News - Local News

POSTED: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

County Council members discuss permanent subdivision ban for lake watershed

BELLINGHAM -- A temporary ban on subdivisions has blocked the potential construction of 184 homes in the Lake Whatcom watershed, and some County Council members say they want to make the ban permanent.

Over the past four years, the council has renewed the ban eight times. It blocks divisions of land creating lots that are smaller than five acres, and it applies throughout the unincorporated watershed.

The ban is blocking development in the following areas: 79 homes in Geneva, 32 in Sudden Valley, 19 in the Hillsdale area off Britton Road and 54 in other rural areas.

Land-use rules would allow construction of roughly 2,235 homes in the county's portion of the watershed. So this ban is blocking 8.2 percent of what could still be built.

A state Department of Ecology study showed a lot has to be done to reverse the decline in the quality of Bellingham's drinking-water source. Development in the watershed is largely to blame for the decline.

Another 184 homes "really is increasing the size of the problem that you will have to deal with," Steve Hood, water quality engineer at Ecology, told council members. "Every home that goes into the watershed will make that problem larger."

Council chairman Seth Fleetwood previously said the ban had fallen off the council's radar, and the council needed to schedule a work session to discuss what to do with it. The discussion occurred during the council's natural resources committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Fleetwood said he is strongly leaning toward permanently removing the development potential. Council members Barbara Brenner and Carl Weimer said they supported making the ban permanent.

Council member Sam Crawford cautioned the council to fully understand the financial impacts to watershed landowners. With that understanding, he hopes they craft a change that's not too painful for landowners.

The Geneva and Hillsdale areas are urban growth areas, which means they'll eventually become part of a city. But Bellingham leaders haven't moved toward annexing the neighborhoods into city limits.

On Tuesday, County Council members discussed the possibility that those areas could be pulled from urban growth area status and downzoned. A state growth board has ordered the county to review and revise its urban growth areas by June 30.

Even it that happened, the County Council would still have to decide what to do with the rural areas, like Sudden Valley. County planning director David Stalheim said his department doesn't have staff time to work on a permanent downzone.

The current temporary moratorium is set to expire in early April. The council will likely have to renew it again in March, Weimer said.