Bellingham Conservation Commission Continues Red Mill Lots, Opens Three New Hearings

BELLINGHAM — April 22, 2026 — Bellingham Conservation Commission advances enforcement orders and continues Red Mill subdivision hearings at packed April 22 meeting. The commission placed a formal enforcement order for properties at 96, 100, and 104 Lake Street on its May 13 agenda, with the goal of approving an approvable planting plan at that session. At 43 Easy Street, owners Shannon and Benjamin Grouper faced a directive to remove chicken coops and associated structures from a small forested wetland system, with a restoration planting plan due by June 10. For the Red Mill subdivision, a 35-lot Toll Brothers development on Charles Mechanic Street, the commission voted to continue hearings for lots 8 through 19 and an order of conditions amendment request to May 13, then opened three new Notice of Intent hearings covering lots 20, 21, and 67 — the first lot on the east side of the site's central perennial stream — with total riverfront disturbance footprints ranging from 234 to 1,207 square feet per lot. Brian Madden of LBC Environmental said a stormwater peer review for the amendment request may have been completed but had not yet been distributed. The commission also voted to continue a long-stalled Lakeview Map 65 Notice of Intent to June 10, with members signaling denial or withdrawal without prejudice if no substantive update is received.