Volume 31 • Issue 09 • September 2006

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Ferndale: Small town attracting big growth
City earns attractive reputation among businesses and families

by Leah Weissman


Driving down Main Street in Ferndale it’s hard not to notice the spectacular presence of Mount Baker over the tops of buildings. Crossing the bridge into downtown, the Nooksack River charges under car tires while in the distance the throaty whine from a train’s horn signals its passing through this small city. In the city center, hand-painted murals cover alleyways like hidden treasure and pots of flowers overflow sidewalks.
Approximately one and a half hours north of Seattle and one hour south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Ferndale is conveniently located just minutes off Interstate 5 and smack dab in the middle of beautiful countryside and economic development. The city’s population has doubled within the last decade to 10,000 people. Residential as well as business expansion is on the rise. A 20-year community vision and various citizen-based committees and action plans, including a strategy to revitalize downtown, are in progress.
Just as Bellingham used to be a sleepy, little town, Ferndale is growing out of its adolescent stage and into a city that boasts a promising economic climate for industrial businesses and Ma and Pa stores as well as couples looking to start a family and retired folk.

A community vision
Ferndale Mayor Jerry Landcastle and the city council included in the 2006 city budget authorization to hire a consultant to create an economic development plan and downtown revitalization plan plus update the parks master plan. Paul Koch, the economic development consultant Ferndale hired, has been working with the city and citizens since February and expects the projects to be completed by the end of the year.
“This is not a normal economic development project,” Koch said. “This is the community determining where we as a city are going – not just the council calling the shots.”
The comprehensive city-wide economic development plan includes compiling a list of existing and new businesses, determining available land for development, conducting a “thank you business” program and adding a Web page to assist new businesses locating to Ferndale, just to name a few components.
Koch said he’s worked as a consultant in cities throughout Washington and other states and finds Ferndale refreshing, with elected leaders’ willingness to open doors and let the community design different visions and development plans.
“We couldn’t just superimpose Bellingham onto Ferndale,” Koch said. “It’s up to citizens to decide what to do – every town is different. I think there’s an energy cities give off and Ferndale is a city people want to live and work in. We have all the basics here like a good school district, police department and friendly business environment. There are new businesses moving into Ferndale, new houses being built. But our economic policy is we are not going to become a strictly touristy town or industrial town. You need a balance of both to have a long-term economically viable community.”
More than 300 Ferndale citizens helped develop a seven-point community vision outlining what they would like Ferndale to become within 20 years. Each goal includes a description on how those objectives will be met and what sort of services will be provided. At the expense of “boiling down” the statement, the central themes are as follows:
• provides an aesthetically pleasing environment
• provides economic stability which is sustainable and responsible
• provides varied recreational opportunities that attract and promote healthy lifestyles
• provides services that support a healthy and safe community for all ages
• supports a culture of lifelong learning through education and personal growth opportunities
• provides a well designed multi-mode transportation system and address local street issues
• provides for and honors spiritual/cultural diversity.
“The vision talks about being a self-contained and self-sustained community,” Koch said. “Ferndale is open for business and it doesn’t matter what type of companies are moving here – big, small, retail, commercial, industrial – we want a balance. Part of the reason Ferndale is so attractive is because the mayor and city council have created a business-friendly environment.”
The second action plan, the city’s downtown revitalization plan, includes implementation of a downtown association, developing relationships among downtown businesses, creating a project steering task force and completing an inventory of downtown businesses.
“People want to make downtown more pedestrian friendly … and bring in new businesses while helping existing ones,” Koch said. “Without looking at figures, Ferndale has had a steady increase in business over the past few years. Just driving down Main Street you’ll see a new Rite Aid, Walgreens and Quiznos; and Wilson Furniture is moving here soon. The downtown business people understand there needs to be new and different businesses in the community to make our economy sustainable.”
Koch said a real measure of the character of Ferndale is the community’s sense of responsibility, especially within local business owners.
“Since February there’s been no less than eight businesses that have invested in fixing up their own stores which is a sign of a good, healthy community,” Koch said. “I’ve worked with a lot of different communities and the last thing they do is spend their own money to improve conditions.”

Business appeal
“It’s basically very simple,” said Richard Hempler, President of Hempler Foods Group LLC, located on Nielson Avenue. “We (the company) had reached capacity in our Bellingham building. Our product flow was inefficient in today’s manufacturing standards. We looked all over Bellingham and couldn’t find land that was affordable and large enough. That’s when we turned to Ferndale.”
According to Ferndale City Administrator Greg Young, one of the main reasons businesses choose to relocate or start up in Ferndale is due to availability and inexpensive cost of land.
“Generally land in and around Ferndale is about 10 percent cheaper and we have a fairly high amount of undeveloped industrial and commercial property,” Young said. “It’s a supply and demand feature. The cost of land in Bellingham is higher because of larger customer base and less land availability. But as you move further north, the cost of land goes down. With businesses like Hempler’s, it doesn’t matter where they’re located in the sense of customer base because customers come to them, they don’t go looking for customers.”
Hempler’s started in 1934 and operated out of the same location in Bellingham before moving to Ferndale about six months ago when they merged with Canadian company Premium Brands Income Fund. During the move, Hempler noted there was a shortage of available industrial property in the Whatcom County that has the correct infrastructure for a large company like his.
“There are lots of places industries can build, but there aren’t any roads, water, gas or other resources near by,” Hempler said. “Ferndale gave us the room we needed, the utilities we required and was very helpful during our move – not to mention the permit process was quick and painless.”
Hempler said the biggest benefit is their new building’s proximity to I-5. Semis carrying supplies can drive to the company within a few minutes time.
Joel Baker, president and chief operation officer of PRWeb International on Main Street, said the business moved from Dallas to Ferndale three years ago on a whim.
“David McInnis, the chief executive officer of the company, was coming back from Vancouver, B.C., after doing some computer consultant work,” Baker said. “He pulled off I-5 into Ferndale to get some gas, saw Mount Baker in the city’s backdrop and called his wife and said ‘we have to move out here.’”
PRWeb is an Internet-based press release company, meaning anywhere there’s Internet the company can thrive. (See a profile of PRWeb on page 10.)
“Physically the move didn’t affect our business,” Baker said. “But we love Ferndale and it’s accessibility to an educated employee pool from Western Washington University as well as an amazing quality of life here.”
Jim Callaghan, general manager of Walton Beverage in Ferndale, said he chose to make the move from Bellingham to Ferndale about two years ago due to company expansion and lack of room in the Bellingham area.
“Our business was moving outside to other cities and we couldn’t find a suitable piece of property that was affordable, big enough and accessible,” Callaghan said. “You could find the kind of land in Bellingham that we found in Ferndale, you’d probably just have to tear down a few buildings. We were land-locked before and now we can take on new product line opportunities.”
Callaghan said when the company first moved to the outskirts of Ferndale it was the only one. Now there is an Express Electric, Starvin Sam’s and Wilson Furniture just around the corner.
“This kind of mixed industrial and commercial growth creates jobs and supports the growing economy,” Callaghan said. “There’s lots of opportunity for businesses in Ferndale because it’s considered the bedroom city to Bellingham. There’s a diverse amount of development going on and it creates a stable economy. If you’re reliant on one type of business and people are laid off, it really affects the community.”

