How long will bike track, container village stick around? Port ponders next steps
It began as a temporary plan to get a few people out to the waterfront, but it appears the container village and the bike pump track are sticking around a while.
During a Tuesday, Aug. 9, Port of Bellingham meeting, commissioners and staff talked about the two temporary developments near the Granary building. The shipping container village, newly named The Portal Container Village, is on land slated to be redeveloped, possibly with mixed-use buildings. The bike track is on property that the city plans to eventually establish as a park.
Given the popularity of both venues this summer, port officials are making plans to expand their uses. The Portal is expected to have more shipping containers in place for next year, while more tinkering is being done to enhance the bike track.
Additional container village tenants will probably involve adding more specialty retail businesses, said Executive Director Rob Fix at the meeting. Adding more container businesses that serve food could also happen but that can be challenging, given what it takes to get infrastructure in place, Fix said.
In terms of tenant leases, Fix said they vary in length but some of the longer ones available are for 10 years, which gives tenants a better opportunity to recoup their investment. That’s also a sign the port plans to keep the container village on that portion of the property for some time.
“Realistically, I don’t see them moving for the next 10 years,” Fix said.
As for the pump track, the city has other projects in the district that it will tackle first. Park development in the bike track area is scheduled to take place in phase three of the interlocal agreement, said Tara Sundin, community and economic development manager for the city. Phase three begins when the area reaches one million square feet of development; currently, the district is still in phase one with less than 500,000 square feet of development.
“While I can’t speak for the elected officials, I do not think it’s unreasonable to believe that it could be another 10 years before the City focuses on Phase 3 commitments — pace of development will dictate,” Sundin said in an email.
Sundin added that the city is in full support of the port continuing to use the property as a pump track, recognizing that it will continue to evolve.
Some of that evolution is already taking place. Brian Gouran, director of environmental and planning services for the port, noted that the bike track continues to expand. A “drag race area” was recently added, allowing the participants to race each other. They’ve also been working on infrastructure improvements to keep the track in good condition.
In terms of park improvements in the area, the city is concentrating on the next phase of the Waypoint Park area as well as cleaning up and developing the Cornwall Beach area, which Sundin noted is three times the size of Boulevard Park.
