Bellingham leaders: County should plan for reduced growth, restrict rural development

JARED PABEN / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

BELLINGHAM, WA - 3/24/09 -- Whatcom County should plan on much-reduced population growth over the next two decades, and county government needs to take steps to reduce development in rural areas, Bellingham leaders said.

In a 5-2 vote, the City Council on Monday, March 23, approved a recommendation to county leaders on the next 20 years of growth. The recommendation says that in the year 2031 the county should plan on having 234,917 residents, about 44,000 more than today.

It also says the County Council, which will decide on changes to the urban growth areas this year, should slow growth in rural, agricultural and forestry areas. Development in those areas has been far more than the county has planned.

With its recommendation, the city is counting on much less growth countywide and in Bellingham than has been seen over the past eight years.

GROWTH NUMBERS

The city's resolution asks for the following:

• Whatcom County would see a total increase equal to 2,200 residents a year. Over the last eight years, the county has seen more than 3,000 new residents annually.

• Bellingham would get 23,770 new residents, or about 1,185 residents a year. Over the last eight years, the city and its unincorporated urban growth area has seen about 1,420 new residents a year.

• Whatcom County would see a total of 26,083 new jobs, and Bellingham would get 18,829, or 72 percent of them.

County leaders legally have to choose a growth number somewhere from the low to high growth forecasts put out by the state, but those numbers vary widely. In this case, they could choose between 29,000 and 139,000 new residents.

Different groups are pushing for different numbers. Anti-sprawl group Futurewise wants a lower number because the group believes it'll protect quality of life and put less stress on the environment and taxpayers.

Consultants working for landowner Caitac USA, which wants to build a project north of Bellingham, say a mid-range number is better because it's most likely to happen and most realistic. Planning for less growth than occurs has negative consequences, they say.

SLOW RURAL GROWTH

The City Council suggested that the county could do several things to slow rural population growth. Between 2000 and 2008, nearly one-fifth of the county's new growth went into rural areas. The county's comprehensive plan wanted only 6.3 percent of the new growth to go to those areas.

The City Council suggested:

• Downzoning lands to allow less development.

• Consolidating housing lots to limit building.

• Purchasing and/or transferring development rights from landowners.

• Issuing only a fixed number of permits per year.

• Imposing fees on development to make it more expensive to build in rural areas.

COUNTY DECISION

The county gets the final decision on the urban growth areas, but it must legally consult with the cities. The county is nearly two years late in reviewing and updating its urban growth areas, and a state growth board has ordered the work done by June 30.

City Council members expressed frustration over their inability to slow the rural growth.

"We're doing our very best work to infill, to develop ways of living in denser communities, and those are not easy as we all know, and we're unable to effect any real change in the county," City Council member Barbara Ryan said.

County Council member Seth Fleetwood previously said he supports moves to restrict rural growth, but he doubts whether the council has the political will to do it.

City Council member Terry Bornemann expressed hope the city's recommendation would sway county leaders.

"Some of them might be leaning in this direction," he said. "This might be the deciding factor in that."

Reach JARED PABEN at jared.paben@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2289.