#Board of Directors
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Aaron August
Senior Vice President, Chief Customer and Transformation Officer Puget Sound EnergyMember -
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Brandon Baucom
MBA, ERIS Vice President, Commercial Insurance Hub International NW, LLCMember -
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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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Sean Marsh
Associate Vice Chancellor of Philanthropy University of Washington - Bothell (425)352-5195Member -
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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 public‑policy portfolio and meets monthly. The committee works with developers, architects, general contractors, affordable‑housing experts and others to shorten construction timelines, prioritize growth and improve local and state land‑use policies. Jessica Clawson, a land‑use attorney at McCullough Hill Leary, serves as committee chair.
37+
advocacy letters since 2024
10+
major code or ordinance updates engaged on
3
rezoning/subarea frameworks.
Millions
of dollars saved for employers and housing providers
What We’ve Done
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Our committee is solutions‑first. We pair data with on‑the‑ground expertise to make Bellevue more affordable and more livable for everyone.”Jessie 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:
- Permitting reforms: Streamlining permit processes, aligning inspection rules and advocating for timeline extensions to reduce friction and improve predictability.
- Housing‑supply strategies: Supporting tools that add homes near jobs and transit, especially expanding MFTE options, aligning HOMA policies with development feasibility and exploring innovative approaches such as mass‑timber construction.
- Smart growth planning: Providing input on rezones and growth strategies in emerging districts (Wilburton, BelRed, downtown) to ensure infrastructure, transportation and environmental policies support sustainable growth.
- Data‑driven environmental policies: Continuing to advocate for science‑based critical‑areas regulations that protect habitat without unnecessarily constraining housing supply.
Committee in Action
News & Updates
PLUSH Recap: Councilmember Briar’s Housing Focus and MFTE Decisions Ahead
At the Chamber’s Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability, and Housing (PLUSH) meeting on November 18, 2025, members heard from Bellevue’s newest councilmember, Naren Briar, and received an advance look at strike-draft changes to the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program headed to City Council on December 2.
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
November 17, 2025
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City Advances Affordable Housing Strategy; Businessed Urge Feasible Incentives and Faster Permiting
On October 28, the Chamber’s PLUSH group met with the City of Bellevue’s Office of Housing to review the city’s affordable housing strategy update, discuss the mixed-use areas housing rezone, and flag permitting and critical areas issues that directly affect delivery timelines and project feasibility.
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
October 23, 2025
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PLUSH Committee chimes in on MFTE discussion
Ahead of the Bellevue City Council meeting on October 21, the Chamber's PLUSH Committee submitted the following letter regarding the City's MFTE policies, and naturally, made some suggestions along the way.
Read the letter below, and meet the PLUSH Committee here!
Read the letter below, and meet the PLUSH Committee here!
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
October 15, 2025
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PLUSH Committee Discusses Mass Timber and MFTE Updates
At the PLUSH meeting on Tuesday, members heard a pragmatic look at where mass timber fits in Bellevue and an update from the City on evolving Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) policy, especially the proposed “supercharger” in Wilburton. The discussion underscored near-term code decisions that affect speed to market, cost, and affordability across Eastside projects.
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
September 24, 2025
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PLUSH Committee Comments on Bellevue Critical Areas Update
The Bellevue Chamber’s PLUSH Committee supports removing man-made steep slopes from regulation and ending the density penalty, and urges the City to rethink across-the-board buffer expansions that go beyond the state’s no net loss standard, especially in already urbanized TOD areas like Bel-Red. Before the CAO advances, we request clear case studies and visuals comparing current and proposed buffers and their effect on housing and redevelopment.
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
September 23, 2025
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PLUSH Committee seeks to modernize COB’s CAO, incentivize ecological restoration projects
For those of you normal folk who don’t speak in alphabet soup: The City of Bellevue’s Planning Commission is reassessing its Critical Areas Ordinance, with our crew submitting the following letter:
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
July 22, 2025
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PLUSH Committee voices Support for Building Permit Extension Ordinance
The Bellevue Chamber’s PLUSH (Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability and Housing) Committee recently submitted the following letter to the Bellevue City Council regarding our support for Ordinance No. 6853, which would extend the life of certain building permit applications and issued permits.
The letter highlights how timely permit extensions can help keep projects on track, reduce delays, and support Bellevue’s long-term economic vitality, while also encouraging the city to adopt a more competitive extension timeline in line with regional standards.
The letter highlights how timely permit extensions can help keep projects on track, reduce delays, and support Bellevue’s long-term economic vitality, while also encouraging the city to adopt a more competitive extension timeline in line with regional standards.
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
July 14, 2025
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PLUSH Committee recommends performance-based framework for critical areas ordinance update
The Bellevue Chamber’s PLUSH (Permitting, Land Use Sustainability and Housing) Committee recently submitted the following letter to the City’s Planning Commission regarding the update to the City’s critical areas ordinance. Read for yourself below!
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PLUSH - Bellevue Chamber
June 10, 2025
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Resources & Letters
Plush committee directory
Ready to Join PLUSH?
Apply to JoinEligibility: Advocate‑level members and above may join this committee.