Anchor QEA worked with the City of Bellingham as the prime consultant to restore a former municipal waste disposal landfill located on former tideflats of Bellingham Bay.  Landfill remediation plans were integrated with habitat restoration and shoreline public access, with the goal of revitalizing this area of the City’s business district.

This complex urban project included both landscape architecture and geotechnical engineering services, and was integrated with adjacent park and public access facilities such as Maritime Heritage Park, the Fish Hatchery, and the Whatcom Creek Trail.  Public access elements included extending a new boardwalk along the north side of Whatcom Creek and providing viewing/fishing nodes at the water’s edge.  Public safety concerns, such as views through restored habitat areas, were also integrated into the project design.  The project includes integrated art based on the site’s human and natural history.

The site clean-up was performed in conformance to a Consent Decree issued in compliance with the Model Toxic Control Act administered by the State Department of Ecology.  Anchor QEA’s construction services included project management, contract administration, and field inspection.  As much of the landfill excavation and capping work was done below ordinary high water in the tidally influenced waterway during limited fish protection construction windows, much of the work was performed during nighttime low tides. Construction was completed in 2005.

For more information about this project, please contact Peter Hummel, ASLA, at phummel@anchorqea.com.