Trillium cedes Galbraith Mountain property to creditor

JOHN STARK - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Trillium Corp. has turned over its 3,000 acres of Galbraith Mountain property to Polygon Financial of Bow, but the ownership change doesn't appear to have any immediate impact on the mountain bikers who have been enjoying the property for years under an agreement with Trillium.

"Polygon has contracted with the Trillium Company to manage Galbraith Mountain in accord with Trillium's past management practices and has no other plans for the property," Polygon spokeswoman Laura Minton Breckenridge said via e-mail.

Property records on file with the Whatcom County Auditor indicate Bellingham-based Trillium ceded the property to Polygon "in lieu of foreclosure" on Oct. 22. But Trillium retains an option to purchase the property back from Polygon until Oct. 16, 2010.

Trillium officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Trillium acquired the property in 2001 from Bloedel Timberlands and used the property to help secure a $17 million loan from Idaho-based Old Standard Life Insurance Co. in 2002. Old Standard was an affiliate of Metropolitan Mortgage Co. of Spokane, which collapsed in 2004 and left thousands of investors in the lurch.

In 2005, when Old Standard was under the oversight of Idaho insurance regulators, the company sold its interest in the Galbraith property to Polygon with its regulators' approval. That made Polygon the holder of the mortgage on the Trillium property.

Mountain bikers had used the forested tract as a playground for years before Trillium assumed ownership, building elaborate trails and structures. In 2005, Trillium and the WHIMPS Mountain Bike Coalition worked out a deal in which the company gave the cyclists' group a "revocable license" to build and use bike trails on the mountain, as long as those trails met safety standards that would give Trillium some protection against liability for accidents.

Mark Peterson, president of the bike group, did not respond to e-mails and voice mails seeking comment.

More recently, Trillium tried and failed to start the process of getting the forestry-zoned land reclassified for eventual residential development. The Whatcom County Council voted against Trillium proposals to change the land's status in both 2006 and 2007. Trillium officials had said they envisioned the acreage as a potential location for thousands of homes as Bellingham grows.