MOVING FAIRHAVEN FORWARD
continued
Our Values
All of the residents, business proprietors and land owners in Fairhaven deserve to be involved in planning for the future of our area and in the process of implementing the resulting plans. Formulating a set of values to which all members of our community will enthusiastically subscribe and formalizing it as a social contract is the only sound basis for this effort. Some of these values are:
•Maintaining Fairhaven's unique warm character and intimate scale;
•Preserving Fairhaven's natural environment;
•Integrating Fairhaven's leadership groups;
•Retaining Fairhaven's mix of housing types and income levels;
•Adding more open spaces to balance Fairhaven's increasing density;
•Emphasizing pedestrian and bicycle access and public gathering spaces;
•Maximizing public transportation service and ridership;
•Minimizing the reliance on the private use of automobiles;
•Connecting the Fairhaven Village Green directly to Harris Bay; and
•Sharing regular expressions of the Fairhaven's cultural traditions
Our Venture
Restoring Fairhaven's Natural Gifts
Fairhaven is blessed with a bay, a wooded estuary, a tidal pond, a beach, a waterfront park and a long, shoreline bluff. These gifts should be returned to their pristine states and appearances as far as possible in order to sustain the natural habitats they shelter and to increase the potential for responsible public enjoyment of their natural beauty and appreciation of their inherent value. Water and soil contamination should be remediated, riprap breakwaters should be softened, storm water runoff should be controlled, native vegetation replanted and the impact of railroad trestles on tidal flows should be reversed.
Reinforcing Fairhaven's Two-level Ambiance
Fairhaven needs a gathering space at the shoreline to foster community self identification just as the Village Green does on the upper level. The open area just south of Reid Boiler Works, which the Waterfront Futures Group is recommending as the site for a new park, is ideal for this purpose. This location is one of the few in Bellingham from which a view of the bluff may be enjoyed from both the land and the water. It should be cleared of fill down to the level of the railroad tracks, except for an emergency and pedestrian access way running down the Douglas Ave. right of way and southward along the tracks.
The new park should have a pristine appearance. The "shoreway" proposed for the Bellingham waterfront should be routed through it, a vista point created along the South Bay Trail just above it and a sloping pathway placed along the face of the bluff to connect it with the Village Green. A low enclosure of rustic design incorporating national symbols should be placed on the site for a shelter, gathering place and venue for cultural displays and celebrations. A tall, illuminated stabile projecting a pan-cultural theme should be erected as an icon marking the new park as the focal point of the Fairhaven waterfront.
This site has a sandy beach, presently accessible only at low tide, which was formed by natural forces after the rip-rap railroad trestle was constructed. Perhaps those same forces could be assisted in making the beach accessible at high tide as well. In either case, given a safe means of crossing the railroad tracks, the new park would become a favorite destination for local families to walk, rest, contemplate, picnic, swim, row, paddle and sail all within a short walk from a town center. Few other areas in Bellingham have an equivalent potential.
Fairhaven also needs an indoor space near the Village Green to extend its seasonal function as a neighborhood forum to a year-round basis. This space could be part of a larger complex housing retail shops, residential condominiums and shared underground parking. It could feature multi-purposes areas for films, plays, concerts, folk dancing, communal exercise, meetings, lectures, conferences, rallies and celebrations. It could also house an international cafeteria overlooking the Green, a health club, craft workshops, and music practice rooms. It could have a tower visible for several miles and a carillon.
Recovering Fairhaven's Sense of Community
Before the private use of automobiles became widespread, Fairhaven was a functioning neighborhood. Employees of waterfront industries lived within walking distance of their jobs or commuted by trolley. Stores and public services were locally available to meet the residents' daily needs. Most importantly, Fairhaven enjoyed a strong sense of community as well as a unique sense of place. Today, however, the center of Fairhaven has become more of an attraction for outsiders than a venue for serving neighborhood needs and nurturing neighborhood bonds. In fact, the three segments which now comprise Fairhaven, the major landowners and their tenants, the proprietors and employees of firms in the Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park and the actual residents, have minimal interactions.
