Parks, Recreation and Open Space Chapter

We are blessed with beauty and open space in this city. For that my family and I are grateful!
We are hoping the City seriously takes into account the statement about protecting unique and sensitive lands and to follow up on the commitment to help create spaces that will benefit climate resistance. We would hope that some areas of the city which are inappropriate for development can be bought for parks for their biodiversity, carbon sequestration, beauty, and cooling impacts in other areas in addition to around Lk. Whatcom.
These are the areas I think could be improved about parks and trails...
More inclusive play equipment and accessible trails for wheelchairs and walkers and people using canes, etc.
More park bathrooms open year round (like the ones at Hovander in Ferndale) as people and families do use the parks at all time of year and would do so more often with facilities.
We would prefer to have separate trails for pedestrians and away from bikes. Many times there have been narrowly missed accidents, and with small children, dogs, and the elderly not moving to the right when somebody yells "on your left" there are likely many accidents with the bikes. If not separate trails, then maybe one directional trails with designated sides for bikes and pedestrians, making a loop back instead of reversing direction on the same trails. There have been great numbers of commuters in other countries where they have paths/trail systems that work better than yelling or dinging a bell when somebody is walking and enjoying nature and a bike approaches from the rear.
The e-bikes should be delegated to special trails or to the streets and not even used in the bike lane if going 25mph.
Mt. bikes should also be segregated from public access trails and not cross them or jump down where others are walking. Signs warning of their danger is just not safe enough!
It would be great if there were both dirt (often mud) trails and gravel trails for people who like one or the other.
As far as trees and plantings go, some parks on the north side are quite wide open and could benefit by more tree canopy in hot summers. Some older parks have had to cut down very mature and beautiful trees due to rot, etc. These should quickly be planted with new trees before the old parks also become lacking tree canopy.
The increase in parks over recent years has been lovely to see, compared to when we needed them with our young children, for example. It's lovely to enjoy the happiness of the many young people with toddlers or children in these new parks, and to see dog owners responsibly walking dogs there.
The more parks the better! And the more treed property developed in a way that large trees are able to remain and thrive, the better for all in the city. Even with the LTO in effect for nearly a year, I personally, have seen many cut down with diameters greater than 3'. Planting saplings to replace those mature trees cut in development is like placing grains of sand in small piles in hopes of building the pyramids, when we already have the huge stones to build with!
Thank you for listening and sharing with the other members making the present and future decisions.

Connecting trail corridors is a key goal of the plan but whenever stairs are placed are trails, it limits who is able to use that trail and connect to other trails. I would highly recommend that all stairs in parks and trail systems be analyzed to determine if they are in fact needed or if the stairs could be converted to a path so more users are able to utilize the trail (such as people that are in wheelchairs, bikers, scooters, etc.). I would also try to limit adding any stairs to new trail systems that are built going forward so more users are able to use the trails. Thanks!

Hong Kong used to look like Bellingham. What we need right now is to preserve as much waterfront property and other lands as possible for our future. Land not reserved for our future will be buried under concrete. This is happening right now and will continue unless we preserve land NOW!!! Walking around Lake Padden is a beautiful place to be. Looking out across the lake and seeing tree covered hills is really a wonderful sight, however development has already begun. In 20? years will the hills be covered with housing? Preservation needs to be done now, not a year from now or 5 or 10. Remember, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other cities used to look like Bellingham.

I greatly appreciate what Bellingham Parks has to take care of. To me there is a huge problem of not identifying problems until nothing can be done for repair. The Fairhaven Park sign should have been saved. The over the track bridge and stairway to the park the problem was discovered past a point of repair so we lost the best view of the train tracks and Bellingham Bay. The bathrooms on the Village Green Park have been there for years did not one ever see the problems now that parks doesn't even know if they can be repaired. Dose the Parks department have to much to take care of and need a bigger budget? In the end the parks department is amazing. Maintaining the best park and trail system in the country.

I would like to see the handful of SF lots which have been designated as park property utilized to enrich the neighborhood park. Basically, liquidate these small one-off properties and then utilize the capital to improve the designated park in the neighborhood.

Thanks for putting this together for community members to review.
My request is for MORE BENCHES to allow people with limited mobility to better access our amazing parks and trails.
This especially connects to EQUITY (park and trail access, remove barriers to facilities), DESIGN (open space activation), PLAY (programming and facilities to promote health and wellness, safety enhancements).
Benches are often overlooked because many people don't need them...but some people do! A bench or two can make the difference between someone with limited mobility using OR NOT USING a park or trail. We all know that time outdoors is important for health and wellbeing, and benches are a (relatively) inexpensive way to improve access and enjoyment for all.
Thank you!

Parks and Recreation needs to tear down and rebuild the existing pool facilities at Arnie Hannah.
There is a million gallon a year leak under the main pools. I know because I am a retired maintenance technician and I witnessed this first hand. I retired 2.5 years ago and I’m sure it’s gotten worse since.

Bellingham parks, walkways, trails are overtaken by dog poop and deposited bags leftover. My neighbors, ALL share this sentiment. It's overdue for the city to take enforcement action yesterday! Airborne bacteria from the feces should discourage and pedestrian wanting to enjoy a bit of rest
SIGNS ARE NOT ENOUGH!

I'm glad to see increased aquatics space mentioned. As one of the many Bellingham residents who travels to Grandview Aquatic Center in B.C. to lap swim (because there is no room at Arne Hanna) I hope to see a big increase in lap lanes in Bellingham. People of all ages and abilities should be able to lap swim in Bellingham, but we can't. The demand for lap lanes is huge. As Mayor Lund told me, "Arne Hanna was not big enough to support the cities population when it was built in 1995, the population of Bellingham was 45k then. We need at least 20 lanes for lap swimming.

