Bellingham buys this run-down house to demolish and add to the neighborhood park
Bellingham has agreed to buy an abandoned house with plans to demolish it to add to Happy Valley Park.
City Council members voted unanimously on Monday night, May 23, to buy a one-third-acre lot 2710 Donovan Ave. for $615,000.
“It’s going to allow us to remove that house and have a real entrance to Happy Valley Park,” said Nicole Oliver, director of Parks and Recreation Department.
The three-bedroom ranch-style house built in 1986 had drawn criticism for its dilapidated state on social media and among neighbors, but Oliver told The Bellingham Herald that it was not a meth lab as some people had claimed.
“It’s got good bones so we’re hoping to have the RE Store come take it down for salvage,” she said.
Parks officials have for years hoped to create a more visually appealing entrance to the park, which is tucked behind the boarded-up house with only a pair of trails leading to the playground and sheltered picnic area.
“It’s a perfect fit for the Happy Valley Park,” Councilman Skip Williams said Monday night.
“You’ll be able to see that there’s a park behind that house, as opposed to a little sign and a trail going back there. It will develop that park as a real asset to that community,” he said.
Happy Valley is more than a neighborhood park, because it’s part of the city’s interconnected Greenways trails, with nearby hiking and biking paths heading through the Connelly Creek Nature Area and toward the Interurban Trail, Oliver said.
“I’m just really thrilled about this purchase,” Oliver told the City Council. “It’ll be a lot more accessible for everyone and there’s some wetland restoration opportunities,” she said.
