Building Permit Allocation Program

John Lesow is a Responsible Development board member, who lives in Pt. Roberts.

Building permit allocation programs have proven effective in phasing growth in rapidly developing areas of the United States. Examples include Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Hudson, Ohio and Lake Sammamish, Washington, a suburb of Seattle.

The Lake Sammamish program has been challenged by development interests in the courts and before the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board. The hearings board sustained the challenge earlier this year. The primary concern was the perceived inequity in the lottery method for allocating building permits. Despite this setback, we firmly believe that procedural problems should not deter advocates from implementing a building permit allocation program in Whatcom County to meet the 20-year population projections mandated by the Growth Management Act.

At present rates, the population projections for Whatcom County (61,000 additional residents by 2022) will be realized in a much shorter time frame. Under the present system, developers will then ask the county to upzone more land for development. Given the political pressure on councilmembers and the past history of development in Whatcom County, these upzones are likely to occur.

By contrast, building permit allocation represents a responsible approach to land-use planning. It would allow our development projections and our infrastructure costs to be phased concurrently. It would arguably reduce citizen concerns about rapid and unplanned development in both the city and the county. Building permit allocation programs would provide a clear roadmap for what Whatcom County will look like for decades to come. A building permit allocation proposal for the rural, unincorporated areas of Whatcom County was proposed as a text amendment to the County Comprehensive Plan earlier this year. The proposal was supported by Councilmembers Fleetwood, McShane and Weimer. Councilmembers Caskey-Schreiber, Nelson, Crawford and Brenner voted against the proposal.

We’ll continue to monitor procedural challenges and refinements of similar growth phasing ordinances in other jurisdictions. Our goal is to provide a responsible alternative to the current inadequacies, and uncertainties of land-use planning in Whatcom County.

Bellingham passed an Emergency Interim Concurrency Ordinance earlier this year. Whatcom County is presently working on one. Concurrency has been characterized as a $100 word with a $25 meaning. Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to that statement. The fact is that city and county governments are lagging in any coherent and workable concurrency program.

Meanwhile, unbridled development continues. For example, traffic generated by the proposed Birch Bay commercial center would reduce the level of service at Birch Bay-Lynden and Blaine Road from level “C” to level “F.” (The present intersection has a four-way stop.) A strong concurrency ordinance would require a roundabout or intersection with a signal prior to opening of the retail center. Without these improvements, there will be serious public safety issues and potential liability for the county. Our goal is to lobby for a strong, workable concurrency ordinance that will preserve our present levels of service. §