GA Advocate
June 18, 2012, Issue

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
• UPCOMING MEETINGS  
---Local government issues--- 
• SEE OUR BIAWC BLOG 
• CHAT / proposed BELLINGHAM HOUSING FUND 
• WC COMP PLAN – Rural Element  
• LAKE WHATCOM STORMWATER  
• SPRINKLERS ISSUE OVER FOR NOW
• REGULATORY REFORM IN SEATTLE

Upcoming meetings:

BELLINGHAM CITY COUNCIL
Monday, June 18 – 7:00 p.m., City Council Chambers
• Action is expected on Padden Trails, after Planning Committee discussion at 2:15 p.m.
• Fairhaven Neighborhood and Urban Village plan – also in committee at 2:15 p.m. and possibly action at night.
• Final consideration – an ordinance relating to low-income housing; requesting that a special election be held concurrent with the November 6, 2012, election.
• 2013-2018 Transportation Improvement Program (6-year TIP)
• Mark Buehrer and Christina Maginnis – reappointment to the Lake Whatcom Watershed Advisory Board / Marilyn Marynick and David Roberts – appointment to the board.
Monday, July 2 – 7:00 p.m., City Council Chambers
• Public hearing on the King Mountain Urban Village proposal.  For materials, click here. 

WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Tuesday June 19
• Rural Element work session at 1 p.m.  Formal introduction of the county’s proposal is expected at night.  (A public hearing and final adoption are expected on July 10.)  To see materials, click here.
• Planning Commission appointment:  Applicants are Craig Parkinson, Marlin Hendricks, and
Ben Elenbaas.
• 11 a.m. committee and evening consideration: $550,000 for a Catholic Community Services low-income housing project on Cornwall Avenue, to house needy chronically mentally ill and other low-income homeless people. This would occupy the parking lot on Cornwall near Maple Street, and would be a two-part project.

Joint Lake Whatcom Policy Working Group
July 9 -- 9:30 a.m., Civic Center Garden Room, 322 N. Commercial Street, Bellingham

County Surface Water Work Session
July 17 -- 10:30 a.m., Civic Center Garden Room, 322 N. Commercial Street, Bellingham

NEXT GAC MEETING – 11:30 a.m. Thursday, June 28
We’re inviting legislators to speak to GAC, meet everybody, and hear our concerns.  Rep. Vincent Buys attended on June 14.  We have scheduled Rep. Jason Overstreet for June 28, and Sen. Doug Ericksen for July 12.  They are all invited to begin at 11:30 a.m. and run for about a half hour, so if you’d like to talk to these folks please arrive on time.
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SEE OUR BIAWC BLOG
For more on the Catholic Community Services low-income housing project to help the chronically mentally ill, see our blog.  Go to the webpage and click the "blog” tab at the far right. You can sign up on that page to get new posts in your inbox. Subscribe by entering your email address at the upper right, or click here.  And please pass the word that we’re now blogging!
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CHAT / proposed BELLINGHAM HOUSING FUND
Final action to put this on the fall ballot is expected tonight, June 18. The City Council voted 7-0 on June 4 to put a tax levy increase on the ballot this fall, to raise money for subsidized housing for various high-need low-income groups. To see the ordinance, click here.
The BIAWC is approaching Mayor Linville to pursue, meanwhile, the full list of recommendations made in 2008 by a citizen advisory group called CHAT, which were designed to lower the cost of housing across the board.  To see a summary of the original CHAT group’s goals and a link to its August 2008 final report, click here.
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WC COMP PLAN – Rural Element
The Planning Commission voted May 24 to forward this to County Council.  A second Committee of the Whole work session is set for Tuesday, June 19, at 1 p.m. and a public hearing is tentatively scheduled for the evening of June 19.  The Growth Management Hearings Board has set a July 10th deadline for this work.
The latest draft ordinance, which includes the Planning Commission's recommended changes to the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Code, and Zoning/Comprehensive Plan maps, is available here.
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LAKE WHATCOM WATERSHED STORMWATER
The Whatcom County Planning Commission has forwarded amended materials to the County Council, with a separate recommendation that the Council instead consider a regional stormwater collection and treatment plan, so small lots in the watershed can maintain their viability for development.  Work on this has been postponed until the County Council finishes dealing with the Comp Plan Rural Element, to satisfy the Growth Management Hearing Board. 
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SPRINKLERS ISSUE OVER FOR NOW
The Washington State Building Code Council (SBCC) has endorsed the Technical Advisory Group’s (TAG) recommendation relating to fire sprinklers and will forego any further discussion of a statewide sprinkler mandate in the International Residential Code (IRC) for 2012. A strong showing by the residential construction industry at a TAG hearing in Shoreline on May 31 and an 8-1 vote by the TAG was a strong enough message for the SBCC to proceed without any discussion among members.  Although there is still a chance mandatory fire sprinklers could be considered in the IRC as an amendment every year, 2012 is a major code update, similar to 2006, 2009 and 2015. Hopefully, mandatory fire sprinklers will not return until the next significant code cycle.
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REGULATORY REFORM IN SEATTLE
Last Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s Planning, Land Use and Sustainability (PLUS) Committee approved changes to the city’s land use codes that will encourage economic growth and job creation. The regulatory reform legislation was announced last August and recommends:
1. eliminating minimum parking requirements for major institutions located in urban centers and station area overlay districts, except hospitals;
2. approving the Mayor’s proposals regarding home-based businesses and backyard cottage development standards;
3. allowing renewals of temporary use permits with terms of up to six months to be processed as Type 1 decisions, except for renewals of permits issued for transitional encampments and facilities for light rail transit construction, which would remain Type 2 decisions;
4. establishing the commercial square footage for SEPA categorical exemption thresholds for mixed-use buildings at 30,000 square feet;
5. establishing as thresholds for mandatory transportation impact evaluation review, 50 dwelling units or 12,000 square feet of commercial space in a mixed-use building; and
6. incorporating a proposal by the Planning Commission to reduce or eliminate parking requirements in several areas of the City where frequent transit service is available. 
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