Supporting a Vision: Redeveloping the Port of Bellingham Waterfront

The Port of Bellingham (Port) is working with state and federal agencies, the City of Bellingham (City) and project stakeholders to coordinated cleanup, redevelopment and habitat restoration projects on Bellingham's working waterfront. In support of the waterfront redevelopment vision, the Port recently acquired the 137-acre (55 hectare) properties of Georgia Pacific West Corporation (GP). These properties are located in the heart of the City's waterfront, and include the site of a recently-closed pulp mill, an operating tissue mill and related operations. GP had announced its intent to eventually close the tissue mill and had sought a buyer for the property. Transfer of the property to public ownership was identified by the community as the best way to ensure that redevelopment of the waterfront would be completed in a manner consistent with the needs of the community. Cleanup and habitat restoration actions are being coordinated with regulatory and resource agencies, local native American tribes and project stakeholders. The Port and City have initiated a program of area-wide land use planning to facilitate redevelopment of the properties. Current plans include two proposed projects described in this paper. These projects include 1) the cleanup and reconfiguration of the Whatcom Waterway, 2) the conversion of a former wastewater treatment basin into an environmentally sustainable state-of-the-art marina. The Whatcom Waterway is Bellingham's oldest federally authorized navigation channel. The configuration and depth of the channel has been modified several times since the early 1900s. Sediments in the waterway have been impacted from historical industrial operations, and site cleanup is required under Washington's Sediment Management Standards and Model Toxics Cleanup Act regulations. The proposed cleanup will involve multiple actions including dredging, capping, and natural recovery. Preliminary project plans involve 150,000 cubic yards (115,000 cubic meters) of dredging, with upland disposal in a subtitle D landfill as the preferred sediment disposal option. Capping of sediments is proposed for selected portions of the site where capping can be performed protectively, and where this is compatible with navigation and land use requirements. The wastewater treatment basin was constructed by Georgia Pacific in the late 1970s. The waterfront basin was constructed by dredging former tidelands to a depth of 12 feet (3.7 meters) below mean lower low water and installing a containment berm, outfall and aeration system. The berm encloses an area of approximately 28 acres (11 hectares) of aquatic land, including approximately 350,000 cubic yards (268,000 cubic meters) of accumulated wastewater treatment solids. The Port's proposed cleanup and redevelopment plans for the GP properties include the cleanout of the treatment solids, and the reconfiguration of the treatment basin for the development of a 350-slip state-of-the-art marina. Implementation of the aquatic cleanup, restoration and redevelopment actions is currently scheduled for 2007 to 2012. The success of these projects will depend on the continued coordination with and the support of regulatory and resource agencies, local Native American tribes and project stakeholders. Timing for the project may be affected by the availability of state and federal grant funds, and the scope and timing of other planning, redevelopment and environmental restoration projects being implemented by or in conjunction with the Port.