News - Local News

POSTED: Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008

Port, city still struggling on waterfront

BELLINGHAM - After a Tuesday, Nov. 18, meeting of Port of Bellingham commissioners, it was hard to tell if port and city are getting closer to an agreement on waterfront issues or if they are still drifting apart.

On the negative side, the three port commissioners voted to approve a resolution reaffirming their Nov. 10 letter to the city - sent out without a public discussion or vote at the time - announcing they were suspending action on redevelopment of 220 mostly idle acres on the central waterfront. The commissioners took that vote even after Commissioner Scott Walker described that Nov. 10 letter as "probably a little bit overemotional."

And in another less-than-conciliatory move, the commissioners agreed to send a letter to the Bellingham City Council, asking council members to vote to reaffirm the terms of an agreement with the port, approved by the council in late 2004. As port officials see it, that agreement commits the city to work with the port to hammer out a development agreement that would create a straight and simple path to project approvals for developers who step forward with waterfront building proposals.

While port and city officials have clashed over the best waterfront street layout and the feasibility of saving old industrial buildings on the site, the biggest sticking point now appears to be the development agreement. Mayor Dan Pike has said the city can't provide the sweeping advance development approval that port officials seem to want.

Walker rejected calls for mediation of differences, made repeatedly by citizens at recent public meetings.

"There's really nothing to mediate," Walker said. "The question is, are you going to live by the agreement or not?"

If the council OKs reaffirming the agreement, Walker suggested that commissioners and council members could then form committees to negotiate agreements on outstanding waterfront issues, bypassing both Mayor Dan Pike and Port Executive Director Jim Darling and their staff members.

After the meeting, Pike said he didn't think such a move would be appropriate.

"They are asking the council to undertake executive functions," Pike said.

But other developments at the meeting gave some cause for optimism.

Pike handed commissioners a conciliatory letter, signed by him and former Bellingham mayors Tim Douglas and Mark Asmundson, reaffirming the city's commitment to work in partnership with the port.

"City officials today remain poised and eager to continue this partnership, complete a mutually acceptable master plan, and move forward with the many next steps awaiting our joint leadership," the letter said.

On a more specific level, Pike said he heard little he would dispute when port attorney Jon Sitkin outlined the kind of advance regulatory framework that would be needed to give predictability to those considering investing and building on the waterfront.

Among other things, Sitkin said the development agreement should include design standards, allowable building sizes for specific areas, mitigation measures required for environmental impacts, parking regulations, stormwater rules, landscaping, and open space requirements.

"He has said some of the same things that we have said to you," Pike told commissioners. "There are things we can do to streamline the process."

Pike said he's eager to sit down with port officials to reach a mutual understanding on the issue.