Greenway Program in Puget

Potential for new Greenway projects in Bellingham’s Puget neighborhood depend on citizen initiative for a fourth levy to follow-up the 2006 levy, according to Greenway program coordinator Tim Wahl.

Greenways can be parks, playgrounds, trails or general open space, Wahl said, and adding that the spaces are not necessarily green but simply connection routes between other Greenways.

Bellingham has been investing in Greenways for 24 years, according to the Greenway Strategic Plan.  The first Greenway levy was in 1990, then 1997 and the most recent in 2006. As for the next levy, Wahl said, “Who knows?”

“It’s just kind of political,” Wahl said, referring to the process of approving another levy that would continue to fund the Greenway programs.

“Citizens put together the nuts and bolts,” said Wahl, and in 2016 the funds from the previous levy of $26.4 million will be exhausted.

Chris Webb, a father who visits Civic Park two or three times a month for his children’s’ swims and playground time, said that the Greenways are a “big part of the quality of life,” and “they’re part of our identity here.”

In the neighborhood of Puget, two projects are outlined in the greenway strategic plan. Project S4 (Samish) would connect Whatcom Creek Greenway with Lake Padden Park over Samish Hill, according to the Greenway Strategic Plan.

“Samish Hill is a huge project for that neighborhood [Puget],” said Wahl. The project would “secure multi-use park land at the northwest corner of the Wright tract to expand the anticipated active use area and provide a strong entrance into the North Samish Hill neighborhood park and Samish Crest Greenway,” according to the Greenway Strategic Plan.

Wahl said that the S4 project is progressing with money targeted for the acquisition of land and that the project is “very much alive.”

The project will be a huge benefit to those that live in the Puget neighborhood, according to Wahl. “Puget is a very difficult neighborhood. There was no thought to walking and biking when it was built,” said Wahl. Since there are many streets with sharp inclines people don’t want to walk or bike, instead they prefer to drive, said Wahl.

The second project that would affect the Puget neighborhood is W3 (Whatcom Creek), which would connect the Roosevelt neighborhood to Whatcom Creek Greenway, according to the Greenway Strategic Plan. The plan states that “$331,000 is identified for purchase of corridors linking Roosevelt Park, the Boys and Girls Club campus with the Whatcom Creek Greenway.” This project would benefit those in Roosevelt more so than those in the Puget neighborhood, Wahl said. Puget and Roosevelt are very different kinds of neighborhoods, the connection Greenway would be very beneficial, according to Wahl.

“Roosevelt is poor people, it’s crime, it’s lack of opportunity,” said Wahl.

As far as progress with this project, Wahl said it has been pretty dormant lately since money allocated to this project has been pulled for use rebuilding the Whatcom Creek Trail Railroad Avenue bridge.  

Additionally, Dewey Griffin Automotive owns, and plans to expand its dealership, on land that could have been used for the W3 Greenway. 

As Cynthia Bush gave her daughter a push at Laurel Park, she said that the parks and Greenways are a reason why people move here.

Webb commented that he thinks people from other communities might come to Bellingham for the parks and Greenways that the city has, because the city is better endowed than others.  

Wahl explained that acquisition of land for Greenways comes in a two-step process. First, parks and recreation staff refer to the Greenway Strategic Plan for general outlines on what kind of land they should be looking for, the funds they have available to them and which neighborhoods should be focused on.

As Wahl said, “Every neighborhood gets some. We want to spread the wealth.”

Once the property has been investigated, the owner of said land is contacted to figure out a price. Only at this stage, said Wahl, does the team take this information to the Bellingham City Council and Greenway Advisory Committee to decide if the property works with the Greenway Strategic Plan.