Bellingham buys waterfront access land

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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BELLINGHAM - For $1, the city will assume the cleanup liability for six acres of land that could provide more public access on the waterfront.

City Council members unanimously approved Monday, Sept. 14, purchasing the R.G. Hailey state cleanup site, which is in the Cornwall Avenue landfill area. The parcel is part of the city and Port of Bellingham's plan for redevelopment of the central waterfront.

The purchase price is cheap, but the site is contaminated with chemicals from past wood treatment operations. The city has agreed to assume cleanup liability from property owner Douglas Management Co.

The bill could be between $3 million and $9 million, officials said Monday, though Mayor Dan Pike said the state Department of Ecology estimated it at $4 million to $5 million.

The purchase allows the city to connect two cleanup sites and should allow for more cost-effective renovation, Pike said. The Bellingham Public Development Authority will assume management of the property.

City officials touted the purchase as a tremendous opportunity for more public access to the waterfront as city and port officials work to redevelop the former home of the Georgia-Pacific pulp and paper mills. The mayor said the property has about 1,000 feet of waterfront, which, when developed in combination with adjacent public properties, could add nearly half a mile of new public access to the water.

Bellingham architect Dave Christensen, a city consultant on the project, lauded the purchase and showed council members one idea of how the entire 20-acre area of the landfill - including R.G Hailey - could be transformed for public access and the potential of as much as 200,000 square feet of mixed-use development.

"It gives me goose bumps," Christensen said as he showed the design that would add another footbridge from the property over to Boulevard Park. He added that about 80 percent of the potential design would be open space.

Pike said the purchase was an opportunity to "jump-start" public-private ventures on the waterfront. Council members were pleased with it.

"I think the public really wants more of a chance to get to the waterfront, so I'm enthusiastically supporting this," Councilwoman Louise Bjornson said.