Executive Order: Advancing Urban Vitality and Economic Opportunity in Bellingham 

The actions outlined in Executive Order 2026-01 are divided into four sections, and are all aimed at advancing economic vitality and opportunity in Bellingham.

Section 1. Bellingham is Open for Business 

The City of Bellingham is committed to being an active, accessible, and enthusiastic partner to businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors who choose to put their confidence in this community. The City will work to remove unnecessary barriers and make it easier to start, grow, and invest here. 

1. Establish a position of Urban Transformation Strategist within the Mayor’s Office to be a dedicated, concierge-style resource for businesses, developers, creatives, and investors seeking to engage with the City; helping navigate City processes, connecting stakeholders with the right staff, programs, and incentives; and actively supporting priority projects from first conversation through completion. 

2. Conduct a review of the City’s permitting, licensing, and regulatory processes affecting businesses to find opportunities to make it easier and more welcoming to do business in Bellingham. 

3. Convene an annual Business Roundtable with industry associations, small business owners, developers, and employers to hear directly about challenges to operating and growing in Bellingham and to ensure those voices inform City policy decisions. 

4. Advance policies that support small-scale commercial activity in residential neighborhoods, enabling home-based businesses, neighborhood-serving retail, and corner-store uses that encourage entrepreneurship, walkability, and economic life close to home. 

5. Prioritize permit review for existing buildings that have been vacant for more than 36 months to activate long-empty storefronts that undermine the vitality of neighborhoods throughout Bellingham. 

6. Promote, evaluate, and enhance, where possible, the full range of incentives and programs available to businesses and developers, including Business and Occupation tax reductions, Multi-Family Tax Exemptions, Historic Preservation tax credits, and other available programs. 

7. Advance opportunities to streamline environmental review processes and develop a unified, easily understandable land-use code that reduces complexity and makes it easier to build in Bellingham. 

8. Act on the findings of the industrial lands study, advancing strategies that protect and strengthen Bellingham’s industrial economy and preserve the land base that industrial employers depend on. 

9. Engage Whatcom County, the Economic Development Investment Board, and the Whatcom County Council in developing a strategic investment plan for putting the county’s rural sales tax dollars to work on public infrastructure that expands economic opportunity across the region. 

10. Continue to support Whatcom County’s actions to expand access to affordable, high quality, professional, and accessible early learning and childcare.  

Section 2. Downtown Forward: Activating the City Center 

Downtown Bellingham is the heart of this community and filling its empty storefronts, activating its public spaces, and building on its extraordinary cultural assets is among the City’s most important economic development work.  

1. Implement the Downtown Vacancy Strategy to bring long-empty storefronts back into productive use and enhance street level activity. The City will be a proactive partner in filling downtown—not a passive bystander. 

2. Prioritize permitting, including tenant improvements, within the downtown pedestrian core bounded generally by State Street, Champion Street, Bay Street, and Chestnut Street. 

3. Propose, for City Council consideration, a 7-year Business and Occupation Tax exemption for businesses that start a new location in the downtown pedestrian core.  

4. Support the Downtown Bellingham Partnership’s 2026–2028 Strategic Plan, aligning Downtown Forward investments and programming with the Partnership’s goals ensuring City resources and actions advance shared priorities. 

5. Launch the Downtown Connections Plan to enhance infrastructure that improves circulation, access, and overall functionality of the downtown environment for residents, workers, and visitors navigating within, to, and from the City Center using all modes of transportation. 

6. Work with the Public Facilities District (PFD) to advance meaningful capital improvements to the Whatcom Museum, the Mount Baker Theatre, and the broader arts district, making full use of the PFD’s renewed state sales tax rebate funding to deliver improvements that benefit residents and draw visitors to Bellingham. 

7. Evaluate opportunities to strengthen and expand Bellingham’s arts district – including creative district designation, cultural facility incentives, and programming to attract and retain the creative businesses and institutions that define the character of the City Center. 

8. Continue to collaborate with tourism partners to create and enhance opportunities that reflect the character and identity of Bellingham and draw visitors to the City Center. 

Section 3. Waterfront District 

The Waterfront District is a generational opportunity that builds on the deep maritime heritage of the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County. Two hundred and thirty-seven acres of former industrial land along Bellingham Bay represent a significant canvas for urban transformation, economic activity and the continued evolution of the working waterfront. 

1. Partner with the Port of Bellingham on Waterfront District redevelopment—advancing the shared vision for a mixed-use, publicly accessible, economically vibrant waterfront that is seamlessly connected to downtown. 

2. Prioritize marine trades in the areas of the waterfront uniquely suited for that purpose, while advancing diverse development in the balance of the district that creates family-wage jobs, generates activity, and builds Bellingham’s tax base. 

3. Pursue state and federal funding, public-private partnerships, and other financing tools to accelerate waterfront development and the infrastructure that connects it to the rest of the City Center. 

4. Explore creative strategies to unite the waterfront to the downtown core through essential infrastructure, pedestrian and bicycle connections, wayfinding, programming, and public space so that a thriving waterfront reflective of its maritime history raises all boats across the City Center. 

Section 4. Higher Education and Talent 

Bellingham’s colleges and universities are among its greatest economic assets. Western Washington University, Bellingham Technical College, and Whatcom Community College produce thousands of graduates each year. Keeping that talent in Bellingham, and connecting it to local businesses and entrepreneurs, is a priority for this administration. 

1. Establish active partnerships with Bellingham’s higher education institutions, identifying opportunities to collaborate on workforce development, entrepreneurship support, business incubation and other actions that help keep graduates in the community and connect academic resources to local economic needs. 

2. Evaluate creating internship opportunities across City departments for students from Bellingham’s colleges and universities, investing in the next generation of civic and business leaders and demonstrating that a career in Bellingham is worth pursuing.