Paving the Way
by Alex Brun
From a fairway on the North Bellingham Golf Course, anyone can get a feel for life in Whatcom County. Mount Baker dominates the skyline and the area’s rolling pastures and fertile agricultural lands fill the foreground. But, just north of the same fairway, the sprawling subdivisions of Lynden offer a look at the possible future of Whatcom County. The development serves as a reminder that the rural character of this area is on the brink of change.
The home of Donna and Harold Macomber sits immediately south of the golf course. Although they used to run cattle on their five acre lot, they now grow a small, prized patch of rhubarb — earning them a photo and mention in Country Home Magazine.
“The rhubarb is bigger than your arm and we don’t do anything to it,” Donna Macomber said. “No spray — no nothing, it’s just humongous.”
A real estate agent contacted the Macombers on Oct. 27, 2001 with an offer to purchase their property for twice its assessed value. When the Macombers refused, the real estate agent wrote them a letter stating that selling their property, financially, would be like winning the lottery.
“This is not about money, it’s a matter of principle,” Donna Macomber said.
Caitac USA, which owns the golf course, is currently planning Larrabee Springs — a new residential development encompassing 580 acres. Although exact development plans are unclear, any residential development would require an extension of Bellingham’s Urban Growth Area north to Smith Road. UGAs are areas of land located on the outskirts of cities in the county where new development is encouraged, while rural land outside the UGA is intended to be preserved.
County and city officials are mandated under Washington’s Growth Management Act to review available land and plan for new growth.
“Think about it,” said Mike Rosen, spokesperson for Caitac USA, which owns the property. “When has a community had the chance to plan a neighborhood and not screw it up?”
Trillium Corp. proposed Larrabee Springs in the late 1990s. At the time the development was called Cordata North. In 1997, after the Macombers formed a 500-member group opposing the rezoning, the Whatcom County Council dismissed the Cordata North project but allowed a future review of the project.
The County Council will review the project this fall when they vote on changes to the urban growth area. In 1997, Caitac USA obtained the development rights to the project and the Macombers were at square one again.
“Well, we have fought it off before, and we will fight it off again,” Donna Macomber said.
The debate over Larrabee Springs is an example of the pressure on city and county officials who are conducting a seven-year review of the county’s plans for managing new development.
The new development, because it is on the edge of Bellingham, would require most workers to drive to work.
Eben Fodor, author of “Better Not Bigger: How to take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community,” said the impact of working more and expanding development is people spend more time commuting to work, which leads to a decline in the sense of community within neighborhoods.
“The primary feature of the homes being built is the garage,” Fodor said. “Typically it comes with a remote control that is activated once you drive near the house and as you pull in you are never seen by your neighbor. Your neighbor doesn’t even know what you look like, let alone have a chance to meet you.”
Barbara Kitchens, vice president of government affairs for the Association of Washington Realtors, said working more has lead to a decline in the sense of community in neighborhoods.
“I think it started to happen when both people in the family started to go to work, and moms couldn’t stay at home and get to know their neighbor,” Kitchens said. “You don’t see block parties or neighborhood parties.”
Whatcom County officials predict 42,000 people will move into the county in the next 20 years. The city’s officials are concerned about the impact these newcomers will have on the environment and the sense of community.
“Fundamentally, it is a shift for a small city to stop its pattern of growing out and to think about growing up and consider the consequences if we don’t do that,” said Bellingham City Planner Chris Spens.
These consequences include urban sprawl — development that extends in all directions at the cost of rural areas.
“What is on my mind every waking moment, my mission, my reason to come to work, the reason I still live in Bellingham is to keep as much of this area as green and blue as possible,” Spens said.
Spens, a 10-year veteran in Bellingham’s city planning department, said he sees the role of city planning as crucial in managing the influx of new residents.
“There are six million people in Washington, 2 percent of whom live in Whatcom County,” Spens said. “More people are coming here every six ways to Sunday and they won’t stop — ever.”
