Bellingham residents who enjoy a small park at the end of Broadway are taking a stand to oppose growth and development in the most literal, vertical sense.
A developer plans to add a third floor to the old Redden Marine Supply building at 1411 Roeder Ave. and raise its height by 8 feet. Current plans show the roof sloping upward at each end in architectural flourishes called “prows” that add nearly 4 additional feet of height.
After a special public hearing on May 5, the Bellingham Planning Commission is asking for a deeper review of the project. The commission asked the city’s Planning and Community Development Department to take another look at the roof design, while also ensuring that trees planted with the new landscaping at 1411 Roeder Ave. don’t grow to obscure some of the view from Lower Broadway Overview, the small but popular park that overlooks the waterfront where Broadway terminates, near Holly Street.
The old Redden Marine Supply building at 1411 Roeder Ave. would be converted into shops and apartments. (Noah Harper/Cascadia Daily News)
The planning department will also work with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to consider the cost and feasibility of constructing a viewing deck at LBO, as the Columbia neighborhood park is sometimes called.
Planning Commissioner Mike McAuley, a former Port of Bellingham commissioner, said he asked the current Port commission if it would fund improvements at LBO. The Port owns the 1411 Roeder property that threatens to impinge slightly on the park’s view.
“Personally, I’m a big fan of towers,” McAuley said. “I would love to see a tower up there.”
The new development is part of a trend in Bellingham. The now-vacant retail space that once supplied commercial fishing fleets would be converted into a “mixed-use” building, with shops on the ground floor and apartments above. Once word got out about the height of the proposed structure, more than 100 emailers asked the planning department to preserve the view from Lower Broadway Overview.
While a few emails rued the idea of the new building altogether — “Bellingham has too many unsightly and unaffordable condominiums already,” wrote Sharon Avolio of nearby Williams Street — several others proposed what appeared to be a modest solution.
“Lowering the planned building height by removing the ‘prows’ reduces the building elevation … just enough to ensure the present magnificent view — a city treasure — is preserved for all of the citizens and not for just a few apartment dwellers,” wrote Gary Beban of Friends of the Park (LBO).
The developer, AMBK LLC, had already redesigned the building to reduce the height twice in response to public outcry. The original building height was 36.5 feet in the middle, and more than 44.5 feet at the prows. The proposed prow height has been reduced by nearly 6 feet.
The prows had been added in the first place to enhance the aesthetics of the roofline — a look planning commissioners McAuley and Rose Lathrop both said they supported.
“If we can develop (the property) right and beautifully, it will set a tone” for the waterfront redevelopment area, Lathrop said.
In his testimony to the Planning Commission, Beban softened his earlier stance on the prows, suggesting they be further reduced, not eliminated altogether.
“If one was able to reduce the height of the prows closer to 35 feet,” then park-goers would be able to view boats coming and going from I&J Waterway, Beban said — “which is a show in itself.”
As it stands, the building design blocks LBO’s view of the waterway, most of the U.S. Coast Guard buildings and Bornstein Seafoods.
The proposed building will continue to go through design review for the next several months, said Ali Taysi, a consultant for AMBK. Construction permits are still “down the road a ways,” Taysi said.
“We’re still relatively early in this design process.”
