It’s your last chance to comment on clean-up plans for Bellingham park at RG Haley site
A new waterfront park near downtown Bellingham is on the horizon. Officials plan to start construction in 2024 on one of the city’s highest-profile clean-up projects: the RG Haley site, a former home to a number of polluting industries.
The resulting Cornwall Beach Park could be open to the public as soon as 2025 and would be three- to four-times larger than the city’s beloved Boulevard Park, said Gina Austin, project engineer for the city Parks and Recreation Department, at a walking tour of the site led by local nonprofit RE Sources on Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Officials recently released the engineering design report for the clean-up and are accepting public comment on the technical document through March 1. It’s the community’s last chance to officially participate before construction begins, said Eleanor Hines, RE Sources’ lead scientist and North Sound Baykeeper.
“When I review it, I’ll be looking to make sure it’s protective of human health and the environment,” Hines told The Bellingham Herald.
From pollution to park
The RG Haley site — named after the last company to treat wood there — sits at the end of Cornwall Avenue. It’s a barren chunk of land, blanketed in a patchwork of pavement and moss. Concrete blocks adorned with graffiti are stacked behind chain-link fences that hem in the site. Beneath this drab scene, toxic chemicals contaminate the soil, sediment and groundwater.
This is the legacy of the heavy industry that once dominated much of Bellingham’s waterfront but has given way in recent years to boutiques, cafes and cocktail bars.
The site feels neglected. However, it is anything but: For more than a decade, the city of Bellingham has been trying to turn the polluted area into a community asset, with the help of the state Department of Ecology.
The plot of land was formerly used by industries such as coal, lumber and wharf operations and was last operated as a wood treatment facility from 1955 to 1985. In 2009, the city of Bellingham purchased the site for $1 and took on all the environmental clean-up costs. Construction is expected to cost about $21 million, but the city is eligible to get up to half that money back through a state grant program supported by a tax on hazardous substances, according to a Department of Ecology fact sheet.
The RG Haley site comprises six acres of upland area mostly owned by the city and about 60 acres of in-water area mostly owned by the state. It is one of 12 Bellingham waterfront clean-up sites currently moving through the process required by Washington’s environmental clean-up law, the Model Toxics Control Act.
Work at the RG Haley site will happen in tandem with clean-up plans for the adjacent Cornwall Avenue Landfill site, which was formerly a dump and is characterized by large white coverings visible from the city’s South Bay Trail.
Cornwall Beach Park will span both sites and include a large open lawn area, vegetated habitat buffers, picnicking shelters, a bathroom, a play area, parking and a hill that park-goers can climb to get better views of the bay, according to the Cornwall Beach Park Master Plan Report published in 2014.
“You will see trees, seabirds, people along the beach,” Austin said on the tour Tuesday.
The city is examining how to connect this future park to the South Bay Trail. There were plans to build a bridge over the water to connect Boulevard Park and Cornwall Beach Park, but that structure is not currently permitted and drew concerns regarding tribal fishing rights, Austin said.
How to comment
Officials aren’t required to offer a public comment period during the engineering design process, but high public interest in this site prompted them to do so, said Ian Fawley, an outreach specialist for the Department of Ecology.
The engineering design report is a technical document that contains 30% of the completed design work for the clean-up plan selected by the Department of Ecology in 2018. That plan is to control and contain the contaminants on-site, using technologies such as a plastic liner, drainage layers and a capping system. Several feet of earth will sit on top of the cap, elevating the park and helping protect any development against sea-level rise caused by climate change, Austin said on the tour.
Officials considered completely removing contaminated material from the site and taking it to a landfill, but the $500 million price tag wasn’t worth it, said City Project Engineer Craig Mueller at the walking tour.
Instructions for how to submit a public comment can be found on the Department of Ecology’s web page for the RG Haley site.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
