The Port is working with marina experts, habitat specialists, public park professionals, environmental advocates, planners, architects, and community advocates to design a state-of-the-art sustainable marina that best meets the community's needs.
In 2004, the Waterfront Futures Group completed their work with a final report showing a marina in the ASB lagoon.
Since this time, many people have offered suggestions about how to design a marina that better serves boats, public parks or habitat restoration.
The Port is listening to these good ideas and working hard to design a marina that best balances the community's desire for boat slips, habitat restoration, and public access.
On March 28, 2006, the Port hosted an all day brainstorming session to help design the new marina which was attended by over 20 marina experts, habitat specialists, public park professionals, environmental advocates, planners, architects and community advocates. City and Port staff helped the group understand the benefits and opportunities of a new marina as part of the overall New Whatcom planning effort.
Participants were divided into two teams and each team was challenged to create "a beautiful and appropriate marina for our city--one that balances and integrates economic development, habitat restoration, and new public access to the waterfront." One team visioned sections of the marina breakwater closely resembling the natural shoreline. The native Puget Sound landscaping would appear as shifting formations of boulders, logs and sandy pocket beaches and would provide wave protection for boats. Public trails would meander around rocks haped to form habiat friendly tide pools and pocket beaches offering visitors access to the water.
Both teams designed openings through the marina breakwater to help salmon moving to and from Whatcom Creek. These passageways would be spanned by bridges so people could enjoy nearly a mile of public access along the breakwater. Particpants also proposed a variety of "green" building features to improve the marina design like water efficient landscaping, energy efficiency and the use of recycled materials.
The ideas from the brainstorming session were rapidly turned into pictures by illustrators sitting at each table. The drawings were shown to the public later that same evening at a community open house. This work will inform the ongoing desing concepts for the new downtown maina.
