Bellingham Planning Board Denies Two Jeff Village Waivers, Sets October Deadline

BELLINGHAM — August 14, 2025 — Bellingham Planning Board denied two Jeff Village waiver requests and continued the 129-unit townhouse hearing to September 11 with a decision deadline of October 31. The board voted 4-1 to deny a waiver under section 240-17B1 after a resident identified as a former historical commission member argued that stone trolley abutments on the 70-acre former gravel pit constitute historic features requiring documentation; the applicant's engineer disputed the claim, saying the railway company went bankrupt in 1897 with nothing built on the parcel. The board also voted 4-1 to deny a 100-foot vegetative buffer waiver under section 240-95, rejecting the applicant's proposed landscaped berm as an equivalent substitute, prompting the engineer to agree to relocate four affected townhouse buildings into the development's interior. In a separate action, the board opened a new public hearing on Wall Street Development Corp's plan to pave 1,900 linear feet of the abandoned Blackstone Street right-of-way, drawing sharp public opposition over cut-through traffic fears and potential harm to Lake Hayawa's underground springs, and continued that hearing to September 25 with a November 30 decision deadline. The board unanimously adopted an updated Form J surety bond form, replacing 2014 cost figures that staff said left the town financially exposed if it ever needed to complete a bonded roadway.