Here’s a surprise. Whatcom County issued 691 permits for construction of houses in unincorporated areas while all of the cities in the county combined issued 482 building permits for houses, according to statistics compiled by The Bellingham Herald. According to the research in the article “Bellingham population grew slower than planned from 2000 to 2005, but in the unincorporated county, population growth was about three times faster than expected.”      

Sounds like sprawl to me. With all the talk of stopping sprawl and keeping growth in Bellingham it just doesn’t seem to be happening. Wouldn’t it be better to grow the city than build houses in the rural parts of the county? It seems like it to me. Sure we are  not going to completely stop growth in the rural areas but who about confining it a bit. Growth is a big issue here in Bellingham and Whatcom County. We have been discovered, people are coming from all over. Where are they going to live is an ongoing debate. But these numbers seem to speak for themselves as to the past few years. How about the next few. Will the new high-rises planned change the tide.

What do you think? …………………………..Stay tuned.