United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-335
July 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Port of Bellingham, WA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA selected the Port of Bellingham for a Brownfields
Pilot. The Port's main waterfront facilities are
located in the City of Bellingham, which is a small,
coastal community (population 63,000) midway
between Seattle and Vancouver. Concerns about
environmental liability and potential cleanup costs for
a number of contaminated sites on the waterfront
have discouraged business development in the area
and resulted in ongoing environmental impacts and
underused land. The Port of Bellingham has initiated
the Central Waterfront Redevelopment Project to
facilitate the cleanup and redevelopment of a 5 0-acre
central waterfront area. The project site is owned by
10 separate public and private parties and lies between
two federal navigation channels. Current and historical
uses include boat yards, foundry activity, bulk
petroleum storage, pulp and paper mill production,
and a municipal landfill. The Port of Bellingham is
approaching the overall redevelopment of the project
area with the goals of pursuing environmentally
sensitive economic revitalization that will create living
wage jobs, revitalizing the working waterfront, and
retaining Georgia-Pacific's local pulp and paper mill
and the mill's 900 associated jobs.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
L f n
DateofAward: SeptembeM996
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets 50 acres
located in the core of the Port of
Bellingham's historic commercial
waterfront.
Port of Bellingham, Washington
Contacts:
Port of Bellingham
(360)676-2500
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)553-0285
Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/MO/cleanup.nsfA/vebpage/
Brown fields?OpenDocument
Forfurtherinformation, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilotinformation, brownfields newsandevents.and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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OBJECTIVES
The work of the Pilot assessment is aimed at two
critical phases of the Port's 5 0-acre Central Waterfront
Redevelopment Project. In phase 1, the Port expects
to rally property owners and the community to develop
a more comprehensive plan (phase 2) for other
property in the area. The first phase of the Pilot
(1996-1998) was devoted to completing expedited
assessment and cleanup planning on the Roeder
municipal landfill property. This included implementing
a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS)
[partnership with the City of Bellingham, the
Washington State Department of Ecology (WSDOE),
and Georgia-Pacific] in addition to working with the
owners of private property, located within the landfill
boundary, to redevelop an 8-acre portion of the 20-
acre landfill property. The construction of a250,000-
square-foot storage warehouse over the landfill by
Georgia-Pacific was completed in 2000. The
warehouse is designed to function as an environmental
cap for a portion of the landfill. The objective of the
second phase (1998-2000) of the Pilot was to develop
a more comprehensive planning framework for the
broader waterfront revitalization effort, which would
include site characterization and land use planning
components for the entire 5 0-acre area.
The Port of Bellingham's Central Waterfront
Redevelopment Project will facilitate the cleanup and
redevelopment of the 5 0-acre project area, including
a large portion of the Roeder Avenue landfill. Future
land use for the area is a critical issue for the Pilot.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
Completed a feasibility level report for the Roeder
Avenue warehouse;
Compiled a data gaps technical report;
Developed a conceptual design and calculated costs
for a proposed environmental cap over the landfill
and leachate and methane gas control based on the
environmental investigation of the project area;
Compiled an inventory of eight properties in the
target area and targeted five for assessment, cleanup,
and redevelopment;
Completed a geotechnical and environmental
investigation of the Roeder Avenue landfill;
Completed a site characterization report; and
Completed a land use options report.
The Pilot is:
Working with WSDOE to analyze cleanup
alternatives for the project area; and
Analyzing land use alternatives for redevelopment
of the 50-acre project area.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Port of Bellingham Pilothas been
a catalyst for related activities, includingthe following:
Georgia-Pacific, amajorwaterfrontproperty owner,
completed construction of a 250,000-square-foot
tissue warehouse on an eight-acre portion of the
Roeder Avenue landfill.
Market value appraisals were initiated on four
properties (Sanitary Services, Chevron, Gaasland,
and Golden).
WSDOE completed assessments on an additional
four properties in the waterfront area and
recommended further response planning on three
properties. The three include the Olivine property
(owned by the Port), the Colony Wharf property
(owned by B.C. Interprises), and the Chevron
property. The Hawley Hilton Harbor property
(owned by the Port) received a "no further action"
letter.
The Port initiated a remedial investigation/feasibility
study at the Olivine property, which is scheduled for
completion in 2001.
The Port initiated rescoping work on the RI/FS at
the Roeder Avenue landfill.
Georgia-Pacific has contributed approximately
$ 13 0,000 to help fund Port-managed environmental
investigations in the project area.
Georgia-Pacific has contributed approximately $1
million worth of environmental landfill capping in
conjunction with the warehouse project.
The Port and the city contributed $300,000 each to
fund the Roeder Avenue landfill RI/FS with oversight
from WSDOE.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
July 2001
Port of Bellingham, Washington
EPA 500-F-01-335
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The Port completed final geotechnical and
environmental investigations on the proposedtissue
warehouse to be located on 8 acres of the 20-acre
Roeder Avenue landfill. Work on the larger Roeder
Avenue landfill RI/FS is ongoing.
Environmental investigations are ongoing at two
privately held sitesthe Chevron and Colony Wharf
Sites.
The Port is conducting an RI/FS under the state's
Model Toxic Control Act at the Olivine site with
completion expected in 2001. The Port is also
evaluating future land use options at this Port-
owned property.
The Port acquired the Golder property.
A state-funded site assessment conducted in
November 1996 on the Hawley's Hilton Harbor site
resulted in a determination of "no further action" by
WSDOE in 1998. Planning activities for
redevelopment are ongoing.
The Bellingham Bay Demonstration Pilot Project
Team recently initiated a feasibility study under the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers General Investigation
Authority to address navigation, sediment cleanup,
and habitat restoration issues. Progress continues
to be made on identifying opportunities to combine
habitat restoration with sediment cleanup activities.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Port of Bellingham, Washington
July'2001 EPA 500-F-01-335
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