The first step needed to move toward making Fairhaven truly a world-class neighborhood center is to recover its sense of community. In order to foster mutual respect and confidence, leaders from each of the three disparate groups just identified must become involved in frequent activities of a cultural and/or recreational nature as well as gather around the conference table to formulate policies and create plans.
Reclaiming Fairhaven's Historical Roots
Fairhaven has a rich cultural history beginning with the First Peoples that occupied the area for several thousand years and the many cultural groups that have arrived since 1850. Each tradition deserves tangible recognition and frequent celebration. Honoring these cultures could begin with the painting of a multi-lingual welcome sign on the western face of the dry dock at the Fairhaven Shipyard, a project that has been recommended for early implementation by the Waterfront Futures Group. Subsequently, regular celebrations and exhibitions by the region's cultural groups could be held in the pavilion constructed in the new waterfront park mentioned above. Eventually, a mixed-use, multi-cultural bazaar could be developed on the former Uniflite site to make our heritage accessible on a daily basis, creating a unique ambiance with universal appeal.
Fairhaven also has a "working waterfront" of marine-related enterprises. These should be retained and increased. Spaces should be allocated for displaying their history and opportunities created for public observation of their daily operations, either by direct viewing mezzanines, windows or Closed Circuit TV in order to forge a seamless link between the past and present. Maintaining affordable housing in the neighborhood for the employees of these and other Fairhaven businesses is indispensable.
Reorienting Fairhaven's Transportation Pattern
Fairhaven possesses great potential for being predominantly an area for walking and bicycle riding. Actualizing this potential will require shifting away from our present automobile-driven planning paradigm to a pedestrian-oriented one, including providing more frequent visual focal points, maintaining a human-scale streetscape, connecting our trail system, creating more bike lanes, increasing the type and frequency of mass transit service, adding waterborne people-movers, reducing the volume of automotive traffic and meeting the vehicle parking challenge creatively and effectively, perhaps with under-ground lots.
The first step should be the closing the streets surrounding the Village Green to automotive traffic, except for after-hours deliveries. The psychological resistance to this change may be mitigated by the experience of a city like Groningen in Holland, where its implementation unexpectedly produced major financial benefits. Failure to adopt such a program will turn major intersections and the bridge over Padden Creek into choke points and create constant, heavy traffic congestion along Eleventh Street, Twelfth Street, Harris Avenue, Old Fairhaven Parkway and Chuckanut Drive.
Realizing the Potential of Fairhaven's Waterfront
Fairhaven also has the potential for rivaling harbors in the San Juan Islands as a destination for pleasure boating. The former Log Dump Dock could be rebuilt and reconnected and provided with a safe railroad crossing. Additional moorings could be placed between the Log Dump and Taylor Ave. Docks. Building # 8 in the Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park could be remodeled to serve as a museum, cafe and boating service center. A new launching facility for power boats could be installed next to the Stub Dock near the Cruise Terminal, leaving the existing ramp for hand launched craft and small sailboats.
Relying on Fairhaven's Internal Resources
Fairhaven's residents and business owners possess the motivation, leadership, expertise and capital to implement the projects outlined above. A Fairhaven Community Development Corporation could be established by representative stakeholders to make detailed plans and carry them out. A nonprofit organization, also created by a cross section of local stakeholders, may be needed to obtain grants, acquire property and conduct public programs. Utilization of neighborhood volunteers should be maximized. Above all, every effort should be exerted to make both the process and the results experiences of community.
Note: Fairhaven has both a Historic District and a Parking District. The regulations supporting each of these provisions need to be reviewed to ensure that they are compatible with the goals and planning process outlined above.
Ralph W. Thacker, MPA January 1, 2005
752-1114
