#Board of Directors
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Todd Buchanan, AIA, LEED AP
Managing Director, Principal Perkins&Will 425-208-1917Member -
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Yuliya Hemerlein, Leadership Executive MBA
Vice President, Relationship Manager at Key Private Bank KeyBank - Bellevue Main Key Center (425)410-5737Member -
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Garrick Hughes
Principal | Senior Project Manager GLY Construction, Inc (425)451-8877Member -
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Nancy Khoury-Zuanich
Associate Commercial RM Banner Bank - Bellevue Downtown 4255761514Member -
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Christine Liu
Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking Middle Market Director Columbia Bank (425)531-3914Member -
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Scott McClellan
Vice President for University Affairs Seattle University (703)310-8142Member -
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Beth Osborne
Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Community Partnerships Symetra (206)769-2745Member -
Beth Osborne
Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Community Partnerships Symetra (206)769-2745Member
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Megan Ouellette
Vice President, Public and Government Affairs, Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines (206)304-2657Member -
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Tiffany Rogers
Chief Sales and Marketing Officer First Choice Health (206)484-0274Member -
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Brandon Stone
Elite Benefits Manager IMA (formerly Parker, Smith & Feek) 2067696202Member -
Francesca Vega
Vice President, External Affairs and Community Relations Seattle Children's 2066182980Member -
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Patrick Bannon
President Bellevue Downtown Association (425)453-3113Ex-Officio (Permanent) -
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PLUSH Committee
Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability & Housing:
championing livability and smart growth in Bellevue.
Mission & Scope
The Bellevue Chamber’s Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability and Housing (PLUSH) Committee brings together housing and development experts, including property owners, builders, architects, affordable-housing advocates, and other professionals, who share a commitment to keeping Bellevue livable, competitive, and buildable.
The committee focuses on the land-use, permitting, sustainability, and housing policies that determine how Bellevue grows. PLUSH members help shape the rules that govern where homes can be built, how projects are permitted, and whether new housing remains feasible for a range of incomes. To help the region grow, PLUSH members engage with City Hall and regional partners, submit detailed comment letters, and contribute technical analysis on permitting, land use, sustainability and housing affordability.
PLUSH sits within the Chamber’s publicāpolicy portfolio and meets monthly. The committee works with developers, architects, general contractors, affordableāhousing experts and others to shorten construction timelines, prioritize growth and improve local and state landāuse policies. Jessica Clawson, a landāuse attorney at McCullough Hill Leary, serves as committee chair.
50+
advocacy letters since 2024
12+
major code or ordinance updates engaged on
3
rezoning/subarea frameworks.
Millions
of dollars saved for employers and housing providers
What We’ve Done
2026
MFTE Catalyst Supercharger wins approval with no unit cap
Bellevue City Council directed staff toward a four-year MFTE Catalyst Supercharger with no unit cap, capping a multi-year PLUSH campaign for housing-feasibility tools. The program is projected to unlock 1,200 homes, 15 percent of Bellevue's housing growth through 2044. PLUSH and the Eastside Housing Roundtable, the pro-housing coalition the Chamber co-leads, held the no-cap line against a proposed 1,500-unit ceiling with analysis showing a 5.84 percent yield against lenders' 6 percent bar.
MFTE Catalyst Supercharger wins approval with no unit cap
2026
Planning Commission moves Bel-Red code toward street-grid flexibility
At the Planning Commission's May 27 study session, PLUSH and the BelRed Property Owners Group made the case for replacing the prescriptive street grid with a flexible block-perimeter standard: $1,000-per-lineal-foot street costs, ownership fragmented across 32 landowners, and no traffic-based need in the City's own environmental review. The Commission advanced the BelRed code toward its July 8 public hearing, and PLUSH submitted a written follow-up to commissioner questions on June 1.
Planning Commission moves Bel-Red code toward flexibility
2026
PLUSH urges Planning Commission to simplify the Bel-Red street grid
PLUSH and the BelRed Property Owners Group urged the Bellevue Planning Commission to scale back the Bel-Red land use code's prescriptive street grid. The committee flagged 26-foot shared-use paths (double Wilburton's standard), 60-foot green-street widths, and excessive grid exceptions as barriers to feasible transit-oriented development, noting the grid was absent from the City's own BelRed environmental review. Commissioners scheduled a May 27 study session on street network flexibility.
