Downtown Planning - Public Workshops start August 14

Activities, workshops and tours continue during the coming months for people throughout Bellingham to shape the future of downtown. Eight events planned as part of the City's myDowntown planning process are designed to have community members identify actions for how the City and others should further invest in a vibrant, thriving downtown.

Upcoming events include creating recreational spaces using "parklets" and plazas, discussions on what it would take to open a downtown grocery or department store, "Placemaking" workshops (based on concepts developed by the Project for Public Spaces), and more!

1.  Project for Public Spaces (PPS) Kick-off Reception and Presentation

Tuesday, August 14 - 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Mount Baker's Walton Theater, 104 N. Commercial Street

Fred Kent and Kathy Madden of Project for Public Spaces will present how to make great places by using the Placemaking process, and how these ideas have been applied to make successful improvements in downtown Bellingham. This session is a kick-off to upcoming public workshops.

2.  Imagining Bellingham's Town Square
Thursday, August 16th - 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Meet at Depot Market Square, Railroad and Maple Street

What would Bellingham’s "town square" look like?  Participate in this hands-on workshop that applies the Placemaking approach shared by PPS to several example public plaza locations downtown.

3.  Exploring Bellingham's Historic Downtown
Saturday, August 18th  - 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Meet at Depot Market Square, Railroad and Maple Street

Learn about the history of Bellingham's downtown on a walking tour with historic preservation consultant Michael Sullivan.

4.  Hidden GEMS Tour  (G= Galleries, E= Electricity, M= Museums, S = Sweets)
Wednesday, August 22 - 4:00-5:00 PM. 
Meet outside Spark Museum, 1312 Bay Street

Enjoy a tour of Downtown’s Hidden GEMS, including the newly branded Spark Museum of Electrical Invention, Mindport Exhibits, Cedarworks Gallery, and Bellingham Railway Museum (each stop will be 10 minutes). These museums/galleries are special attractions located in a 2-block vicinity within our downtown core. Whether you've lived here for 20 or 2 years, come discover these gems of Bellingham. The walking tour ends with a couple sweet treats at Chocolate Necessities and Bliss Desserts on Cornwall Avenue. 

5.  20-Minute Living Tour
Thursday, September 6 - 4:00-6:00 PM
Meet at Community Food Co-op, 1220 N Forest

This two-hour afternoon walking tour will give you an inside look at urban residential living in Bellingham’s Central Business District; what’s currently working, what’s missing, and what barriers exist to achieving increased residential living and jobs downtown – and will examine issues through the lens of the 20-Minute Living lifestyle.

6.  Downtown Retail Anchor - Bringing a Grocery or Department Store Downtown
Thursday, September 13 - 5:15-6:30 p.m. 
1320 Cornwall Avenue (Former J.C. Penney's building)

Come hear from a panel of experts and learn what it takes to open a grocery or department store downtown.  Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of panelists Jim Ashby, Community Food Coop General Manager; Kevin Weatherill, The Markets CEO; Stephen Trinkhaus, Public Market & Terra Organica owner; and Midge McCauley and Kelly Kost, Downtown Works Retail Recruitment consultants.

7.  Streets as Public Places
Thursday, September 20 - 5:00-7:00 p.m. 
Meet at Depot Market Square

This hands-on workshop invites exploration of opportunities for the State Street corridor, and how the public street space can best be used to serve the people of the downtown district. 

8.  Crime Prevention Through Placemaking and Environmental Design
Thursday, October 4 - 5:00-7:00 p.m. 
Meet at WTA Downtown Station, 205 E. Magnolia Street

Hear success stories from businesses that have employed the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (also known as "CPTED") and apply "Placemaking" principles to envision a new future for the Magnolia and Railroad corridor.

About the myDowntown process

myDowntown is a community planning process that will result in a prioritized list of actions the City and community will take to make downtown an irresistibly attractive place to live, work, play and conduct business.  Initiated by the City (in collaboration with various community partners) in 2011, myDowntown includes four phases.  Phase I (Fall 2011) asked community members to consider how downtown is doing today and what it should be like in the future; Phase II (currently underway), focuses on how to achieve the community's vision for downtown, and offers Bellinghamsters opportunities to come together in a variety of ways to solve problems and share ideas. Phases III and IV will be the development and adoption of the new Downtown Subarea Plan and Action Strategy in 2013.

Send an email to mydowntown@cob.org to be added to the project email distribution list. More information can be found at www.cob.org/mydowntown .