New Waterfront Height Regulations-- What do you think?

In 2005, the Port of Bellingham purchased the closed Georgia Pacific Plant. Since then, the city and the port have been drafting a plan for the redevelopment of the downtown waterfront.
Port of Bellingham Environmental Director Mike Stoner said the final draft of the plan should be completed by the end of this year.
The area in consideration includes 220 acres of waterfront property, all of which will be renovated according to the final plan.
So far, the plan includes parks and greenways along with buildings, up to 20 stories tall, which will be used for residences and commercial purposes.

The proposal announces that most buildings will be constructed to a maximum of 75 ft. However, five or six buildings may be up to 120 ft. and a few buildings could even reach 200 ft.

Lettered Street residents, Earl Hutchins and Arlene Feld, have complained that the high buildings will cut out the view from the Lettered Streets. Although the view from the Lettered Streets is disrupted, occupants of the downtown area should be more concerned since the plan is to put these high-rise buildings directly in between downtown and the bay.

Although the plan allows for seven view corridors, the Lettered Streets Residents have protested that a view corridor is merely a euphemism for replacing a good view with a sliver.

Hutchins said our tax dollars are going into these plans, which don’t include the taxpayer’s considerations.

The City of Bellingham says it will cost $28 million for the Port’s proposal, and $33 million for the City’s plan.

Should Bellingham institute new height regulations for the waterfront?


Check out the Port's plans @

http://portofbellingham.com/

and the Citie's plans @

cob.org

for building codes @

www.sbcc.wa.gov/