To Infill or Not To Infill in Bellingham
The Bellingham Planning Commission continues to review the Urban Infill Toolkit and whether it should apply in specific residential zones. As discussed in my prior post, the Toolkit would add provisions to the City’s zoning code to allow the development of special housing forms, including carriage houses, townhouses, detached accessory dwelling units, and smaller lot single family homes.
There has been much resistance to applying these special housing forms in Bellingham’s single family neighborhoods. The Planning Commission has received a lot of testimony arguing that applying the Toolkit in single family neighborhoods will negatively affect existing neighborhood character and open the door to uncontrolled rental housing. It is thus likely that carriage houses, ADUs, townhouses, and the like will only be allowed in multifamily neighborhoods and commercial areas. For the location and boundaries of single family vs. multi family neighborhoods, see the City’s zoning map.
One of the primary purposes of the Toolkit is to provide for a more diverse set of housing options as well as to promote infill and the development of more affordable housing in Bellingham. The question arises, however, as to whether this can be accomplished if these housing types are only allowed in areas already zoned for multifamily uses. The City hopes that developers will use the Toolkit to create more attractive and green housing developments in multifamily areas rather than blocks of apartment buildings. Whether there are sufficient incentives in the Toolkit for developers to do so is unclear.
Arguably, in order to create true housing alternatives and affordability in Bellingham, at least some of these alternative housing forms, including carriage houses and unattached ADUs should be allowed in single family neighborhoods. Preserving existing neighborhood character in Bellingham’s single family neighborhoods is a laudable goal as long as it is balanced with creating opportunities for innovative housing types as provided for in the Urban Infill Toolkit.
The Toolkit will be discussed at the May 14 Planning Commission Meeting.