Residents and housing advocates split on Bellevue upzoning proposals; neighborhood process concerns raised

City of Bellevue — Dozens of residents, property owners and housing advocates spoke during oral communications at the Planning Commission’s Feb. 28 meeting, voicing a mix of support and concern about staff’s proposed comprehensive‑plan updates.

Property‑owner representatives — including Charlie Baumann of Bell Red Property Group and a land‑use attorney representing Crossroads Mall owner ROIC — urged commissioners to adopt the staff‑recommended land‑use map and, in some cases, a higher density (MU‑High) so owners have flexibility to redevelop around light‑rail stations. Baumann told the commission the current map “provides flexibility which will enable many properties to redevelop into much needed housing as soon as market conditions permit.”

Affordable‑housing advocates, including Cliff Cawthon (Eastside Affordable Housing Coalition) and Jesse Simpson (Housing Development Consortium), urged commissioners to be bolder on housing capacity — particularly mid‑rise and other middle‑housing types — and to consider incentives or inclusionary tools to capture some of the value created by upzones for affordable units.

Neighborhood speakers repeatedly criticized a staff proposal to group several existing commercial designations under a single umbrella (MULM). Heidi Dean described the change as an erosion of neighborhood voice that could fast‑track rezonings and funnel appeals to the hearing examiner rather than City Council, making it harder for residents to participate effectively. Reet Sangha and others asked staff to clarify exactly what uses would be allowed under the grouped designation before authorizing faster rezone paths.

Chair Bhargava and staff reiterated that umbrella designations are intended to provide flexibility while site‑specific zoning decisions would still govern the permitted uses; staff said details of MULM would be defined in the land‑use code (LUCA) following plan adoption and offered to provide more explicit examples and a written summary of outreach on Crossroads and BelRed.

One commenter’s remarks during oral communications were flagged by multiple commissioners and staff as violating decorum rules and containing racist language; commissioners put that on the record as inconsistent with city norms.

What’s next: staff will summarize outreach findings about Crossroads and other contested areas and return with clarifying language on the MULM umbrella and examples of how the LUCA code would treat site‑by‑site proposals; commissioners asked staff to include absolute engagement counts in future outreach summaries (not just percentages).