BELLINGHAM - The board governing the new Chuckanut Community Forest Park District has scheduled an organizational meeting for Thursday, March 7.

The public meeting is 7 to 9 p.m. in the Northwest Room of the Fairhaven library, 1117 12th St.

The five commissioners were elected Feb. 12, when voters in what is roughly southwest Bellingham voted to create the metropolitan park district.

Because they are the first commissioners, state law dictates they take office immediately although their terms of office, which are staggered according to the number of votes they received, don't start until next Jan. 1.

The commissioners will raise property taxes within the district to generate about $3.2 million to help pay for the city's purchase of Chuckanut Ridge.

That rate is expected to be 28 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The owner of a $300,000 home, for example, would pay $84 a year.

The new levy wouldn't go into effect until 2014.

The first time the district's property owners would see it on their tax bills would be February 2014, according to Whatcom County Treasurer Steve Oliver.

Reach Kie Relyea at 360-715-2234 or kie.relyea@bellinghamherald.com.