PLUSH urges simplifying the Bel-Red street grid
2026
Eastside Housing Roundtable: a regional pro-housing coalition
Much of this spring's housing progress ran through the Eastside Housing Roundtable, the pro-housing coalition the Chamber co-leads with the Housing Development Consortium, Futurewise, HopeLink, Bellwether Housing, and Imagine Housing. In May the coalition sent parallel letters to City Council backing the no-cap MFTE Catalyst and a buildable BelRed code, and on May 28 recognized the Council's MFTE direction as a coalition win.
Eastside Housing Roundtable coalition
2026
Planning Commission advances the 2026 Omnibus Land Use Code Amendment
After months of PLUSH monitoring, the Bellevue Planning Commission advanced the 2026 Omnibus Land Use Code Amendment to City Council. The package covers state-law compliance updates, SR1 tree code adjustments balancing redevelopment feasibility with environmental goals, and three high-density residential zone alignments. Bellevue became the first Washington jurisdiction to align lot-splitting rules with state Commerce guidance, and PLUSH Chair Jessica Clawson testified in support.
2026 Omnibus Land Use Code Amendment advances
2026
Council establishes a flexible Public-Private Partnership pathway
Bellevue City Council approved a new Public-Private Partnership development agreement pathway, creating greater zoning and development flexibility for qualifying projects in exchange for enforceable public benefits such as affordable housing, environmental stewardship, and economic development. PLUSH engaged on the amendment as it moved through Council. The new pathway reflects the committee's feasibility-first approach to advancing housing and investment.
Council establishes a flexible P3 pathway
2026
Affordable Housing Strategy: Council accepts PLUSH's recommendations
PLUSH submitted a formal letter supporting the City's draft Affordable Housing Strategy while urging feasibility-focused refinements that favor flexible incentives over mandates. Council accepted the committee's key recommendations and adopted the strategy in spring 2026. The plan targets 5,700 affordable homes citywide over ten years, including 1,300 in BelRed at or below 80 percent of area median income. In April the City followed with a record $37 million round funding 271 homes.
Affordable Housing Strategy: Council accepts PLUSH's recommendations
2026
Old Bellevue IOC letter
PLUSH submitted a letter to the Bellevue City Council on land use and development standards for the Old Bellevue IOC area, continuing the committee's practice of direct engagement on subarea and district-level planning decisions across the city. The letter reflects PLUSH's approach of providing targeted technical input at key decision points, before city processes are finalized rather than after.
Old Bellevue IOC letter
2026
Housing Strategy letters and City Council engagement
In February, PLUSH submitted a letter ahead of a City Council meeting on housing policy, urging the Council to ground its Affordable Housing Strategy in tools that pair affordability goals with the financial realities facing Bellevue developers. Later that month, City housing staff briefed the committee directly on the draft strategy, creating a feedback loop between PLUSH members and the City while the strategy was still being shaped.
Housing Strategy letters and City Council engagement
2026
HOMA advocacy: from Planning Commission to City Council
Through a series of letters and meetings in early 2026, PLUSH made a sustained case to both the Planning Commission and City Council for pairing HOMA requirements with flexible tools, including an MFTE supercharger and fee-in-lieu options, that keep multifamily development viable. At the January PLUSH meeting, City staff previewed the BelRed Land Use Code Amendment and walked through near-term HOMA changes, and the committee flagged that the area's constrained street grid required design flexibi
HOMA advocacy: from Planning Commission to City Council
2026
Parking Reform LUCA letter
PLUSH submitted a letter in support of Bellevue's Parking Reform Land Use Code Amendment, advocating for right-sized parking minimums aligned with state law and transit-oriented development goals. The committee made the case that updating outdated parking standards is foundational to project feasibility, particularly in emerging districts like BelRed where the City is counting on new housing production near light rail.
Parking Reform LUCA letter
2026
MFTE reform letters
Building on its multi-year push to strengthen Bellevue's Multifamily Tax Exemption program, PLUSH submitted formal MFTE letters at the start of 2026 as the City prepared to finalize program changes. The committee continued advocating for a financially viable supercharger approach: pairing mandatory affordability requirements with incentives strong enough to keep workforce housing projects moving forward across a range of project types and income levels.
