Parks, Trails & Clean Up

Parks & Trails
The Waterfront District will include the development of 33 acres of new parks and trails and 6 acres of restored public beach.  These signature parks and trails will link downtown Bellingham and adjacent neighborhoods to the waterfront and will feature outstanding areas to walk, play and experience the waterfront.  Parks and open spaces within the Waterfront District will be interconnected by a network of pedestrian and bicycle trails, with connections to the Coast Millennium Trail system and other local parks and trail systems.
Waterfront Parks
11-17-11 Excavation1
Environmental Cleanup
Most of the Waterfront District is built on tidelands which have been dredged and filled to support over 100 years of heavy industrial activity.  Portions of the site are affected by soil, groundwater and/or sediment contamination caused by historic releases of hazardous substances.  Bringing this environmentally compromised land back to productive use is essential to meet the community vision for the central waterfront.  There are six-state listed cleanup sites within the Waterfront District.  The Washington State Department of Ecology is the lead agency responsible for the overseeing the cleanup projects.  For more information on the status of these sites, click here.