Posted: August 31, 2007 13:06:18 PST
The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board has found that the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan is compliant with the Growth Management Act (GMA) following the City's adoption of an Existing Level of Service (ELOS) standard for park and recreational facilities that is consistent throughout the plan.
"This determination is something that our City can be very proud of," said Tim Stewart, Planning & Community Development Director. "The considerable effort by citizens, staff, Planning Commissioners and City Council members that went into creating this 20-year planning document was well worth the effort," he added. "Now we can move on with the important task of implementing this plan by enhancing and protecting neighborhood character, designing urban villages, and guiding growth in a positive and healthy way for our community," he said.
In January of this year, the Board reviewed the City's Comprehensive Plan and found it was internally consistent except for a discrepancy between the ELOS standards used in portions of the City's Parks & Recreation Plan and those used in the Comprehensive Plan's Capital Facilities Chapter. On May 7th, the City Council approved an ordinance that corrected the inconsistency by adopting a uniform ELOS standard of 47.5 acres per 1,000 residents in both the Park Plan and the Capital Facilities Chapter. The City's land supply analysis and its financial analysis of the cost of providing park and recreation facilities already used the ELOS standard of 47.5 acres per 1,000 residents, so these portions of the Comprehensive Plan did not need changing to eliminate the inconsistency.
This Board's decision ends the appeal filed by Donna and Harold Macomber, Helen Green and Larry Horowitz, and means that the City's Comprehensive Plan is now fully compliant with the GMA.
To view the Order Finding Compliance, see the City's website at: http://www.cob.org/pcd/planning/growth/comp-update.htm
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Media Contact:
Tim Stewart, Director
Planning & Community Development
(360) 676-6982
tstewart@cob.org
