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Questions and Answers about Protecting Lake Whatcom Resevoir

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Telegraph Road was a winding, gravel road with just a couple other houses when Harold White moved there in 1968.

"I used to ride horses up and down here," he said.

The neighborhood has changed.

"There's apartments every- where. Traffic is terrible. It's just a busy, busy street now in a busy area," White said. "It takes you a couple minutes sometimes to get across to get your mail."

White, who owns about two acres, now wants to sell his property and move. That's what he plans to do if he and his neighbors get their wish.

On Tuesday, the Whatcom County Council will consider allowing White and the other owners of 75 acres along Telegraph and East Bakerview roads to build 24 units per acre on their land, if they buy development rights from people who own land in Lake Whatcom watershed. The units could be an apartment, a condo or a house.

Supporters say the plan would create needed new housing in a convenient area while cutting potential development by the lake, the source of drinking water for about 85,700 people in and around Bellingham.

But some people worry about adding so many people and their cars on the edge of Bellingham. Others say the change won't make a difference unless the county makes more changes to the program to transfer development rights out of the watershed.

Watershed rights

The land proposed for the rezone is part of an area that's designated to receive watershed development rights. But until recently, nobody had bought any of the rights. One sale came earlier this month, to someone who owns land in the area proposed for the rezone.

People who live there asked for a zoning increase from a maximum of 10 residences per acre to up to 18, which has been the most dense zoning allowed.

But in an effort to increase the transfer of development rights, city and county officials decided to recommend allowing up to 24 units per acre.

To make the transfer program even more attractive, the council will consider letting people build three units for every one development right they buy in the watershed.

"We're hoping that it's going to give us a bit of a jump-start on our program and give us enough of an incentive," said Sylvia Goodwin, manager of the county's Planning Division.

Goodwin noted that under current zoning, Bellingham does not have enough potential new homes for expected growth. She said the 75 acres is a good area for more homes because it has city water and sewer, is served by roads and transit, and is close to jobs and services along Meridian Street and Sunset Drive.

More people

The rezone would allow up to 1,050 extra homes on the 75 acres. That would mean 2,226 more people, based on the average number of people in Bellingham apartments, making a total of 14,692 car trips per day.

Hank Wiebe lives beside the 75 acres on five acres on East Bakerview Road, inside Bellingham. He supports the idea of 24 units per acre, with reservations.

"I realize that they have to find someplace for the (development rights)," he said. "And I think it's probably as good as any, even though I don't like 24 units to the acre next to me."

But Wiebe thinks a grid of new streets should be built and some existing streets widened before the new homes are built.

"Telegraph and Bakerview roads are two-lane traffic with no turn lanes," he said. "During rush hour, I wait sometimes up to five minutes to get on Bakerview Road."

Goodwin said developers building along certain streets would have to build or improve roads, and developments also would pay Bellingham transportation impact fees to help pay for other improvements.

The Bellingham and Whatcom County planning commissions supported the proposal, but county planning commission chairman Dave Pros did not. He worries about the new traffic and doesn't like the idea of packing so many new residences so tightly together on the edge of town.

"This is not the kind of neighborhood I think of when I think of Bellingham," he said. "I just don't want to be creating neighborhoods that look so out of place."

Won't happen?

Developer Tim Carey - who, with his brother, Michael, owns an acre in the rezone area and an adjacent 134-unit apartment complex - said the new incentives would not be enough to get development rights out of the watershed, because buying the rights would be too much of a hassle.

The system will work only if the county buys development rights, then puts them in a "bank" that developers could pay to withdraw from, he said.

"Having the government administer the bank lets the people who are selling them know what the price is going to be," he said. "It lets the developer on the other side just write the check to the county and be done with it."

Carey also said building 24 units per acre would be tough, because of wetlands, streams and required setbacks. He said parking would have to be underground, which would be feasible only on some sites, because it costs about $10,000 per space.

"I predict that five years from now you and I can drive down Telegraph and it looks just like it looks today," he said.

Goodwin said parking and the need to deal with runoff could limit development.

"We may not see 24 units per acre," she said, "but hopefully we'll see more than four units per acre there."

Reach Aubrey Cohen at aubrey.cohen@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2289.

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phone: 360-676-1254

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