of Bellingham's urban neighborhoods. Please make sure that these two types receive ample attention and that you take into account input from builders. If these houses cannot be affordably built by private builders, they won't be. I would love to be able to build these here in the town I love.

With regard to housing equity and health, it is important that housing in general, and affordable housing in particular, is not concentrated along freeways/highways. Studies have shown significant health effects associated with living near large amounts of car traffic, and while I-5 as it manifests Bellingham may not be as bad as some other urban freeways, to "sacrifice" people who prefer certain types of housing is unjust.
Given the amount of housing already being built along Samish as little as 200 feet away from I-5, this is not a hypothetical concern, and the Comprehensive Plan should seek to mitigate further harms in this regard.

Need to allow some exceptions to ADA /other similar rules in order to make affordable housing affordable on homes already built these could be transferred to non profits; current regulations make it too expensive to be viable.
Need to include education on safely sharing the roads /trails as we get more bikes on roads and trails
Huge problem is land so expensive that builders want to build high level large homes to make it pay for the cost but these attract only high income earners and usually bring in more people from out of town. Suggest penalties on homes above a certain size per bedroom or for more bathrooms than bedrooms or something like that to incentivize smaller homes or more duplexes instead.

I would very much like to see a greening plan approved along with the development plan. Bellingham is a beautiful green city. I would rather say it WAS a beautiful green city. Over the last ten years, many green areas have simply disappeared from the face of the city.
The city is growing, developing. It should be so. But please do not forget to preserve its local flavor, the flavor of a city in an evergreen state.
Look at the new development in Cordata. These two-story houses, one next to the other, look terrible. Let's not lose the face of our beautiful city in the pursuit of living space.

I would love to see the Planning Department focus on conversion to residential or mixed use development of existing underutilized commercial and industrial structures. This would serve the infill goal; provide a significant number of new housing units in the City center, conserve transportation resources and cut down on emissions of more dispersed development, potentially revitalize areas like Downtown where vacancies and underutilization have skyrocketed since covid, and stimulate local business development. The first step would be a comprehensive inventory of such properties. The City could adopt bond financing and other financial incentives to start this process, and update the building code and permitting processes to facilitate its growth. We only need a few such projects to show its feasible and desirable. An obvious candidate is the Herald Building, which has been struggling mightily to fill its commercial space, and which already has multifloor plumbing and beautiful windows.

I would like to see the City organize a massive effort to reuse existing unused or underused commercial and industrial structures for conversion to a variety of types of housing. A classic example is the Herald Building.

The City could use the following approaches: bond financing, financial incentives and regulatory measures.

There is a substantial inventory of these properties in the downtown area and in other parts of Bellingham. Reuse of these properties for residential occupancy could provide benefits in the form of: a significant number of housing units, revitalization of a struggling downtown, stimulate local business, conserve transportation resources and reduce transportation related emissions.

Partnering with effective affordable housing providers such as Mercy Housing, Habitat for Humanity, and Kulshan CLT can significantly increase the availability of less expensive rental and owner-occupied units. Consider including an affordable quantity of rental units in the planning for the Civic Athletic Complex as a means of helping meet Mayor Lund's housing priorities.

With the recent decision to loosen parking requirements for new residential housing construction for the next year, it is imperative to activate a more robust transit system. Not every is able to bike or walk. Transit options are going for all of us and contribute to a more vibrant community.