PMBC Challenges Developer’s Response to City’s Third RFI
PMBC has submitted a letter to city officials outlining a fundamental flaw in the developer’s application materials for the proposed subdivision.
The application fails to take into account that the vast majority of Mud Bay, including all the shoreline immediately below the proposed subdivision, is properly classified as Category I estuarine wetlands. With the letter, we provided two documents to support this fact:
A PMBC document “Is The Woods At Viewcrest Wetland Delineation Fundamentally Flawed?” which provides a summary and analysis of the facts regarding Mud Bay’s wetlands; and
The expert opinion of John Rybczyk, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Science Professor, and Academic Director, Marine and Coastal Science at Western Washington University. For the past 23 years, Dr. Rybczyk has been taking his Wetlands Ecology students to Mud Bay for field trips. He knows the area well. In his letter, Dr. Rybczyk concurs with the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service’s National Wetland Inventory designation of the entirety of Mud Bay as estuarine wetlands.
You can read the 12/18/23 PMBC letter and attached documents here: https://bit.ly/PMBCLetter12-18-23
PMBC has raised this fundamental issue, along with multiple others, before: via email in February 2023, and again in our 8/17/23 letter to Senior Planner Kathy Bell in which we provided details about critical issues regarding The Woods at Viewcrest application materials, including this one. The city has yet to require the applicant to address the vast majority of these issues.
The applicant’s failure to acknowledge Mud Bay’s estuarine wetlands has wide-ranging impacts on the application documents and supporting materials. This fundamental error renders the following application materials invalid:
Wetland Delineation
Stormwater Management Plan
SEPA Environmental Checklist
Critical Area Permit Application
Shoreline Permit Application
Therefore, due to these errors and omissions, PMBC members conclude that The Woods at Viewcrest application documents and supporting materials cannot be determined to be sufficient for the city to prepare a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) threshold determination.
Immediately after the developer submitted their response to the city’s third RFI, PMBC members scheduled a meeting with city Planning and Community Development director Blake Lyon. He was unable to meet at the scheduled time and asked to reschedule. While we await the in-person meeting, we felt it important to communicate in writing one of the three issues we want to cover at the meeting; therefore, we sent this letter and attachments on 12/18 for the city’s immediate consideration.
Stay tuned:
City staff has told us they will endeavor to review the developer’s RFI response over the next couple of weeks to determine if the submittal sufficiently addresses their RFI.
Members of PMBC's Steering Committee continue to review the application materials, and we’ll keep you up to date on what we find, as well as the city’s next actions.
Background:
On 8/7/23, the city Planning Department issued a third Request for Information (RFI) and granted the developers 120 days, until 12/5/23, to respond.
The city’s full website for this proposed project can be viewed at https://cob.org/project/the-woods-at-viewcrest.
The city's 8/7/23 RFI can be viewed at https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/SUB2022-0011-RFI-8-7-2023.pdf.
PMBC agreed with the city's decision to issue a third Request for Information, but we were surprised and disappointed by what was missing from the RFI, which failed to cover several critical issues. On 8/17/23, PMBC submitted a public comment letter in response to the RFI, which outlines these deficiencies in detail. PMBC's 8/17 letter can be viewed at bit.ly/PMBCLetter8-17-23.
The developer’s new application materials can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/RFI3Response
Once the city determines the application is sufficiently complete, the city will issue a Notice of Application and initiate the minimum 30-day Public Comment Period.
Immediately after the Public Comment Period begins, it is vital for all of us to send the city letters and emails describing our concerns about the proposed development.
It is crucial we convince the Bellingham Planning Department that this project is likely to impose a Significant Adverse Environmental Impact. If we are successful, the city will be legally obligated to require that an objective, independent, third-party Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be prepared.
This EIS is necessary to ensure Bellingham’s planners have a comprehensive and honest evaluation of the harms this project can be expected to have on both the natural and built environment before making any decisions about development at this location.
When the city opens the Public Comment period, hearing from all of us will be important to convince the city’s decision-makers that an EIS is necessary. Please be prepared to send your emails and letters to the city once the Public Comment Period begins. We will alert you when this happens!
Please Donate — Your Donations Make This Possible
Year-end donations have been coming in: Thank You!
Donations of any size are greatly appreciated as we approach the Public Comment period of the city’s application process. If you’re able, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Protect Mud Bay Cliffs Fund using the “Donate” button on our website at:
https://mudbaycliffs.org/join-in
If you prefer to donate via check, the information for doing so is also at the above link to our website.
If your employer matches charitable donations, please request that match (more information below, and on the website). All donations are used solely to pursue our mission of protecting Mud Bay Cliffs, and all PMBC members volunteer their time freely.
Protect Mud Bay Cliffs is a Responsible Development program. Responsible Development is a Bellingham, WA based qualified Public Charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is included on the IRS Publication 78 Data List with Deductibility Code ‘PC’. Responsible Development’s Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 14-1944887.
Benevity, a commonly used platform for companies matching charitable donations, already includes Responsible Development as one of the charities supported.