Studio Cascade : Public Participation, Bellingham

City of Bellingham Regional agencies collaborate for Growth Forum

	When projections showed growth topping 40%, the City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, and the Whatcom Transit Authority teamed up to host the "Community Forum on Growth Management." Local concerns about growth mandated strong participation from the community, so Studio Cascade led efforts including: Construction and staffing of a downtown project headquarters - a great participant resource and on-street awareness-builder Presentations at neighborhood and civic events Initiation of a "visual survey" among residents - participants photographed their best (and worst) urban features Informal surveys - taken at area stores, parks, and public places Development of project web pages - including full process documentation Extensive local media coverage Hosting of four public meetings, featuring lectures, open-house booths, charrette exercises, policy forums and more Results? More than 1,000 participants helped develop and back the report, addressing city growth through the creation of 23 "urban villages" distributed within City limits. Recommendations were adopted by unanimous vote of City and County councils. For their efforts, Studio Cascade and its agency clients won a Washington State 2005 APA award, leading all entries for public participation. Want to see more? Click here for a six-page summary.



A series of open houses, workshops and charettes helped inform, build support for, and even help design Bellingham's growth policy decisions.		One key approach engaging casual participants was "Pennyweighting" - an informal exercise using a 10-penny budget to gauge respondent priorities.

Home \| About Us \| Services \| Clients \| Academics \| News \| Resources © Copyright 2008 Studio Cascade, Inc., All Rights Reserved