Bellingham needs more aquatics space. Communities are stronger when people have places to be active and social together.  Aquatic activities are the healthiest way to stay active for people of all ages and abilities. People, in a great area like ours, deserve world-class public aquatic facilities that serve our shared needs for health, exercise, water safety and social interaction. Bellingham should focus on where the NEED is now, we don’t need more trails, we have an abundance of beautiful trails.

Side 14 talks about "Parnerships," and I feel that we could do better in this area. It's good to see that "Support for outside agencies to improve access and facility conditions" is in this section because there are some organizations that feel the city has been a barrier in this regard and I hope to see the city be more willing to assist other groups whose desire it is to improve the green spaces in the city. I would like to see the city expand the "Community involvement in habitat restoration and maintenance activities." The volunteer program is lacking the necessary staffing to help facilitate the "Partnerships" principle with regards to community involvement. Volunteer events have had limited space available due to staffing, and people who want to be park stewards are still waiting for their stewardship applications to be approved. Community involvement within the parks is key to building a thriving parks system, so I encourage you to increase the resources to this area.

System resilience, stated on slide 13, states "Protection from invasive species, illegal activity; repair and restoration." Our green spaces are covered with invasive species. How does the Parks Department expect to accomplish this goal without the public's help? I believe that forming partnerships with local organizations and our Parks Volunteer Program is critical to achieving this goal. We need more Greenways funding to be spent on the volunteer program's staff and outreach. The more the public is involved in their local parks, the better chance we have at eliminating invasive species and helping foster native habitat.

In the preservation section, slide 10, it sates "Balancing access with the protection of the environment." I believe that we need to incorporate more native habitat in our green spaces to foster native species. There has been millions of dollars spent on preserving fish habitat along Squalicum Creek, from the estuary, through the re-route around Bug Lake, to the new bridge on highway 542, but we have this bottleneck of an area in Cornwall Park. There are multiple fish barriers as well as an area where a broken bridge sits adjacent to land that has no protection for fish. Dogs play in the waterway, and a bare slope sits adjacent to the water. How about we eliminate that bridge, strip out the pavement, and plant native plants in the area to help with fish habitat? Do we really need another bridge there? We already have one downstream. Plus, since funding is limited, putting a second bridge in this space seems a bit wasteful. We could always set the stage for a newer, bigger bridge for the future, but we should be focusing on the native habitat now. The city of Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program could partner with NSEA, as well as Public Works, to totally recreate that space and have a wonderful native green space habitat for the community to admire and appreciate. If we are actually going to truly protect the environment, why not do this?

I would like the preservation section highlighted on slide 10 to include preserving native habitat by removing invasive species and planting more native plants. Too many of our green spaces are covered with invasive vegetation. So many of our trails are lined with invasive Himalayan Blackberry as well as other species such as Tansy and English Ivy to name a few. How can we say that we are focusing on climate resiliency when our green spaces are inundated with invasive plants? We are so focused on acquiring more park land but we are doing little to preserve the land that we already have.

Slide 2 has the same quote, "There are all kinds of ways that we like to use public recreation spaces and facilities," twice in the slide.

Bellingham needs to dramatically increase aquatics space. Specifically, we need more lap lanes, A LOT more lanes. The user groups needing lap lanes (Swim teams, masters, lap swimmers, etc) are squeezed more than any other groups at AHAC. As stated in the Comprehensive Plan, we need to plan for future growth. Doubling the number of lanes we currently have would not meet the current need. The current need easily supports a 24 lane (50 meter) pool. There is no reason Bellingham should not have an aquatics complex like Grandview Heights in B.C.

1. Can we finish the trail connection between Little Squalicum and Cornwall Park? 2. Can we fix the bridge in Cornwall Park? Volunteers would probably be happy to do it. 3. Having certain trails being paved or compact gravel can help accessibility, but we are losing many dirt-surface trails to gravel. Can we please, please have trail users give more input on this? We are losing singletrack and dirt doubletrack trails to gravel. This reduces the natural feel and has negative impacts on many walkers, runners and mountain bikers. 4. Mountain biking is very popular in Bellingham and is bringing in a ton of tourists (see license plates at trailheads). Whenever possible, consider mountain bike options in areas where this makes sense. Mountain bikers and the WMBC are very flexible in the volunteer building of trails that are often multiuse. Including these stakeholders in any new projects is important. Thanks!

Hi hello. The only thing that I am concerned about is the use of lime gravel on trails in forested areas. I can understand that it is a long lasting durable surface for high use trails, however I feel that it completely removes the actual feeling of being in the woods and walking around. I also use these trail to commute on my bike and the lime gravel has changed what was a pleasurable commute to a jarring bumpy bike ride.
If there is a better way to pitch and alternative, please let me know.
Thanks!

It is essential that any plan preserve Geri Field and keep the grass fields. I saw a proposal to replace the grass with turf. Turf is bad for athletes and the environment (Injuries for athletes: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nuray-Akkaya/publication/51801084_Football_injuries_on_synthetic_turf_fields/links/02e7e52c3189290d26000000/Football-injuries-on-synthetic-turf-fields.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11593190-000000000-00000 and Environment https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2024/em/d4em00326h). They cause more stress injuries than grass and also contribute 66PD to creeks and streams that impact salmon populations in our rivers and sound.. Baseball and softball are a very important part of the intramural sport program so any drastic change would be really hard for the athletes who play regularly.

Bellingham needs a new or updated larger aquatics center. The current aquatics center is far too small to support the needs of this community for swimming lessons, aquatics programs, lap swimming, swim teams, and recreation. It is time to invest in an aquatics center along the lines of BC's Grandview Heights Aquatic Center so that the entire community can access reasonably priced indoor recreation activities.