Rezoning Proposed of Padden Trails

The Samish Neighborhood Association agrees that the Bellingham City Council should review the Padden Trails rezoning project that would increase the number of houses built in the area. But they also have some major concerns about the project.

The proposal would increase the density of the 113 acres just west of Lake Padden Park from 20,000 sq. ft. per unit to 8,000 sq. ft. per unit. The managing partner, George Huston, said this is merely a guideline and that it is up to the engineers to figure out the density that is feasible for this type of land. This proposal would increase the number of units allowed in the area from 224 homes to 635 units.

The neighborhood’s main concern about the project is the increase in traffic, said Greg McCracken, the Samish Neighborhood Association president. There is only one entrance and exit to the Padden Trails area, McCracken said, through 34th Street up to Connelly.  

The roads between Connelly and 40th Street, known as the ‘stair steps,’ have long been identified as a problem area for traffic, he said.  “And 600 more cars driving in and out in the morning and evening could really impact traffic on Connelly and that interchange,” McCracken said.

There are also no sidewalks in the area and the roads are all very narrow, McCracken said.

According to a letter sent by Rick and Nancy Chartrand to the city council and the Planning Commission, the rezoning project would increase the number of trips per day to 6,700. They suggest that the developers first obtain approval for the severe traffic flow disruptions from the homes on 34th Street before going ahead with the project.

The neighborhood association suggests traffic lights or circles on 34th Street in order to control the flow of traffic. “But I don’t know if any are feasible on a street with that kind of slope,” McCracken said.  

During the summertime, when so many people are trying to get to Lake Padden, these roads become virtually jammed, said Christopher Grannis, the president of the South Neighborhood Association who is also involved in the project. “They don’t normally consider the location of the increase of traffic,” Grannis said.  “This will slow things down on the freeway and all the way into Fairhaven.”

To combat the issue of increased traffic, there is already a plan underway to reroute 33rd Street and have it connect to 34th Street near Connelly, below Cody, McCracken said. He said that the city is looking for ways to improve traffic in the area.

Having only one entrance and exit is not just bad for traffic, it is also bad for emergency vehicles who will need to get into the development, McCracken said. “If there is a forest fire there, it would just be a catastrophe to get emergency vehicles in and get people out to safety too,” he said. There was a fire in the Padden Trails area in 1985, so fire is not out of the question, McCracken said.

“From a safety point of view, I simply can’t understand why the city staff recommended that such a proposal even be docketed,” Grannis said.

A high density cul de sac such as the one proposed is very susceptible to fire and other natural hazards, said Robert P. Gibb, M.D. in a letter to the Bellingham City Council and the Planning Commission.

There are also several environmental concerns associated with this proposal. The Samish Neighborhood Plan describes the land in this area as having extremely steep slopes with very difficult access and interspersed wetlands. Land like this is very difficult to build on,  McCracken said. He said more cement and impervious surfaces would increase the amount of polluted runoff into Padden Creek that runs along the northeast corner of the area.

The Puget Sound Partnership has identified keeping the tributaries of Puget Sound clean and safe as one of their main goals, Grannis said. The Padden Creek is one of the main tributaries to the sound and as well as a salmon bearing creek, he said. “The Puget Sound is slowly dying in increments and adding more runoff into one of its tributaries is not a good thing,” he said.

Grannis also said increased density in a neighborhood on the outskirts of a city goes against what Sustainable Connections believes is a viable city. There should be a dense downtown with density decreasing as you move outwards, he said. This isolated area is also served by only one WTA bus stop on Samish Way at 38 Street. Grannis said putting that many people in an area with limited public transportation is not feasible and “just not what they call smart growth.”

The proposal includes a clustering technique as a way to diminish the effects on the environment. There would be clusters of homes or units mainly on the western portion of the area to minimize the runoff into Padden Creek and to avoid the steep cliffs. “I think it’s a good idea because it will help to protect the wetlands in the area,” McCracken said.

The Samish Neighborhood Association also said that the increase in the number of homes will decrease the quality of life in the area. There is some concern that college students will be the ones renting these units, McCracken said. “That, in itself, isn’t a problem, but if there are rental units that are being abused, that could diminish the character of the neighborhood,” he said.

Though there are many concerns with this project, the Samish Neighborhood Association supports this project being docketed because this is the best place for this kind of building to take place, McCracken said. They think that the Bellingham City Council should take a look at it and see what can be done to improve it, he said. Grannis also agrees that there are ways for this project to be a good one without increasing the density.

