Three Letters Later: What Still Needs Fixing in the BelRed Code

Bellevue Chamber of Commerce  |  July 7, 2026

On July 7, our PLUSH Committee and the BelRed Property Owners Group wrote to the Bellevue Planning Commission with a consolidated record of everything we have raised on the BelRed Look Forward land use code amendment since April, across three formal letters and multiple rounds of testimony. The code is expected to reach the City Council later this year, and the Commission's September 9 hearing is the practical deadline for fixing what is still broken.

Credit First

The Commission's May 13 draft reduced the number of defined street grid segments, added flexibility to shift intersections during project review, and introduced a new administrative pathway allowing some public streets to be replaced by private streets. Separately, staff removed the rigid seven-neighborhood amenity-tier structure that would have complicated how projects earn community-benefit credit, responding to testimony from the Eastside Housing Roundtable, which we convene jointly with the Housing Development Consortium. 

The Street Grid: Narrowed, Not Fixed

The mandatory street grid has been narrowed, but not eliminated. Segments still cross existing buildings, critical areas, and significant grade changes, and still require coordination among multiple separately owned properties on different development timelines. BelRed's standards have also still not been aligned with Wilburton's simpler framework, despite our April request that the Commission justify every material difference between the two codes. 

Green streets also remain nearly as wide as in the prior draft, and still carry an on-street parking requirement that is inconsistent with a transit-oriented, pedestrian-priority corridor. The administrative off-ramp that lets private access corridors substitute for mapped public streets is still discretionary with undefined review criteria, so we continue to ask that it be codified as a non-discretionary standard property owners can rely on at the front end of a transaction. 

New Costs, No Offsets

The draft also adds two cost drivers that were not previously part of the regulatory framework, a mandatory affordable housing requirement and expanded stream buffers, without corresponding offsets. Added development capacity such as increased FAR does not by itself restore feasibility when costs rise as fast as or faster than revenue potential, and further community benefit asks for affordable commercial space, arts and culture, and open space compound the problem. The 75% active-use frontage requirement also has not moved toward the 50% target we recommend.

"Without structural changes, these requirements will function as a constraint on development rather than a catalyst for mixed-income housing." — Bellevue Chamber letter to the Bellevue Planning Commission, July 7, 2026

What Happens Next?

We asked the Commission to do four things:

1. Direct staff to resolve the outstanding items, including eliminating the strict street grid requirements, codifying the off-ramp criteria, and adopting a shared-use street typology built on other cities' completed work, before or as part of the September 9 hearing record;
   
   
2. Provide meaningful financial offsets or public participation in infrastructure delivery, recognizing the street network is a public asset and noting that Redmond offers impact fee credits in exchange for building street infrastructure;
   
   
3. Reevaluate the mandatory affordability requirement;
   
   
4. And pair any community benefit extras with incentives sufficient to make them deliverable.

We support the City's vision for BelRed, and remain committed partners in bringing it to life. Absent resolution, though, the letter warns,the outcome will mirror past experience: Delayed or unrealized development rather than the vibrant, transit-oriented community we all seek.