With an emphasis on promoting a thriving and affordable Bellingham for all, on June 15, 2026, City of Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund issued an executive order to expand economic opportunity in Bellingham, strengthen the City Center, and support local business and entrepreneurship.
“In 2024, I issued an executive order directing City resources toward affordable housing,” said Mayor Lund. “But housing is only one part of the affordability equation; another essential part is family-wage jobs. To be a prosperous community now and in the future, we need more job opportunities supporting the people who make Bellingham home.”
She continued, “To create those jobs, we need a different business environment, one that reduces hurdles to entrepreneurship and economic development. With this executive order, I am affirming our commitment to create pathways for economic activity, not barriers.”
The executive order affirms the City’s commitment to being an active, enthusiastic, and accessible partner to local businesses and entrepreneurs, removing barriers and making it easier to start, grow, and invest in Bellingham. It calls on the City to take action and focus economic development resources in several key areas of City influence.
Affirming that Bellingham is open for business
To be a more proactive partner with businesses, the City is setting up new incentives, staffing, and streamlined regulations, committing to actively support priority projects from the first conversation through completion.
The executive order creates a “concierge-style” staff position dedicated to helping businesses navigate the City’s processes and incentives, and a proposal for a seven-year business and occupation “tax holiday” for businesses in the downtown core.
“Expanding or creating a new business is a complex undertaking, and we are the creators and enforcers of many of those complex rules,” Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman said. “The question we’ve asked ourselves is, ‘How can the City make it simpler?’ We know our processes best, so it’s natural for us to provide a dedicated, single point of contact to guide people through them.”
The City’s business incentives, regulations, and staff have an important impact on how economic development takes shape. In addition to providing hands-on support to navigate both incentives and rules, City staff will streamline the regulatory environment to support, not slow down, business development. Over the next several months, City staff will identify and take action on ways to reduce confusion in permitting and plan review and minimize unnecessary delays.
“Our goal is to get to yes,” said Mayor Lund. “For the entrepreneurs and investors who choose to put their confidence in Bellingham, we’re here to help.”
Focusing economic drivers in urban centers and industrial zones
Downtown Bellingham and the waterfront district are core neighborhoods that together comprise 441 acres of industrial, commercial, and residential land with significant opportunity for urban transformation and expanded economic activity.
“The City Center is the right place to focus economic drivers and accelerate investments in our local economy,” said Mayor Lund. “There’s vast potential to grow a strong waterfront economy and a diverse commercial core.”
Redevelopment of the waterfront district represents a generational opportunity to build on Bellingham’s maritime economy through the continued evolution of the working waterfront, along with transforming this significant canvas into a thriving part of Bellingham’s life.
The City will continue as a key player in the future of the waterfront, owned by the Port of Bellingham, and this executive order reaffirms the commitment to partner on waterfront redevelopment. Priorities center on job development in marine trades, investments in City infrastructure to support economic activity and multimodal connections to downtown, and building a mixed-use neighborhood that’s livable, walkable, and green.
Acting on the findings of a recent industrial lands study by the Port of Bellingham, the City will advance protections for Bellingham industries and preserve the land base that employers depend on – within the waterfront and in other industrial-zoned land in the city.
“Our existing industrial lands support businesses with good-paying jobs, including some that have called Bellingham home for generations. We want to keep it that way.” said Mayor Lund.
Additionally, the executive order emphasizes commitments to downtown Bellingham. As the heart of the community, filling empty storefronts in downtown Bellingham, activating its public spaces, and building on its extraordinary cultural assets is among the City’s most important economic development work, which happens in close partnership with the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and others.
Downtown-focused strategies include:
- Implementing the recent Downtown Vacancy Strategy to accelerate productive business activity downtown.
- Improving pedestrian, bike, and car traffic circulation.
- Investing significant Public Facilities District funds in the Whatcom Museum and Mount Baker Theatre – legacy arts and culture institutions that anchor our arts and culture district.
- Evaluating opportunities to strengthen and expand Bellingham’s arts district to attract and retain businesses that fuel the creative economy and draw visitors to the City Center.
Learn more
To learn more details about Mayor Lund’s executive order, visit our website where you can read a summary of actions and commitments and view the full executive order.