“The city has been talking about infill and increasing density. If there’s ever an area in the neighborhood to do that, this is probably a good one,” McCracken said. “But it’s definitely not something we’d want to see throughout the neighborhood.”

New Sunday School in Spanish

The Community Baptist Church is starting a new Sunday school that will be conducted in Spanish for the children of Hispanic families who attend the church. There are already services held in Spanish on Sunday mornings, but the Sunday school is only in English.

The church is trying to reinvent itself, said Pastor Josh Wright. “We want to get more younger people and more community members here,” he said.

He said they mostly have older people and young families attending, not normally college students or younger generations.

The new Sunday school will allow the Hispanic kids who go to the church to learn the faith through their own native language. “We want everyone to feel included,” Wright said. “There’s no reason why the kids can’t learn about God through the Spanish language.”

The church started reaching out to the Hispanics in the community by adding a Spanish service during Easter of last year. Wright said it has been going well so far, and he looks forward to the growing community. He said some cultural barriers have been difficult to overcome. “But we’re going slow and slowly breaking those walls down,” he said.

The church does various activities to reach out to the community and to get more people involved. During the summers they have free carwashes and hand out water bottles outside of grocery stores on hot days, he said.

They have also done a community giveaway four years in a row now. “We open the church on a Saturday morning and if we have it, you need it, go ahead and take it,” he said.

There are also family fun days after church where everyone brings food to share and the kids play out on the back field. “It’s a place to enjoy time together without having to spend any money,” he said.

Move to Ban Fireworks in Bellingham

The Samish Neighborhood Association (SNA) sent a letter to the Bellingham Police Department  and the city council in early January calling for increased enforcement of the current fireworks laws inside the city.

According to the city ordinance, fireworks are prohibited in Bellingham except on July 4 and Jan. 1. This is more restrictive than the state law that says they can be shot off between June 28 and July 5.

“But fireworks start weeks before the fourth and end weeks after,” said Clay Butler, a Bellingham resident.
Butler is heading a movement in the city to ban fireworks in Bellingham. He has presented his ideas to all the neighborhood associations, asking for their support of the ban.

The Samish Neighborhood Association felt they couldn’t support the ban, but decided to send a letter encouraging the police department to pay more attention to this issue, said Greg McCracken, President of the SNA.
“The majority of the board felt that fireworks were not a problem in the neighborhood,” McCracken said.

Butler has also started an online blog and petition to allow conversation and comments from community members. He said there are about 350 people in the city who are willing to comment and support him on this issue.

The ban would make shooting off fireworks during unauthorized times into a criminal offense.

“When someone reports fireworks, by the time police determine whether or not it’s a violation, the people who are setting off fireworks have already gone back in their house,” Butler said.
He said it affects people who have come back from war with PTSD more than others because the noise is so loud that it scares them.

Being so close to the Lummi Indian Reservation is a big contributor to these fireworks, Butler said. “People go out and buy them on the reservation and then bring them back into town where they are illegal,” he said.

Fireworks are also huge fire hazards, Butler said. In the late 1990’s, a woman died in a house fire in Bellingham caused by people mishandling fireworks, he said. A group of college students were drinking in two separate houses and shooting fireworks at each other. The house caught on fire and a woman died in the upstairs bedroom.

It was a senseless death,” said City Councilman Stan Snapp, a supporter of the ban and a former Bellingham firefighter.

After this death, the idea of a ban was presented to the city council and they restricted the use of fireworks to just two days out of the year rather than the 10 days that the state law allows, Snapp said.

“On [the council’s] lines, they feel like they’ve already fixed it,” Snapp said.

50 other cities in the state have already banned all fireworks in the city, Butler said. He said that Spokane is one of the best success stories on this issue. They banned fireworks over 18 years ago and have decreased the number of firework related injuries and damages by quite a lot, he said.

The Bellingham police are having a difficult time enforcing the restrictions they have now, said Deputy Chief David Doll for the Bellingham Police Department.

“If someone is being blatantly unsafe, the officer will confiscate the fireworks and write a ticket,” Doll said. “But typically it’s a warning. But we do increase our enforcement during the summer.”  
Doll said that there were 19 primary calls in 2010 that involved fireworks violations, with 14 of these calls in June and July.

“It is going to take a big push from the fire department or a neighborhood group to get the ball rolling,” Snapp said.