The Countywide Housing Affordability Task Force is beginning to finalize a variety of options to improve the housing affordability for all County residents at 80% of the median income and below.  Gary Reid of Gary Reid Homes is BIAWC’s representative to the Task Force.  Items being discussed include affordable housing incentives, infill opportunities, and the possibility of a countywide housing levy, funded by tax payers.  For more information, please call Mary Dickinson at 671-4247.

The City of Bellingham is conducting its second Planning Academy, with 4 meetings starting the end of April 2008 and continuing throughout May 2008.  According to the City’s website, “[t]his series of four evening workshops starts April 30th and is intended to build collaboration within our community around new and innovative forms of urban housing and neighborhood character preservation.”

 

BIAWC will have several stakeholders participating in this process.  Currently, the Planning Academy is full, but there is a waiting list.  For more information, please contact Mary Dickinson at 671-4247.

The Washington State Department of Ecology is in the process of finishing its review of Whatcom County’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP).  More information is expected very soon!  The City of Bellingham will issue a new draft of its SMP in either June or July 2008.