Bellingham looking toward community center, expanded indoor swimming and recreation
In a move that would complete a missing link in Bellingham’s popular Civic Athletic Complex, city officials will be developing a business plan for a multi-use center at the northeast corner of Lakeway Drive and Lincoln Street.
That site, part of a proposed land swap with the Bellingham school district announced Feb. 22, could expand the city’s Arne Hanna Aquatic Center; offer indoor sports and recreation for young and old; and include space for community-oriented gatherings, activities and classes.
To get started, the state Legislature budgeted $200,000 for the city to develop a business plan, which would define the project’s goals and how they could be achieved.
Mayor Kim Lund asked 42nd District state Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, to help provide funding in a Jan. 11 letter.
“Our efforts to expand options for indoor recreation and community connection are essential to the health and vitality of our community, and truly central to our vision of a Bellingham that is safe, thriving, inspired and empowered,” Lund said.
Lund said that Bellingham residents and its elected leaders have indicated repeatedly that they want new and expanded indoor recreational facilities.
Oliver said that city officials will be looking at other communities for ideas on how to proceed.
“There are a lot of great examples. We just have to find what’s right for Bellingham. Sen. Shewmake was eager to get us started. (But) we don’t know what’s needed. We’re looking to really examine some solid revenue-generating ideas,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Nicole Oliver told The Bellingham Herald in an interview.
All of this is possible because of the February announcement of a possible partnership between Bellingham Public Schools and the city of Bellingham that would allow the school district to build a new elementary school somewhere in the 70-acre Civic Athletic Complex in exchange for the site at Lakeway and Lincoln that’s currently home to Carl Cozier School.
Built in 1951, the school is located at the busy commercial corner of Lakeway Drive and Lincoln Street. It’s on a list of three aging elementary schools that the district wants to replace.
Bellingham’s Civic Athletic Complex is the home of the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center; Joe Martin Field for baseball; Civic Stadium for soccer, football and track and field; the Sportsplex with an ice rink and indoor soccer fields; Frank Geri Fields for softball; a skate park and mountain bike jump course.
Nearby trails connect “Civic Field,” as the recreation complex is commonly called, to the citywide Greenways system.
A timeline wasn’t certain because if the land swap goes through, the school district would need several years to finish its new schools.
But that’s not stopping Bellingham officials from moving ahead and being prepared.
“I think there’s enough space there to do a heck of a lot right now,” Oliver said.