MFTE reform letters
2025
Sign Code letter
Ahead of the City's anticipated sign code overhaul, PLUSH submitted an early letter flagging priorities from the business and development community. The committee identified concerns around commercial flexibility and practical standards for established businesses, laying groundwork for deeper engagement when Bellevue formally launched its first full sign code rewrite in decades in early 2026.
Sign Code letter
2025
Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) modernization
PLUSH submitted multiple letters on Bellevue’s Critical Areas Ordinance, advocating a performance-based, science-driven framework that protected habitat without blocking transit-oriented housing, especially in BelRed. The committee pushed to remove man-made steep slopes from regulation, end density penalties, and rethink blanket buffer expansions beyond the state’s “no net loss” standard.
Critical Areas Ordinance
2025
BelRed walking tours for policymakers
To show real-world impacts of the CAO and the planned street grid, PLUSH and the BelRed Property Owners Group led walking tours for councilmembers, commissioners, and staff in the Spring District and around the 130th Link station. The tours highlighted redevelopment hurdles and opportunity sites and helped secure CAO revisions that reflected PLUSH’s recommendations while maintaining environmental safeguards.
BelRed Walking Tours
2025
Support for building permit extension ordinance
PLUSH backed Bellevue’s building permit extension ordinance (Ordinance 6853) and submitted a committee letter in support. The ordinance was designed to extend the life of key building permit applications and issued permits, giving projects more time to pencil and preserving the existing development pipeline.
Building Permit Extension Ordinance
2025
Using the Bellevue Development Committee to fix permitting
Through the Bellevue Development Committee (BDC), created in partnership with the City, PLUSH leaders and chamber staff pushed for broader permitting and entitlement reforms. Sub-teams (inspections, engineering and site design, Wilburton LUCA, and others) and an internal issue tracker helped flag bottlenecks, clarify policies, and improve coordination with Development Services.
Bellevue Development Committee
2025
Downtown Center Redesignation feedback
PLUSH submitted a letter on Item 25-438 that supported the Downtown Center Redesignation as a way to position Bellevue for future federal transportation funding. The committee also cautioned against scope creep and urged the City to keep the update focused on mobility and economic competitiveness.
Downtown Center Redesignation
2025
Affordable housing strategy feedback
Early in 2025, PLUSH submitted formal feedback on Bellevue’s citywide affordable housing strategy. The committee flagged feasibility concerns and delivery timelines as the City updated tools for both low-income and workforce housing.
Affordable housing strategy
2025
HOMA initiative letter
PLUSH followed with a letter on the Housing and Opportunity Market Affordability (HOMA) initiative, urging the Planning Commission to keep new requirements consistent, predictable, and aligned with market realities so they did not unintentionally stall mixed-use or transit-oriented projects.
HOMA Initiative Letter
2025
MFTE “supercharger” and mass timber focus
Throughout 2025, PLUSH dedicated multiple meetings to Bellevue’s Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) policy, including a September session on mass timber and the proposed “MFTE supercharger.” The committee advocated for a financially viable, more inclusive MFTE that supported workforce housing (roughly 80 to 120 percent AMI) and combined mandatory and incentive-based participation near jobs and transit.
MFTE Supercharger
2025
Affordable housing and MFTE briefings with City and Council
At an October PLUSH meeting, the City’s Office of Housing debriefed the affordable housing strategy update and mixed-use areas rezone, and members emphasized how permitting timelines, critical areas rules, and incentive structures would affect whether promised units were actually built. A November session with Councilmember Naren Briar gave PLUSH a preview of MFTE strike-draft changes and a direct channel for implementation feedback.
Affordable Housing and MFTE
2024
Wilburton LUCA advocacy
PLUSH worked closely with the Wilburton Property Owners Group on the Comprehensive Plan, Wilburton Vision Implementation, and Future Land Use Map. Committee testimony and a formal “PLUSH weighs in on Wilburton” letter offered targeted edits to the Wilburton Land Use Code Amendment, shaping a framework that added housing and job capacity near transit while avoiding provisions that would have undermined feasibility.
