Last night the Bellingham City Council voted to create a permanent moratorium on stores over 90,000 square feet, and to extremely limit those over 60,000 square feet.

And Bellingham is in an uproar! 50 comments have been posted the Bellingham Herald story online. Surprisingly, most of the comments are AGAINST the council’s decision. I say surprisingly because Bellingham is quite often known for its left leaning/anti-major-growth tendencies. However, this time, people are pro big business.

Many of the comments are to the effect that many people in Bellingham cannot afford to shop elsewhere and need to shop at the big box stores because they offer the biggest discounts. Others are enraged that 7 individuals have decided for all of us where we can and cannot shop. Is it really the role of government to say which stores can and cannot go in?

Many people are saying that when the big box stores go to Ferndale (it is the closest place on the I-5 and they seem to be more accepting of growth and new business than Bellingham is these days) that they will simply take their money there. And that means less tax dollars going to Bellingham. Right now the city gets 12% of its sales tax revenue from stores larger than 90,000 square feet and 14% from stores over 60,000.

The biggest problem that I have with the council’s decision is that they are forgetting one important thing: reality! Reality is, people are going to shop at big box stores. Reality is, big box stores offer better prices – usually. Reality is, growth is happening whether they like it or not. Reality is, Bellingham may get left behind.

If the big box stores see that Whatcom County is a growing and thriving area, they will want to invest and put their stores here. If Bellingham is going to shun business (and therefore tax revenues and jobs for locals) simply because it’s “big business” then they will simply go elsewhere. Other cities in Whatcom County will get the tax revenue and jobs. Other cities will have people (including our friends to the north who come down to shop) flocking to them to do their shopping.

Supporters of the moratorium say that they do not want Bellingham to become another ______ (insert Seattle suburb here). It does not have to! BELLINGHAM CAN HAVE BIG BOX STORES AND STILL RETAIN ITS CHARACTER! It simply requires planning. Plan an area out that can have the big box stores. Plan adequate parking (maybe underground???) and roads to access it. If certain people from our city don’t want to go there – then fine – DON’T! But they should not be able to tell everyone else where they can and cannot shop!

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