PMBC Newsletter #1
MudBayCliffs.org
Newsletter #1 - 4/29/2022
Hello Subscriber!
Thank you for your interest in the ongoing efforts to minimize the adverse environmental and public safety impacts of the proposed subdivision on Viewcrest Road in Edgemoor on the forested cliffs overlooking Mud Bay. (Note: The city refers to the project by the developer’s name, “The Woods at Viewcrest”).
The Bellingham Planning Department received several hundred pages of application materials from the applicant, “AVT Consulting”, on March 2, 2022 and is currently reviewing the application to determine if it is complete. As the project moves forward we plan to provide you, our subscribers, with status updates, as well as suggestions for how you can get involved to help achieve our mutual goals.
Thanks to some initial donations from our members, we’ve been able to retain local land use attorney Phil Buri to represent our interests and to guide us in using our time and energies wisely, where they can be most effective and gain the most traction. You can check out Phil’s website here: https://www.burifunston.com/
Steering Committee members are currently meeting weekly, via Zoom, and have divided into subcommittees to concentrate on specific areas such as traffic, storm water, geo-tech, wildlife, recreation, fundraising, communications, legal, etc.
Since March 2nd, the Bellingham Planning Department has been reviewing the application documents to determine if they are complete. Once the application is deemed complete, the city will mail a Notice of Application to residents within 500 feet of the project boundary and post the notice on the property. The City will also send Notices to anyone who submits a written request to be notified (see below). The Notice of Application begins the consolidated 30-day public comment period. We must use this 30-day comment period to convince the City to require an objective environmental impact statement (EIS).
At some point after the 30-day comment periods expire, the City will make a SEPA Threshold Determination and mail a Notice of Determination to the same group that received a Notice of Application. This determination is critical because only a SEPA Determination of Significance (DS) will trigger the requirement for an EIS. Based on our review of the applicant’s technical reports, we believe many of the conclusions in these reports are biased in favor of the development and support the need for an objective EIS.
We will send another update when those notices are posted. In the meantime, there are things you can do that could potentially have a significant impact on the outcome…
Send a letter/email to Mayor Seth Fleetwood (mayorsoffice@cob.org) and City Council (ccmail@cob.org) describing, in your own words, your concerns about the proposed development. Remember, this should be an emotional appeal – the time to get into technical issues is during the comment period. Many will be quite adept at expressing themselves but, for anyone who feels daunted by this, it can be as simple as “Hello Mayor Fleetwood, I understand the City is reviewing an application for a 38-Lot Subdivision off of Viewcrest Road on the cliffs overlooking Mud Bay. I’m very unhappy / saddened / angry / concerned / fearful / dismayed / worried that this will…” and then respectfully explain in plain language what your worries & concerns are (many of the potential negative impacts may not be immediately apparent, so a partial summary has been provided, below). The city’s mailing address is: City Hall, 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA 98225.
If you haven’t already, please consider a tax-deductible contribution to the “Protect Mud Bay Cliffs Fund.” Our fundraising efforts are being hosted by Responsible Development (RD), a 501 (C)(3) public charity. All contributions to the Protect Mud Bay Cliffs Funds at Responsible Development will be applied to minimizing the adverse environmental and public safety impacts of the proposed subdivision. These funds will be used to pay for Phil Buri’s time and to hire technical experts as needed. All committee members are unpaid volunteers. Donations can be made online by clicking the Donate button on our website at https://mudbaycliffs.org/join-in.
If you’d like to ensure that you receive notices from the city about the development, send an email with your mailing address to Senior Planner Kathy Bell at kbell@cob.org and include the following statement: “Please accept this email as my request to receive all notices regarding the Jones Preliminary Plat subdivision application at 352 Viewcrest Rd / Parcel # 370213075542”. Include in the subject line Jones Preliminary Plat.
Check out the website periodically - new content is being added regularly (as time permits - we’re all volunteers here).
Thank you again for your interest. If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you have expertise or energy to lend in any of these areas, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us via email at info@MudBayCliffs.org or you can use the form at MudBayCliffs.org/contact-us.
Mud Bay Cliffs Development
Partial Summary of Potential Negative Impacts to Surrounding Area & Neighborhoods
1. Traffic volumes through Edgemoor during construction will consist of large dump trucks, cranes, heavy machinery, and materials deliveries, as well as construction workers commuting to/from the jobsite.
2. Post-development traffic is estimated to add over 600 vehicle trips per day to Viewcrest Rd. (according to application documents)! Considering existing traffic on Chuckanut and Fieldston, and frequent back-ups already occurring near the Middle School, this is indeed troubling.
3. Major traffic safety issues apply during both phases, due to all of the added vehicular traffic being funneled onto a narrow street (Viewcrest Rd.) with no sidewalks (except eventually, perhaps, along the ~300’ strip directly across from Clark St.) and then filtering out through the neighborhood from there.
4. Negative environmental impacts are always a concern with any development proposing to replace undisturbed native & natural vegetation with concrete, buildings, asphalt, and grass.
For example, the developer claims that at least 80% of the vegetation on the property will be retained. But even if the developer is successful in achieving this highly ambitious goal, once the developed properties are sold, the developer is off the hook. There is no language in the current documentation preventing the individual property owners from removing as much additional vegetation as they please. Without such language, the 80% figure is nothing short of a “bait & switch.”
But there are at least three factors concerning this particular development that potentially compound these adverse environmental issues enormously…
1. The existing heavily wooded ridge South of the Clark & Viewcrest neighborhoods.
With prevailing winds from the South, the removal of significant tree canopy could have a devastating effect on the Clark & Viewcrest neighborhoods to the North, where trees that have been protected from wind all their lives are suddenly exposed. The resulting “blowdown” (aka “domino effect”) combined with flooding (which many of us got a taste of last winter) could potentially cause extensive damage and expense which will be born by the homeowners in those neighborhoods and/or their insurers.
2. The dangerously steep slope on which 38 new homes are proposed to be built.
The physical landslide, wind, flood, and fire dangers are multiplied by the steepness and general unsuitability for building of the steep slope. The numerous minivan-sized boulders lying at the bottom of the slope testify to the instability of the rock layers in this area.
3. The sensitive tidal estuary directly below the steep slope.
There are countless dangers to the bay below from construction waste, storm water runoff (oils, chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers), sewage leaks, topsoil erosion, etc. In short, anything not properly collected above, will eventually find its way into the bay, where salmon run, Herons feed, clams are already struggling to survive, and efforts are currently underway to reintroduce native Olympia oysters.