Proposed marina is a ‘win-win’ situation
Area businesses stay positive about marina prospects

by Lauren Kramer


Consider the eye candy of a yacht-dotted marina encircled by meticulously landscaped parks and trails. As dusk sets in on a summer’s day, cyclists pedal their way home while pedestrians amble slowly, iced-latte in hand. Watercraft approach the jetty as kids on the grass throw a Frisbee.
It’s a pretty picture, to be sure, especially when contrasted with the 350,000 cubic yards of contaminated waste presently sitting in the former Georgia-Pacific treatment lagoon.
The city of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham have teamed to redevelop the 137-acre site they’ved dubbed “New Whatcom,” which includes the lagoon, purchased from Gerorgia-Pacific West, Inc. in 2005.

Cleanup, planning in process
“The city will build the park that surrounds the marina, and we’re looking at taking what’s currently the Georgia-Pacific Tissue Warehouse and turning it into an area for marine light industrial uses and marine manufacturing,” says Carolyn Casey, corporate communications manager for the Port of Bellingham. “In 2008, we’ll begin removing that waste to an upland certified disposal facility in eastern Washington, at an estimated cost of $30 million.”
The Port will fork out another $16-to-$18 million for the construction of the marina, should its proposal be approved by the EPA.
Meanwhile, the city of Bellingham is treading cautiously as it develops a master-plan for its park zones. “We’re a port city, yet we have very little public access to the water,” says Paul Leuthold, director of parks and recreation for the city. “We’ve conducted surveys and learned that people want to have that connection to the water, and this will address that shortage.”
Making that connection work is going to take strategic planning as the city tries to ensure that people can obtain proximity to the water without conflicting with one-another. “One of the problems we have on Taylor Dock is that a lot of cyclists use it as a scenic transportation corridor as they commute to and from work or school. Others use it for walking, talking or fishing, and often when those varying activities meet, there’s some conflict,” Leuthold explains.
The city is proposing several different trails on the site to move people within and through it. “There has to be an integrated trail system that will facilitate movement of pedestrians and cyclists, because we want to have as few vehicles down there as possible,” he adds.
But a final vision of what the redevelopment will look like has been put on hold. A master plan for the redevelopment, including the marina, won’t be decided upon until the fall. The date has been pushed back as the city and port are awaiting the results of a new economic analysis. The new report was prompted by local groups that want to explore other options for the old G-P lagoon, including a smaller marina with additional park space or filling the entire lagoon for a park.

Businesses weigh in
Local businesses in the waterfront redevelopment environs are maintaining a positive outlook, though these plans may or may not bode well for them. At Bellingham Marine, Project Development Manager Walt Jackson says he’s interested in the redevelopment from a professional perspective.
“We’d be very interested in constructing the marina if and when they decide to build it, and offering them our professional expertise, because building marinas is what we do,” he says. Bellingham Marine is located on the Colony Wharf property, recently purchased by the city for $3.3 million. “When they get into redeveloping the property, we’ll move out, but we’re okay about that,” he says. “This is going to be a great development, and a very big plus for Bellingham.”
Terry Buzzard, owner of Island Mariner Cruises, is equally positive while admitting that the presence of upward of 450 vessels will likely not increase his business. “I’m one of the few businesses that won’t get something from this redevelopment, but it will bring more people into my area, so I suppose it could increase my business,” he speculates.
“The average person that owns a boat has no reason to ride with me, and since I already have my dock and landing in Squalicum Harbor, there’s nothing I need from the new facility. Still, I think the waterfront redevelopment is wonderful, and will be good for the businesses around the waterfront, good for Bellingham, and a general win-win situation.”
As the city and port thresh out the various options for the marina, Doug Thomas, president and CEO of Bellingham Cold Storage, is watching nervously. “One scenario has a marina right near our deep-water ship loading dock,” he says.
“We would definitely not be in favor of that, because small boats and 600-foot-long ships weighing 400 million pounds are not all that compatible. Down where we are, on the far west end of the waterfront, is more marine industrial,” he explains. “We have trucks and banging and containers being loaded and offloaded, which is not always a desirable feature if you’re trying to spend a quiet night on your boat in the marina.”
Bellingham Cold Storage has more than a million square feet of warehouses and processing facilities, and has been operating in its present location for the past 60 years. The company handles more than a billion pounds of food product annually, creating approximately 1,200 jobs as a direct result of its activities in Bellingham.
Thomas is very supportive of the central waterfront redevelopment as a whole, citing its potential revenue and job generation as extremely positive economic contributions to the community.
“I basically feel like everyone’s doing a good job in trying to hone in on the best solution down there, and I think they’ll do that,” he says. “We’re trying to stay as quiet and supportive as possible.”