Brownfields Supplemental Assistance

PILOT SNAPSHOT
	Date of Announcement: April 2001 Amount: $150,000 Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot targets the Holly Street Landfill project area, which comprises 41 acres of the city's historic Old Town district and links Bellingham Bay with downtown Bellingham.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Bellingham to receive supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for assessments at brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The city is located on Bellingham Bay, 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. The city's population is approximately 62,000 and the unemployment rate is 6.4 percent, which is higher than the state average.

The original Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot targets the 41-acre Holly Street Landfill project area in the city's historic Old Town district. The project area has 25 separate property owners, including the city, and is made up of many different parcels of land, including a large waterfront park. Since the turn of the century, residual materials from dredging, coal mining, and municipal waste have filled in the former tidelands at the edge of the bay. Whatcom Creek, which bisects the project area, is an important estuary that provides habitat for salmon and a variety of other marine life. Discharges from the project area threaten this valuable natural habitat.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot's overall goals for the area include restoration of valuable habitat and revitalization of the project area into an economically and aesthetically viable section that can link Bellingham Bay and downtown Bellingham. The Focused Remedial Investigation conducted under the original Pilot has successfully characterized the nature and extent of contamination at the Holly Street Landfill project area. The supplemental assistance will be used to complete planning, engineering, and design for an integrated cleanup, redevelopment, and habitat restoration plan for the Holly Street Landfill area. Supplemental assistance also will be used to continue stakeholder involvement on cleanup and reuse plans.

The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to prepare habitat restoration and public access designs for Whatcom Creek, which bisects the Holly Street Landfill project area. The habitat restoration plans will be integrated into the overall cleanup and redevelopment plans for the Holly Street Landfill project area.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Preparing a Cleanup Action Plan Report and Consent Decree which integrates cleanup, redevelopment, and restoration;
• Collecting and analyzing engineering and environmental data needed to refine design criteria;
• Preparing an engineering design report that describes the proposed cleanup and redevelopment of city-owned properties in the Holly Street Landfill project area;
• Preparing engineering design options that integrate remediation and restoration for habitat and public access for Whatcom Creek; and
• Continuing stakeholder outreach to obtain input on cleanup and reuse plans.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

CONTACTS

Bellingham Office of Neighborhoods and Community Development
(360) 676-6880

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 10
(206) 553-2100

Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/reg10.htm

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/