New zoning code for BelRed
Next with the Planning Commission · Wednesday 13 January
On the agenda as “Public Hearing on the BelRed Look Forward Land Use Code Amendment (LUCA)”
Why it matters
This code decides what can be built in BelRed, the district of warehouses and shops between downtown and Overlake that the light rail now runs through. It sets building heights and density, and what a project gives back in return, such as affordable homes, parks and new streets. source
Where it stands
- 22 October 2024Council adopts the updated BelRed plan this code puts into effect sourceDone
- 25 February 2025Council starts the code work sourceDone
- 14 May 2025Commission's first look sourceDone
- 23 February 2026Open house sourceDone
- 22 April to 9 September 2026Four Commission study sessions sourceDone
- 28 October 2026Public hearing. Staff ask the Commission to recommend the code that night or send it back with direction sourceHeld · result not yet in the record
- TodaySunday 8 November
- 13 January 2027Commission recommendation, on its schedule updated 29 October sourceNext · expected
- Not before early 2027, staff expectCouncil review and adoption by ordinance sourceLater
What’s been said
“increase development capacity through 2044 to 7,900 housing units (23 percent of the City’s target) and 14,200 jobs (20 percent)”
City staff · Staff memo for the 28 October hearing, page 2
“Through the Wilburton catalyst program, reducing affordability requirements has significantly reduced the number of income-restricted units. … staff do not recommend replicating that approach in BelRed.”
City staff, on lowering affordable housing requirements to get early projects built · Staff memo for the 28 October hearing, page 4
“Kristina Gallant respectfully disagreed with treating immediate, or “day one,” project feasibility as the overriding objective.”
Minutes, on Code and Policy Planning Manager Kristina Gallant · Draft minutes of the 9 September study session, page 10
“Because private properties will receive significant additional value through the proposed upzoning, it is reasonable for a portion of that benefit to be reinvested in the neighborhood through public improvements.”
Minutes, on Kristina Gallant · Draft minutes of the 9 September study session, page 11
Transcripts of these sessions are coming. Until then this quotes only the city’s written records.
Who wrote in
Five letters on this item are in the meeting packet. Two are Brian’s, quoted under What we’ve said and written. Two are from property owners or their representatives. One is from a resident.
- CMRE Partners, for the Sternoff family, which owns 2.66 acres at 1750 124th Avenue NE Supports the draft code. Asks that removing pavement from a wetland buffer earn the same bonus as stream restoration, and that development agreements be allowed on smaller sites next to sensitive areas such as the West Tributary. “We strongly support the draft code … We ask that the code state plainly that this work qualifies on the same terms.” page 13
- Mayers Group Investments, owner of about 8.6 acres in BelRed, through its attorneys Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson P.S. Asks the city to remove a planned local street that would cut through its site, and to allow more flexibility in where a planned green street runs and how wide it is. The letter is a scan, so it is summarised here rather than quoted. page 19
- One resident wrote about conditions for supportive housing and services, about safety, and about transferring development capacity.
Letters that arrive after the packet closed are not counted here.
What we’ve said and written
Brian’s comment · sent Wednesday 14 October
“Please add a family-sized housing bonus to BelRed's amenity list (LUC 20.25D.050.D in the October 14 hearing draft), using the sentence already in Wilburton's code (LUC 20.25C.050.B, item 2)”
Brian’s comment · sent Monday 19 October
“Please add one sentence to the October 14 hearing draft at LUC 20.25D.050.D.2.a.viii, the 10 percent bonus for affordable commercial space … A qualified business operating in the BelRed Subarea on the effective date of this ordinance shall be considered at risk of displacement.”
What this site has published on it
- BelRed's draft code has no incentive for family-sized homes. It was asked for three times and left out each time. Wilburton's new code rewards three-bedroom apartments; BelRed's, drafted in the same package, does not, though staff proposed it in 2023, commissioners asked in 2024 and owners asked in 2026. 0.9% of BelRed's new apartments have three bedrooms, against 3.4% in Bellevue's buildings of 20 or more units. Limit: The 22 and 2,472 count rental apartments, which is what BelRed's zones have produced; condominiums and townhomes are not in them.
Comments marked with his name were written by this site’s author, Brian H. Liou, as a Bellevue resident.
Next step and how to weigh in
Wednesday 13 January · Planning Commission
Commission recommendation, on its schedule updated 29 October.
How to comment
Email [email protected], which goes to every commissioner. Send it by 11 a.m. on Tuesday 5 January and it's printed in the packet commissioners read ahead; by 11 a.m. on Wednesday 13 January it's still emailed to them before the meeting. Whatever you send becomes a public record.
How this was checked
Meetings and agenda items come from Bellevue’s Legistar meeting calendar, read by plat’s agenda watcher, which keeps items on housing, land use, parking and streets and leaves out the rest. It last read the city’s calendar on Sunday 8 November. Agenda headings and the city’s glossary of agenda terms are left out. An item is matched to a published story only where the watcher’s fixed topic list says the story speaks to it.
Each decision’s stages come from the city’s project pages, staff memos and minutes, linked beside each one. A date the city expects but has not fixed is marked expected. Quotes are copied from the city’s PDFs and checked word for word against the page they cite on every build; minutes marked draft are not yet approved.
Who wrote in counts the letters on the item in the meeting packet. Organisations, firms and property owners are named with what they asked for. Residents who wrote are counted, with what they wrote about, and not named.
Decided items come from the actions the city records on each agenda item. A decision this page followed stays under Decided for good; an agenda item it only linked a story to stays 30 days.
Our comments are quoted from the text that was sent. Whether one was taken up is filled in from the meeting record after the decision.
Sources: Planning Commission page, read 25 October; City Council page, read 25 October; Council oral communications page, read 20 October; Budget public involvement page, read 24 October; Weekly Permit Bulletin, 14 October 2026, pages 6 and 7, read 14 October; BelRed Look Forward code amendment page, read 25 October; Staff memo for the 28 October hearing, read 25 October; Draft minutes of the 9 September study session, read 25 October; Written communications in the 28 October packet, read 25 October.