Growth in all directions
Young said cities, on average, usually grow outside of purposeful efforts – it’s just something that happens beyond the reach of legislative control.
“My opinion is the greatest thing a city can do for its economy is to get out of the way – don’t make it difficult for entrepreneurs to put down their money and take a risk,” Young said. “Ferndale, for instance, has a small-town atmosphere but will soon be a regional player in Whatcom County because of its business-friendly environment and sheer geographical location.”
According to Young, Ferndale’s residential population is growing at a faster rate than its businesses, even though business license activity has been on the rise. He calls it the “rooftop and retail” method; as rooftops increase, retail will increase because people won’t want to travel out of the city for their shopping needs.
“As the city grows, we are going to see a shift in the types of businesses that come here,” Young said. “With the proposed Pioneer Plaza for example, the project is based on the location of the city and citizens who will support it.”
The Pioneer Plaza project would occupy 98 acres on the east side of I-5 on Axton Road. The commercial development would include approximately 1.1 million square feet of retail and office space. Controversy over the construction of the plaza is based on traffic concerns and the effect it will have on the atmosphere of the community.
“People are for the development because they look at the regional draw of Ferndale and figure if you have 100 acres of zoned land next to the freeway; wouldn’t you expect retail to pop up there?” Young said. “Others are against the scale of the construction and the immediacy of the development as well as the amount of cars (15,000 per day) it will bring to the city. In fact, 1 percent of cars generated by the Pioneer Plaza will create the same traffic through downtown that occurs during our city’s festivals.”
In addition to the Pioneer Plaza development, downtown Ferndale is experiencing a rekindling within its city center businesses. New zoning will allow taller and mixed-use structures within downtown limits – encouraging outside businesses to Ferndale and making it more feasible for people to live downtown.
“When you go up and down Main Street, most buildings have a business in it,” Young said. “The reason we’ve embarked on a downtown revitalization program is because existing business are so important. Statistically, seven out of 10 jobs created in the future are from businesses already in your town.”
Young said Ferndale has the potential to become a great city. It’s growing at a pace that citizens are able to mold the city into what they want.
“If people talk about Ferndale having a business-friendly attitude, it’s because we’ve been consistent and efficient with resources, are proactive in processing applications and inspecting sites and making regulations public,” Young said. “As far as I’m concerned, every business is welcome here.”

Local, but by no means yokel
“We don’t want to be the next Bellingham, we want to stand on our own,” said Lloyd Zimmerman, owner of Whatcom Brewery and Frank-N-Stein Pub. “Ferndale is still small enough that you can do a barn raising – people will still come together for a communal effort. I like that small-town feeling and being involved with the city.”
As a resident of Ferndale for 16 years and a business owner, Zimmerman is lucky enough to be able to walk out the back door of his house and to his brewery, about 20 yards away. He grows his own hops in his organic garden and is a short drive, or long walk, away from his pub in the downtown district.
“Our growth has to be thought out,” Zimmerman said. “We’re trying to weave the natural environment into the traffic scene with pedestrian trails. We’re trying to have foresight with the parks and recreational department to maintain the green as compared to pavement, pavement, pavement. We’re trying to focus on economic development and fill the buildings that we’ve got. And we’re trying to redevelop ourselves.”
Zimmerman said he never gets tired of the 360 degrees of scenery that surrounds Ferndale from the farmland dotted with cows to Mount Baker peering through the clouds.
“This is such a great place to live,” Zimmerman said. “We have great views, outdoor recreation and we’re not overcrowded. We have a strong mayor system that helps direct the growth of our city and all citizens have a say. People come up from Los Angeles and fall in love with this place. It’s about quality of life.”


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Hand-painted murals representing the historical, cultural and agricultural aspects of Ferndale, or perhaps enticing people inside a restaurant, adorn the sides of building along alleys and main roads.







Jim Callaghan, general manager of Walton Beverage in Ferndale, leads a tour through his warehouse. The holding facility can house up to 900 different products a day and turn all inventory within 10 days.






Lloyd Zimmerman, owner of Whatcom Brewery and Frank-N-Stein Pub in Ferndale, opened the pub and family restaurant in 2002 and continues to serve customers his unique ales on tap.