As discussions swirl about construction in the Lake Whatcom Watershed, Bellingham city staff are making plans to remove about 1,500 acres from potential development.
The goal, city staff said, is to support environmental health around Lake Whatcom — the source of drinking water for about half the county — by protecting it from future development or increased pollution.
“The overall objective is to protect the watershed through acquisition,” the city’s public works director, Eric Johnston, said Thursday, June 15. “We want to make sure we have that high-quality safe drinking water, and we want to preserve it for generations to come.”
Protecting Lake Whatcom has been a priority for city and county leaders for more than two decades as high levels of pollution, particularly phosphorus, continue to impact water quality.
Johnston couldn’t provide specifics about the 1,500 acres the city is pursuing, but said they’re spread across two dozen properties in the watershed.
The acquisitions will be secured with funds from the city’s Lake Whatcom Watershed Acquisition and Preservation Program, in place since 2001. Throughout its 22-year tenure, the acquisition program has been used to remove more than 2,400 acres from development at the cost of more than $37.5 million, Johnston said.
The program, launched in 2001, has been a boon to the community, and helped the city procure properties “solely to prevent development from occurring,” Johnston said during the Silver Beach Neighborhood Association meeting on June 13.
“We have one of the most robust watershed protection programs and policies and funding streams to protect Lake Whatcom,” he added.
Johnston said he can’t say when the acquisitions will be finalized — the review process can take significant time. The process, he said, starts when a landowner contacts the city with interest in selling. From there, city staff discuss the property with the Bellingham City Council during executive sessions, the property undergoes appraisal and the city negotiates with the landowner.
The city council has final approval power once negotiations and contracts are finalized.
“We are interested in and want to talk to property owners looking to sell,” Johnston said. “We’re in the business of buying undeveloped property in the watershed.”
The property acquisition program, though, is just one piece of the puzzle for the watershed. Other measures to protect the watershed — including an ongoing, emergency construction moratorium in the Silver Beach neighborhood — remain in place while city and county staff balance development needs and environmental health in a growing community. The moratorium, in place since July 2022, was extended by the Bellingham city council at the request of city staff, and will prevent development through January 2024.