Wilburton LUCA advocacy
2024
BelRed subarea and tree code groundwork
City staff briefed PLUSH on how the BelRed subarea plan and tree code updates would follow the Comprehensive Plan periodic update. PLUSH highlighted how tree retention, critical areas rules, and redevelopment potential intersected in BelRed and laid important groundwork for the 2025 CAO letters and BelRed walking tours.
BelRed subarea and tree code groundwork
2024
Design review streamlining letter
PLUSH urged the City to streamline downtown design review guidelines and submitted an October letter calling for clearer, more predictable standards tied to previously negotiated incentive packages. The committee emphasized that without updated design review, projects would struggle to realize the capacity envisioned in Next Right Work and related zoning tools.
Design review streamlining letter
2024
Regional housing coordination dinner
Working with the Eastside Multifamily Policy Group, the Chamber and PLUSH hosted a Wild Ginger dinner featuring Brookings Metro Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz and elected officials from Seattle and Eastside cities. The discussion on evidence-based housing and land use reforms launched an ongoing effort to align pro-housing priorities across Bellevue, Seattle, and other East King County jurisdictions.
Regional housing coordination dinner
2024
Briefings on Amazon Housing Equity Fund and upcoming legislation
At multiple 2024 meetings, PLUSH members heard briefings on Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund and the City’s upcoming legislative actions. These conversations helped the development community understand how private capital, city tools, and regional legislation fit together in Bellevue’s housing pipeline.
Briefings on Amazon Housing Equity Fund and upcoming legislation
2024
Rewriting Bellevue’s MFTE program
Following a year-long collaboration between PLUSH and the City, Bellevue City Council unanimously approved major changes to the MFTE program in July 2021. A PLUSH-convened working group of property owners, developers, and land use attorneys drafted code language that unlocked additional housing while remaining financially workable, expanded eligibility up to 80 percent of King County AMI (with micro-units at 65 percent AMI), and set aside up to 20 percent of units as affordable.
Rewriting Bellevue’s MFTE program
2024
Making the case on the jobs and housing imbalance
Media coverage and survey work, including stories such as “Bellevue has way more jobs than housing” and Puget Sound Business Journal coverage of residents cheering tech growth but wanting more affordable housing, highlighted the mismatch between job creation and housing supply. These narratives reinforced PLUSH’s case for robust but feasible housing tools, including MFTE.
Making the case on the jobs and housing imbalance
2023
Comprehensive Plan DEIS comments and growth strategy
PLUSH submitted detailed comments on Bellevue’s Comprehensive Plan draft and DEIS and urged the City to adopt the highest-capacity growth option, with density focused in transit-rich centers like Wilburton and BelRed. The committee pushed for explicit recognition of workforce housing (80 to 120 percent AMI) and for both mandatory and incentive-based affordable housing tools to be evaluated side by side. These contributions were reflected in the 2024 to 2044 Comprehensive Plan.
Comprehensive Plan DEIS comments and growth strategy
2023
Next Right Work FAR and incentive calibration
As Bellevue launched its Next Right Work initiative to recalibrate downtown floor-area ratios and affordable housing incentives, PLUSH and Chamber partners provided data-driven feedback grounded in ECONorthwest analysis. That work helped right-size proposed market-to-affordable ratios and removed a proposed commercial linkage fee from the near-term agenda, keeping the focus on streamlining permits and accelerating production.
Next Right Work FAR and incentive calibration
2023
Launching the Bellevue Development Committee
Responding to persistent concerns about delays and inconsistent interpretations, the Chamber, working closely with PLUSH, partnered with the City to establish the Bellevue Development Committee. The BDC held its kickoff meeting in September 2023, and PLUSH and staff used the committee and an internal issue tracker to drive inspection, engineering, and Wilburton-related process improvements.
Launching the Bellevue Development Committee
2022
Early Comprehensive Plan engagement
In late 2022, PLUSH submitted early comments on the Comprehensive Plan update to Development Services and emphasized alignment between future land use capacity, job growth, and transit investments. This early engagement set the stage for more detailed DEIS comments in 2023 and for the high-capacity growth option the City ultimately adopted.
