Brandon Nelson
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Bellingham Waterfront Redevelopment, 1.0
Bellingham rests on the edge of the salty waters of Puget Sound — a setting most towns would die for, to be sure. But the downtown area has, since its beginnings, had its back turned to the water, the view of the islands, the sunsets, the storms; it’s been devoid of public waterfront access, promenades, picnic areas – all the beautiful elements that make a waterfront town a “watefront town” — and instead has been an industrial epicenter, primarily an extremely toxic wood-pulp manufacturing facility.
Well that’s going to change.
As of this writing, it’s not new news that Georgia-Pacific basically gifted 137 acres of waterfront real estate — a toxic brownfield littered with tens of millions of dollars of necessary clean-up and demolition — (along with 100 other non-waterfront acres) to the Port and City of Bellingham, in exchange for actually DOING the clean-up.
GP walks away, Bellingham cleans up the mess. No cash changes hands.
It penciled for Bellingham, hands down, so they took the deal. Any other town would’ve, too.
Of course, then began the quest to determine what exactly to do with this new gift of waterfront real estate. If you go to the Port of Bellingam’s website, you’ll read about the Waterfront Futures Group that includes:
- service organizations
- environmental groups
- developers
- labor groups
- business leaders
- landowners
- regulatory agencies, and
- community members.
Throughout the website, you’ll read again and again that the waterfront redevlopment is and will be based on:
- “…broad community perspective”
- “…citizen-led visions”
- “…community visioning on the waterfront”
- “…community to share its creative, compelling, and unique ideas”
- “…engaging the public every step of the way.”
I’m just as excited about the waterfront redevelopment as anyone in town. On top of that, and I’m no expert at politics, but those statements in quotes above have me thinking that the outcome of the redevelopment is going to be truly, wholly, completely democratic in its process. I mean, those are pretty clear excerpts. They scream “DEMOCRACY!!!”
Well last night I spent a couple hours at George Dyson’s shop on Holly St., the old Dick’s Tavern building, right in the heart of the downtown/waterfront area. George hosted a gathering of people to listen to Port Commissioner candidate John Blethen, running against incumbent Scott Walker in District 1.
What I heard being discussed in old Dick’s Tavern did NOT sound like happy citizens experiencing democracy from the Port of Bellingham.
Throughout the future of the redevelopment plan, I’m going to chat with key players and passionate citizens about the process and what they’re experiencing, and how it meshes with what’s being written and broadcast to the public — and ultimately what becomes the reality for the waterfront.
At this point, I personally don’t know where I stand on what may be the “highest and best use” of the 137-acre brownfield currently behind chain link fence. This will be an educational journey for me and I hope for you as well.
But I do know a fish when I smell it, and it’s time to start sniffing around.
