Edgemoor subdivision approved despite years-long opposition from neighbors
A controversial residential subdivision proposed on a large forested site in Bellingham’s Edgemoor neighborhood can move forward after years of community pushback, the Bellingham Hearing Examiner decided Friday.
The project — called Woods at Viewcrest — proposes the development of 38 single-family home lots and three open-space tracts on about 38 acres of land along Viewcrest Road. The development would be situated near an area known as the Mud Bay Cliffs, which rise above the Chuckanut Bay estuary below.
When the city of Bellingham determined the project, as proposed and mitigated, would not cause “significant adverse environmental impacts,” and therefore would not require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a neighborhood opposition group known as Protect Mud Bay Cliffs (PMBC) appealed that decision in an effort to force an EIS under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
That triggered a weeklong hearing in January of this year for Hearing Examiner Sharon Rice to hear testimony from PMBC, the project applicant and city staff.
Now after almost six months of deliberation, Rice has denied PMBC’s appeal, ruling that the applicant and the city can move forward with the development largely as planned.
PMBC’s members have asserted for years that the development could negatively impact the surrounding natural environment and the people living nearby. The group’s goal has long been to preserve the forested project area, expressing concerns about water quality, habitat degradation and geologic instability.
The hearing examiner ultimately determined that the city “conducted an informed, thorough, realistic review of potential project impacts” and that any negative impacts could be adequately reduced through the project’s proposed mitigation measures.
The hearing examiner’s ruling stated that the records provided gave no evidence that the project will have significant adverse impacts on geologically hazardous areas, the water quality of Mud Bay or other off-site wetlands, or any species that live or forage in Mud Bay.
The site has also “does not appear to support endangered, threatened, candidate, or priority species, so none of these would be impacted,” according to the ruling.
“More importantly, of the site’s 37.7 acres, fully 80% is proposed to be retained either in permanently protected open space tracts (including the full 7.5 acres of the shoreline buffer) or in recorded conservation easements over parcels, such that fully four-fifths of the site’s forested habitat would be maintained, undisturbed by development, permanently,” the ruling states.
Ali Taysi of Bellingham-based AVT Consulting, the permit consultant company for the project, told The Bellingham Herald on behalf of the property owners that they “are all very pleased” with the decision.
“We built a highly qualified team of local professionals to evaluate the site, and design a responsible development plan that balances housing needs and environmental preservation. We appreciate the effort City Staff invested in reviewing the project and preparing their recommendation,” Taysi said.
“We believe the time the hearing examiner took to prepare their decision reflects the diligence they invested in reviewing the immense record, and the consideration given to community concerns. We have always asserted that the project is consistent with the law and this decision affirms that. The Jones family has a strong sense of stewardship toward the property, which has been in their family for more than 70 years, and they look forward to continuing with the project,” Taysi said.
PMBC spokesperson Larry Horowitz told The Herald the group would not be able to issue an immediate statement regarding the decision. The group sent an email Friday night informing its supporters of the decision, and said it would “take a while for PMBC to digest” it.
A party “aggrieved” by any of the hearing examiner’s decisions may file an appeal with either the Bellingham City Council within 14 days of June 5, or may file an action in Whatcom County Superior Court, depending on the grievance. Property owners impacted by the decisions may request a change in the valuation of their property through the Whatcom County Assessor’s office.