Early Comprehensive Plan engagement
2022
Resetting PLUSH’s multi-year workplan
At an August 2022 meeting recapped in “PLUSH sips on their successes,” the committee reviewed early wins, including MFTE progress, and mapped a multi-year workplan focused on production, feasibility, and permitting reforms. That plan mirrored themes that later appeared in the Chamber’s advocacy highlights.
Resetting PLUSH’s multi-year workplan
2022
Direct dialogue with Mayor Robinson
Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson attended a PLUSH meeting in early 2022 to discuss growth, housing, and the Council’s evolving strategy. The conversation reinforced a direct connection between PLUSH and City leadership on land use and housing policy.
Direct dialogue with Mayor Robinson
“Our committee is solutionsāfirst. We pair data with onātheāground expertise to make Bellevue more affordable and more livable for everyone.”Jessica Clawson, PLUSH Chair
What We’re Working On
The committee continues to work on several initiatives that will shape growth in Bellevue over the next few years:
- MFTE Catalyst Supercharger implementation: With the City Council's 2026 direction to create a four-year MFTE Catalyst Supercharger with no unit cap, PLUSH is focused on the follow-through: the Office of Housing's code amendments, vesting and fee-payment rules, the program's usage tracker, and the Q4 2026 report-back that will show whether the tool is producing homes. The committee has commissioned an independent pro forma analysis with ECO Northwest-affiliated consultants to keep the program grounded in real project economics.
- BelRed Land Use Code Amendment (LUCA): PLUSH is pressing for a BelRed code that is genuinely buildable, arguing the prescriptive street grid should be replaced with a flexible block-perimeter standard and infrastructure incentives. The committee presented its site-specific analysis to the Planning Commission on May 27 and submitted a written follow-up response to commissioner questions on June 1, ahead of the July 8, 2026 study session.
- Downtown Livability 2.0: PLUSH is engaged as the City refines its 2017 downtown code for small-business and active-use flexibility, Old Bellevue's historic character, and a new amenity-incentive program. The Planning Commission confirmed the project scope at its May 28 kickoff, and the committee submitted priorities to City Council ahead of a July 8, 2026 public hearing, with city engagement sessions underway in June.
- 2026 Omnibus Land Use Code Amendments: PLUSH is tracking Bellevue's 2026 omnibus land use code package as it moves from the Planning Commission to City Council, including state-law compliance updates and a consolidated permitting-process chapter, and supporting refinements such as the East Main transit-oriented development fee-in-lieu.
- Permitting and process reforms: Through the Bellevue Development Committee and direct engagement with Development Services, PLUSH continues to push for faster, more predictable permitting, including inspection coordination, engineering review timelines, and permit extension policies that keep projects from stalling mid-process. That work is reinforced by Washington's HB 2418, the state's "Culture of Yes" permitting reform effective June 11, 2026, which adds application-date vesting for residential permits, procedural-only completeness reviews, and stronger permitting-timeline accountability.
- Sign Code rewrite: Bellevue is conducting its first comprehensive sign code overhaul in decades. PLUSH is engaged throughout the process to ensure new standards reflect the practical needs of businesses, avoid penalizing established uses, and support the commercial vitality of Bellevue's evolving districts.
- Powering BelRed's growth: PLUSH is engaging Puget Sound Energy and city leadership on electrical capacity constraints affecting BelRed development sites, including substation planning and the power studies new projects depend on. Reliable power capacity is emerging as a precondition for the corridor's housing and jobs growth.
Committee in Action
News & Updates
Downtown Livability 2.0, the BelRed Street Grid
Our June PLUSH Committee recap: Bellevue's Downtown Livability 2.0 code refresh (no height or FAR changes), the push to fix BelRed's rigid 300-foot street grid, parking reform, and...
PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
June 23
The Bellevue Chamber's PLUSH Committee submitted recommendations to Ci
The Bellevue Chamber's PLUSH Committee submitted recommendations to City Council on May 4, identifying five frequently departed code provisions as barriers
PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
May 4
Resources & Letters
Plush committee directory
Ready to Join PLUSH?
Apply to JoinEligibility: Advocateālevel members and above may join this committee.