#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.
The Bellevue Chamber’s Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability and Housing (PLUSH) Committee is a cross‑section of developers, building contractors, realtors and professional services providers who share a commitment to achieving sustainable growth in Greater Bellevue. The committee recognizes that tens of thousands of new housing units at a range of price points and continued commercial and office development will be needed in the coming years. To help the region grow, PLUSH members regularly engage with government officials and prepare detailed policy proposals for city and state decision‑makers.
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
2
rezoning/subarea frameworks.
Millions
of dollars saved for employers and developers
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Making the case on the jobs and housing imbalance
Media coverage and survey work, including PLUSH-tagged 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.
Building regional pro-housing coalitions
Across 2021 to 2025, PLUSH helped launch and power regional coalitions and working groups, including the Eastside Multifamily Policy Group and the Eastside Housing Roundtable. PLUSH also worked with partners on a joint Bellevue and Seattle housing coalition that aligned cross-lake priorities and pushed back on anti-growth proposals.
Housing Roadshow education series
To improve policy literacy, PLUSH created a Housing Roadshow series for Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners. These multi-hour sessions on development economics, pro formas, and case studies helped dispel misinformation and build trust between policymakers and the private sector.
Integrating safety-net and supportive housing voices
PLUSH engaged on safety-net and community supports by touring the Renewal Food Bank and hosting conversations with providers such as PorchLight and Plymouth. These efforts brought homelessness and supportive-housing perspectives into the Chamber’s broader housing discussions.
EV infrastructure policy engagement
The committee weighed in on Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure proposals affecting new housing, supported EV readiness, and opposed a City proposal that would have gone significantly beyond state mandates and materially increased construction costs. That proposal was paused while more balanced approaches were explored.
“Our committee is solutions‑first. We pair data with on‑the‑ground expertise to make Bellevue more affordable and more livable for everyone.”PLUSH Leadership
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.
Ready to Join PLUSH?
Apply to JoinEligibility: Advocate‑level members and above may join this committee.