The Taylor Avenue Dock and boardwalk is among the most popular, publicly funded civic improvements in Bellingham in the past 25 years.

But what will it cost to try to replicate that popularity with another over-the-water boardwalk on Bellingham Bay?

City officials are considering a new boardwalk that would connect Boulevard Park to the foot of Cornwall Avenue. The current boardwalk connects Boulevard Park to the dock off Taylor Avenue in Fairhaven. If a second boardwalk is built, it would create a long waterfront connection that officials hope would promote the creation of new park spaces for the redevelopment of the old Georgia- Pacific Corp. property. Officials say it would cost between $4 million and $6 million to build.

The public will get its first chance to look at renderings of the proposed boardwalk and comment on the plans, which include creating more beach access at the park and improvements to the Pattle Point trestle.

Given the love of the other boardwalk, and concerns about government finances in these tight economic times, the meeting should be enlightening and informative.

>>Public meeting on new Boulevard Park to Cornwall Avenue, over-the-water, walkway 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bellingham Public Library Lecture Room, 201 Central Ave.

PIKE TO TALK ABOUT WATERFRONT DISTRICT LIBRARY

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike will talk about his idea to have a new main library built as part of waterfront redevelopment at a meeting of the Bellingham Public Library board of trustees Tuesday.

The mayor recently surprised the community be reopening the question of a site for the library, suggesting it could be built at the area where Bay Street enters the former Georgia-Pacific site on the Bellingham waterfront.

Previously, the library board had thrown its weight behind a plan to build a new library on the grassy lawn next to the current library site on Central Avenue.

Library officials say a new library is needed to keep up with strong demand for services. Bellingham’s library is among the busiest, per capita, in the nation, and many of the books and other materials have to be kept in stacks the public cannot access.

Still, plans for a new library have been controversial. Some have suggested the preferred location does not serve the growing parts of the community and pushed for more branch locations instead of one new main library. Others balked at the more than $56 million cost of the proposed facility. The City Council shelved that plan earlier this year, with Pike and council members saying the project could create increased operating costs that the city currently can’t afford.

Pike’s new idea would be to include a new library as part of a multipurpose building that include parking for both downtown and the new waterfront district. The same building could include shops and offices. Placing the building and library on an extension of Bay Street would help link the existing downtown to the new development.

>>Bellingham Public Library Board of Trustees special meeting 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Bellingham Public Library, 201 Central Ave.

HARRIET SPANEL TO SHARE OLYMPIA INSIGHT

Longtime legislator Harriet Spanel will talk about her years in Olympia and politics at the Bellingham City Club meeting Wednesday.

Currently a state senator, Spanel is not running for re-election this year, ending a 22-year run as a member of the state Legislature from the 40th Legislative District.

Spanel has a long and distinguished career of service to her community and her party. For years she was among the chief state budget authors. Locally, she is well-known for supporting education and the environment. She was chief sponsor and lobbyist for the bill that created special logging limitations around Lake Whatcom in order to protect water quality.

>>“Harriet Spanel — her life and times,” a presentation to the Bellingham City Club Noon June 25 at Northwood Hall, 3240 Northwest Ave.