Planning Commission

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION CITY OF BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON Thursday 7:00 PM January 9, 2020 City Council Chambers Video Recorded www.cob.org Call to Order / Roll Call Present: Ali Taysi (Chair); Mike Estes; Garrett O’Brien and Phyllis McKee Absent: Steve Crooks Approval of Minutes Minutes from December 5th were approved by general consensus. Public Comment Period Opportunity for citizens to speak informally to the Planning Commissioners on any subject not listed on the agenda. Speakers are allowed a MAXIMUM of three (3) minutes to address the Commission. Speakers will not be required to disclose their address. No testimony provided. PRESENTATION Briefing on an up-coming project to facilitate intended development in multi-family zones. Staff briefed the Commission on the Residential-Multi (RM) Project, an approach being developed in an effort to respond to some of the issues identified in the housing assessment completed over the past year. Staff shared some statistics on the existing conditions of the City’s residential-multi family zoned land, as well as the opportunities to achieve the intended development in these zoned areas. The initial findings were shared and a brief discussion on the next steps for staff was held. Commission Discussion / Questions The following suggestions were made as staff continues to work on this approach:  Ensuring that affordable units are developed  Considering strategic areas in single-family that would allow for infill housing toolkit forms  What is the assumed replacement rate in both single-family and multi-family  Caution on using “discouraging teardowns” as the message because there are areas where it would be appropriate  Are there similarities with any of the urban village zones that could be explored  Identify opportunity areas throughout City – regardless of zoning  Incentivize the development of affordable housing types for ownership Old/New Business Nominate / Vote for 2020 Chair and Vice-Chair – Per by-laws 5 Commissioners must be present for this action to be taken and therefore was tabled to next regular meeting. Adjournment Minutes prepared by: Heather Aven Heather Aven, Recording Secretary Minutes edited by Planning Commission members and various Planning Staff.