FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2007
Contact: Carolyn Casey
(360) 676-2500 or
Port Wins National Boating Access Award
Waterfront Redevelopment Project Enhances Boating Opportunities
[Bellingham, Wash.] The Port of Bellingham received a national boating access award from the Boat Owners Association of the United States for its efforts to turn Bellingham's industrial waterfront into a boater-friendly downtown.
Boat U.S promotes recreational boating efforts throughout the nation. The 670,000-member organization is known for its promotion of boating safety, boating insurance, and environmental boating efforts, as well as its support for new recreational boating opportunities.
The Recreational Boating Access Award was created by Boat US to honor a group, government body, business, individual or non-profit organization that has succeeded in preserving or improving public waterway access for boaters. Judging criteria included: how well challenges were overcome; the direct impact of the solution; and how adaptable the approach would be in other areas facing similar water access challenges.
Boat U.S. recognized the port, the city, the Waterfront Advisory Group, and all the project partners for planning to help meet local boating needs while preserving the city's working waterfront and for forging a model for other communities to follow.
The planned marina and waterfront redevelopment are the subject of a feature article in the May issue of Boat U.S. Magazine, the world's largest publication in recreational boating with a circulation of nearly 670,000 subscribers. To read this article click here.
The port will be converting Georgia-Pacific's industrial wastewater treatment lagoon into a new Clean Ocean marina that will include nearly a mile of new public trails around the breakwater and innovative, salmon-friendly features such as a fish passageway through breakwater opposite the marina entrance. The port is also planning to put in visitor boating docks along the Whatcom Waterway to help boaters better connect with downtown and the New Whatcom redevelopment area.
In addition to providing additional boating opportunities, these projects will create new family-wage jobs and will assist the more than 90 marine-related businesses in Whatcom County. Visiting boaters also will bring business to local tourism and marine service businesses.
The award was presented at the Working Waterways and Waterfronts - National Symposium on Water Access in Norfolk, VA. The Port of Bellingham was one of seven recipients nationwide of this award.
In giving the award, Boat US noted that the "industrial waterfront revitalization project places recreational boating access/facilities development at its core. It is a model process on how to get the public engaged with recreational boaters and the boating industry in a planning and development partnership with local government. It is expected to meet current and future demand for recreational boating facilities while preserving the city's working waterfront."
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