EXCELLENCE IN NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Greenbriar Northwest is in the process of seeking public comment on their proposed development at Fairhaven Foothills (formerly known as “Chuckanut Ridge”). The development of Fairhaven Foothills presents Bellingham with a unique opportunity. It allows us as a community to create an innovative model neighborhood that will maintain the high quality of life residents currently enjoy, while welcoming new neighbors and friends to share our lifestyles.

Bellingham enjoys an outstanding quality of life in a superb natural setting. Those facts have become widely known and as a result growth in the city and the county seems inevitable. Fairhaven Foothills provides us with a special occasion to demonstrate that we can manage that growth wisely, and in a manner that maintains the lifestyles we cherish. The size and scope of the Fairhaven Foothills development presents our community with the prospect of setting new standards in livability and quality of life for our city. The successful creation of an inviting neighborhood will benefit not just the new residents of the area, but all who reside on the Southside, and indeed citizens throughout the city of Bellingham. Working together the developers, city officials, experts, and neighborhood residents can build a showcase community that will serve as the standard for future development in our area.

Greenbriar Northwest partners are long-time residents of Bellingham, and thus familiar with its problems and potential. They are known, and respected within our community. Their knowledge and experience, coupled with that offered by Southside residents, city officials, and selected experts, should result in strengthened bonds within our community by creatively and wisely addressing the problems inherent in development and growth. Good planning and solid execution of those plans will allow the developers to earn an appropriate return on their investment – a return that will remain in our community – while at the same time meeting the concerns of citizens regarding further growth in our area. And a successful new neighborhood will burnish the reputation not just of the city, but of the developers as well, individuals who can build on that success elsewhere in subsequent projects.

The creation of a new paradigm of community collaboration in managing growth is not a simple prospect. It should be guided by broad principles all stakeholders embrace. Those principles should include a dedication to the following:

1. Commitment to the creation of a new standard of sustainable, livable neighborhoods that benefit the community, while assuring developers that this new model will not adversely impact expected returns on their investment.

2. Transparency and community involvement should reach throughout the planning, approval, and construction process.

2. Minimization of the environmental impact of the new neighborhood needs consideration (including, for example, such issues as storm water runoff, sustainability, biodiversity, wildlife corridors, wetlands protection, erosion, and related issues).

3. Quality of life issues should be carefully examined and managed. For example, the impact of increased vehicle traffic, noise, and air pollution need close consideration. As a community we should strive to ensure that mass transit, bicycle, and pedestrian access are readily available within and around the development. Easy access to existing recreation areas, and the possible creation of new recreation areas, also deserve thought, as does the impact of new building on existing views and on maintenance of privacy.

The creation of showcase neighborhood to serve as a model for future growth in the city requires a mechanism to share the collective wisdom of residents, the developers, experts, and city officials. That mechanism should give grassroots (bottom up) groups a voice and a vote throughout the process. It should also have some official (top down) recognition, even if informal. It must be so constituted to respect the rights of the developers, and to recognize that they shoulder the financial risk inherent in such an undertaking. At the same time it should acknowledge that the residents of Bellingham also bear a risk should poorly planned and executed development diminish their quality of life, and harm the natural environment. And the mechanism must be able to analyze and address the concerns outlined above both promptly and decisively, facilitating and not obfuscating or delaying unnecessarily the development process.

Such a mechanism could take many forms. For example, the Mayor might appoint an informal, ad hoc “Excellence in Neighborhood Development” group to offer its advice on how to innovatively create the Fairhaven Foothills neighborhood. Such a group might consist of several “grassroots” representatives (perhaps drawn from Southside neighborhood associations), the developer, an official from the city planning department, someone knowledgeable in sustainable development from Huxley College at Western Washington University, an NGO representative from a concerned group, an urban planner or architect, and a designee from the mayor’s office. The group could operate on a consensus basis, and should consensus not be achieved, could refer a particular issue to the Mayor or City Council for resolution consistent with appropriate municipal ordinances.

An excellence group need not be a burden upon the city, or Greenbriar Northwest. Instead it should serve as a venue to share the collective wisdom we as a community possess. With that wisdom Bellingham can build a future that both welcomes new residents to our city, and guarantees those already enjoying its many charms a consistently satisfying quality of life, and an inviting natural environment.

John Stephenson