A local property owner, supported by the City of Bellingham Planning Staff, has submitted plans to develop the forested cliffs overlooking the ecologically sensitive shoreline of North Chuckanut Bay, aka Mud Bay.

Because of newly adopted city regulations, the eventual owner of each of the newly created 38 lots will be allowed to construct single-family or multi-family housing up to four units, for a potential of 152 new residences, none of which will provide low-income housing.

This wide-reaching project is likely to impose significant adverse environmental impacts to the shoreline, forested uplands, and valued marine waters of Mud Bay.

An environmental impact statement (EIS) must be required to provide a thorough and unbiased assessment of the proposed development’s impacts. An EIS is a study that the property owner and City of Bellingham staff have refused to undertake.

What is the City of Bellingham hiding by failing to require a thorough environmental review, and by devoting substantial city resources to aid a plan that will gouge these 38 acres of steeply sloped woodlands that border Mud Bay’s shoreline?

Some of what the development will entail:

• Blasting, excavating, and/or building on city-designated landslide hazard areas
• Replacing a city-designated Important Habitat Hub with urban roads and housing
• Increasing rockfall, rockslide and landslide risks, and damage to neighboring properties
• Jeopardizing the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists
• Contributing untreated and barely treated polluted stormwater to onsite wetlands and the Mud Bay marine ecosystems

On July 25, 2025, Bellingham city planners decided not to require an EIS, which would have protected ecological functions and the safety of the community. Instead, the city determined that the outsized subdivision proposal and urban infill of Mud Bay uplands could proceed for approval by the hearing examiner.

A county-wide community group immediately filed an appeal to reverse the city’s EIS determination and require the city to complete a comprehensive environmental study. The hearing before the city’s hearing examiner to decide whether the city will be legally required to address and comprehensively evaluate the proposed project’s environmental impacts will be held during week of January 12-16, 2026.

What does the City of Bellingham staff have to hide? It has become apparent they are bringing to bear city resources to skirt their responsibilities for a thorough due diligence of this ecologically sensitive area.

There’s an old carpenter adage, “Measure twice, cut once.” With our environment you have to do it right. We need to at least measure once, for once damage is done, it is forever.