Taller waterfront building OK’d

Board approves 4-story structure, rejects neighbors’ plea to preserve view

JOHN STARK

E-Mail

Text Size:

tool goes here

BELLINGHAM — In a 4-1 ruling, the Washington Shoreline Hearings Board has upheld a city decision allowing a taller building on a portion of Bellwether Way.

Barring appeals, the ruling could clear the way for developer David Ebenal to construct a four-building complex on the site he is leasing from the Port of Bellingham for 80 years, at a cost of $2.9 million. The biggest of the four would be 50 feet tall and would contain ground-floor retail space, topped by two floors of office space for engineering firm CH2M Hill and an upper floor with 10 condo units.

The height limit for the property had been set at 35 feet under the terms of a 1998 planned development contract between the port and the city, partly to soothe neighboring property owners’ concerns about their views of Bellingham Bay. But in December 2007, city Planning Director Tim Stewart used his discretionary powers to approve the 50-foot structure, on the grounds that Ebenal’s project would “provide efficient use of land and existing infrastructure, will cause minimal impact on natural resources and traffic circulation, and will retain approximately 200 family- wage jobs within the city core.”

Bellingham attorney Douglas Robertson appealed Stewart’s ruling on behalf of a group of neighbors who contended that the project will hurt their views and reduce the value of their property.

One shoreline board member, William Lynch, said he favored sending the issue back to the city for further review. In his dissenting opinion, Lynch argued that the city should establish specific view corridors to preserve views of Bellingham Bay, before approving exceptions to building height restrictions the city approved in 1998.

But the other four board members said they had visited the site and studied view analysis evidence, and were convinced that the impact on views was not severe enough to violate state shoreline regulations.

“The board is not convinced that the percentage of view impairment experienced by properties … would exceed 10 to 15 percent of the entire shoreline view available to the petitioners from their residences,” the board’s ruling says. “Residences along West Holly Street and Eldridge Avenue will experience some reduction of available water view, but as a portion of the overall water view, the change is minimal.”

The board majority also said they were convinced that Ebenal needed the potential profit from the taller building to recoup his costs in providing 176 underground parking spaces on the 3.1-acre site between the two Anthony’s restaurants.

In their ruling, issued Wednesday, July 16, board members said the port and Ebenal had provided no detailed economic evidence on this issue, but they noted that other developers had said they could not provide underground parking without a financial subsidy from the port, if the 35-foot height limit was in place.

City Hearing Examiner Dawn Sturwold already has upheld Stewart’s ruling in an earlier legal proceeding.

Robertson said Wednesday that he had not had a chance to discuss the case with his clients, and he was not certain if they would want to pursue the case. If they did, Robertson could file a motion asking the board to reconsider its ruling. If the board rejected such a motion, the matter could be appealed to Superior Court.

Robertson contends that the city is undermining its credibility by breaking an earlier commitment to Bellwether neighbors.

“The city made a commitment to all these neighbors in 1998, and in 2007 they said, ‘Never mind, we don’t have to live by it,’ ” Robertson said.