The average population growth rate for Whatcom County during the 1990s hovered around 2.85 percent, which is more than twice the national average of 1.02 percent, according to the Whatcom County government Web site.
Whatcom County Planning Commission member Rabel Burdge said the county is planning for growth by increasing density within cities because they already have roads and other infrastructure.
“The Planning Commission is trying the popsicle theory, which is that a 10-year-old (child) should be able to walk to the store to buy a popsicle without having to cross heavy traffic,” Burdge said.
The Planning Commission is working under the mandates of the GMA, a legislative act that has changed the way counties plan, but Whatcom County Councilmember Seth Fleetwood said it has one fundamental flaw.
“In a broad time frame of 100 years, the GMA allows for the prospect of ever expanding concentric circles,” Fleetwood said. “This means we have a county just like King County, where cities bounce up against each other.”
Fleetwood said the key to preventing sprawl into the rural, forested and agricultural lands of Whatcom County is to “grow up not out,” meaning residents will eventually have to live in the city to keep the rest of the county green.
“In the future, if we are going to preserve the countryside people are going to have to live in the fourth floor of a condominium somewhere in the confines of Bellingham,” he said. “That’s a notion that some people really don’t like. I don’t like it myself, but it’s reality if everyone is coming here.”
Living in a condominium or a smaller home are alternatives to the traditional single family subdivision, but the perception of housing is difficult for builders to change, said Bill Quehrn, the executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County.
“People aren’t interested in raising families in a 20 story high-rise in downtown Bellingham on Railroad Avenue,” Quehrn said. “That’s not a good place to grow up. There needs to be a mix, a nice balanced mix.”
Rick Dubrow, owner of A1 Builders, agreed communities need a mixture of housing. But, he said the problem with the GMA is it doesn’t control growth, it just controls where people are placed.
“Everything about the GMA makes good sense if we stop development at some truly agreed upon size,” Dubrow said. “Without that last piece, the GMA still makes some sense, because it makes our cities look prettier, tighter, more thoughtful, but it definitely doesn’t address the core problem.”
Dubrow, who describes himself as an environmentalist in business, said it’s time for builders to account for the true costs of development.
“Growth needs to pay for itself,” Dubrow said. “If housing costs more, people will think differently about having a third or fourth child and instead of a 2,400-square-foot home, maybe they can use an 1,800-square-foot home.”
Quehrn said the effect of limiting new residential development pushes people farther away to communities like Lynden where there are fewer restrictions on growth.
“When you move out into what you can afford, it increases congestion on I-5 and promotes sprawl, which is the exact opposite of what the GMA was supposed to do,” Kitchens said.
Kitchens said affordable housing in Whatcom County is nearly extinct.
Quehrn said the BIA works to keep development regulations reasonable, so homes remain as affordable as possible.
“Builders can’t do a whole lot to foster affordable housing,” Quehrn said. “Builders aren’t in control of anything, builders are responding to a market need just like anyone else is. Why doesn’t Haggen’s have a particular kind of grapefruit? Because the market doesn’t want it.”
As people seek out scarce affordable housing, they have to leave Bellingham and are being replaced by an older, retired population, Kitchens said.
“They come with retirement plans, savings accounts and buy houses,” Kitchens said. “They offer a lot to a community, but they don’t offer economic stability.”
The Macombers are retired, and said being on a fixed income makes them more resistant to new growth. They said services and new development mean higher taxes.
“Our taxes have gone from under $600 a year to $3,000 a year with the building of the Meridian School district,” Harold Macomber said.
In addition, traffic along the Guide Meridian has increased significantly in the years they have lived on the road. A trip from the Macombers home to the freeway, which is three miles away, can take up to an hour on a holiday weekend, Harold Macomber said.
As the debate over growth in Bellingham continues, Fodor said he encourages citizens, like the Macombers, to protect their quality of life.
“Independent of the fact that these communities can’t control what goes on in the rest of the world,” Fodor said. “There is no law that says you have to allow your community to be destroyed and that’s the premise for taking action.”
