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More people are coming to Whatcom County. According to the county, the population is expected to increase by 30% between 2017 and 2040 under moderate growth. Washington’s Office of Financial Management.
However, climate change is accelerating, bringing more severe flooding, heat waves and precipitation events to Washington areas.
A warming planet and rising development pressure are forcing state and local leaders to rethink how cities and counties can prepare for the future.
“The way that our cities are organized impacts our carbon footprint,” said state Rep. Alex Ramel, a Democrat who represents portions of Whatcom and Skagit counties along with San Juan County. “It also impacts our ability to be resilient in the face of a changing climate.”
Climate resilience refers to a community’s ability to Prepare for and recover from extreme weather and other impacts caused by climate change..
Planning for the coming decades has been deemed so crucial for local governments that state law requires it: Under the 1990 Growth Management Act, counties and cities must craft lengthy documents called comprehensive plans, which are the “Local planning efforts are the centerpiece,” according to Washington’s Municipal Research and Services Center. The Growth Management Act was first enacted in 2005. Help communities cope with rapid population growthFuturewise reports that this will help reduce the burden on public infrastructure, and prevent urban sprawl from spreading out into natural areas and rural areas.
Some state policymakers want to reform the Growth Management Act in order to better adapt to a warming world. A number of related bills have been introduced during this year’s 60-day legislative session, which is already about halfway through. Ramel stated that the most important bill is HB 1099, introduced in Davina Duerr, state Rep.2021
If HB1099 is passed, climate change will be added to the Growth Management Act. Local comprehensive plans would be required to support state ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — Net-zero by 2050 — as well as prepare communities to be resilient to climate change impacts.
But this bill — scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Committee on Housing & Local Government on Thursday, Feb. 17 — would add work to the comprehensive planning process, and local governments are often already stretched thin. Whatcom is not an exception. Climate Impact Advisory Committee meeting FebruarySatpal Sidhu, County Executive, acknowledged that the county needed more climate specialists. Because staff is so busy with their other responsibilities, funding and grant opportunities are likely to go untapped.
“There is so much money sloshing around in the system,” he said, noting that the county had 80 open positions at the time and is currently ironing out plans to hire a climate action manager.
This need for staff and funding is why it’s significant that HB 1099 would allocate state money toward local governments’ efforts to weave climate change into their comprehensive plans, Ramel and County Councilmember Kaylee Galloway said.
“It creates a pipeline for counties like Whatcom to be the first in the state to include these forward-thinking ideas,” said Galloway, who was a primary author of the land use portion of the County’s Climate Action Plan.
Whatcom’s current comprehensive plan was adopted 2016 and includes a section on climate change in the document’s environment chapter. The plan is due for a state-mandated refresh in 2025, and the fate of HB 1099 will help determine how climate is integrated into the next plan, said the county’s Planning and Development Services Director Mark Personius.
Climate change planning
What does it look like to plan for climate change? Ramel explained that it could be prohibiting development in areas at high danger of flooding from Nooksack River or sea level rise.
Whatcom’s Climate Action Plan recommends that climate change be considered when approving new infrastructure, including developments, roads and bridges.
“Such actions were once viewed as radical and as a result, avoided,” the document reads. “The result is that federal agencies are now using our tax dollars to move whole communities out of flood zones.”
Climate-friendly communities could also look like denser neighborhoods, which reduce water and energy consumption, improve utility efficiencies and reduce the miles that people drive in fossil fuel-powered vehicles, according to Whatcom’s Climate Action Plan.
“What we want to see is more of the beloved, historic neighborhoods you see in places like Bellingham,” said Tim Trohimovich, director of planning and law at nonprofit Futurewise, which has advocated for HB 1099. “Fairhaven, for example.”
There’s one catch though: Fairhaven is an expensive place to live, Galloway said. She agrees that there should more neighborhoods like it but believes that the government should encourage or subside developers to create more affordable housing.
Some policymakers and opponents to HB 1099 are concerned that the Growth Management Act will include climate change. This could cause housing prices to go up. Todd Myers, the conservative think tank Washington Policy Center’s environmental director, said that he doesn’t believe in land planning solutions to environmental problems.
“The purpose of growth management is to restrict where housing can be,” Myers said. “High prices are clearly a consequence.”
State Sen. Simon Sefzik These concerns were also expressed in a January questionnaire.He was elected to Whatcom County Council, and was also considered to succeed Sen. Doug Ericksen. Ericksen was the 42nd Legislative District representative. He died in December after being diagnosed as COVID-19.
“My fear is that a heavy-handed reinterpretation of the GMA will exacerbate the affordable housing crisis and inhibit the ability of local governments to responsibly manage growth,” Sefzik wrote.
Ysabelle K. Kempe joined The Bellingham Herald to cover environmental issues in summer 2021. She’s a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston and has worked for The Boston Globe and Grist.
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