Padden Creek Daylighting Project in Final Design Phase: City hopes to start construction in 2013

Since 1978 Richard Sullivan has lived in the Happy Valley neighborhood on the corner of 22nd Street about 100 feet from the Padden Creek tunnel. During heavy storms Sullivan said the tunnel gets clogged with debris causing the water to overflow into his property.

“We live in a hole,” he said.  “The street level is a couple feet higher than our car port.  When it rains we call [our place] Sullivan lake.”

He said he and his neighbors are forced to purchase government flood insurance because the area they live in is considered a flood plain due to the creek running through the tunnel rather than in a natural water flow pattern.

The tunnel, built in the 1890s, created an unnatural flood plain, said Bill Reilly, Storm and Surface Utility manager for the city of Bellingham. He said the city works hard to keep the tunnel free of debris when it storms.  

“It’s become a maintenance issue,” he said. 

The beginning of the tunnel on 22nd Street and Old Fairhaven Parkway. Photo by Erin Nash

Another problem with the tunnel is that it prevents salmon from swimming up the creek to spawn, Sullivan said.

Padden Creek runs through about 2,300 feet of tunnel from 20th to 22nd Street.  In the past, fish have been stacked at the end of the tunnel downstream trying to get up it, Reilly said.           

Rachel Vasak, Executive Director of the Nooksak Salmon Enhancement Association, said for years they have helped transport fish from below the tunnel to above the tunnel to help them migrate.

According to NSEA, a decline in the ability of a stream to support the rearing of young salmon indicates a decline in the overall health of the ecosystem. The salmon in Whatcom County have become an endangered resource as the salmon population has declined and several species have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to NSEA.  

Providing access to spawning grounds by opening up Padden Creek would create a healthier population of salmon, Vasak said.

Sullivan said the city wants to daylight the part of the creek that runs underground through the tunnel, which means opening it up by rerouting it above ground to a more natural flow.

Matthew Bautista holds his daughter, Evangelina, as she plays in the water near the mouth of the Padden Creek tunnel.  Jade (left) and Orion Bautista observe.  The tunnel ends near Fairhaven Park where the Bautista family enjoyed an afternoon walk.   Photo by Erin Nash

In January 2011 the city of Bellingham won a combination of about $2 million in grants and loans from the Department of Ecology for the daylighting project.  The city also came up with $1.2 million itself, which so far has been used to conduct a project report and purchase property for project use. The city currently has $700,000 remaining in allocated funds, Reilly said.

The city lobbied the State to participate in the project because Old Fairhaven Parkway, a state highway, is using the existing tunnel for water conveyance under its road.

In 2009, the Washington Department of Transportation informed the city it had $1 million from the state to improve the fish passageway along Old Fairhaven Parkway.  This money stimulated the daylighting project into the final design phase after which the city will have more fixed costs for the project, Reilly said.

Reilly said the state plans to start construction in 2013.

“We hope to be with them and have the total [daylighting] project ready to go by the time they are done,” he said.  “But we have a long way to go for the designing and permitting process.”

The state plans to re-build the bridge west of 20th Street big enough for water to flow underneath, said Craig Mueller Project Manager Engineer.  When that is finished Padden Creek will be routed underneath it after the daylighting project.  The bridge will provide animal passage and improve the salmon habitat, he said.

The end of the tunnel runs under a bridge near Fairhaven Park.  Photo by Erin Nash

“Restoration of salmon to a stream provides a powerful message that we as a community care about the environment” Reilly said.

He said if that were the only thing being achieved with the daylighting project it would be sufficient.  But he said he believes the reduction of flood risk to about 130 homes and the potential of saving more than $100,000 per year in federal flood insurance is also important.

The daylighting project was first suggested in 1981 but didn’t get attraction until the early ‘90s when the Padden Creek Alliance formed to advocate for restoration of the creek, he said.

“Throughout the ‘90s everyone was flushing out what the project should look like,” Reilly said.  “In 2002 the city had money to conduct the first up-to-date study of the creek and what it would take to make it a viable stream.”

Since then the city has been applying for grants and loans and allocating money toward the project on an annual basis to finance the estimated $4 million project, he said.

Reilly said he would love for the community to be involved when it comes to planting trees along the banks of the creek.

Mueller said he thinks this is an exciting project and that once all is restored, probably in the next two years, the creek is going to look really nice and be great for the neighborhood.

In the next year the city will be working to obtain more grants to ensure there is sufficient money to finish the project and hopefully reduce the need to use the full loan amount, Reilly said.  “We are very close to getting started with the program.”