Name: Bellingham City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, Jun 1, 2026
Start: 2026-06-01
End: 2026-06-01
Location: City of Bellingham

City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee

Mon, June 1, 2026

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Meeting summaryAI-generated

City Council Parks and Recreation Committee — June 1, 2026

This was a regular Parks and Recreation Committee meeting chaired by Councilmember Skip Williams, with Councilmember Dan Hammill and Councilmember Hollie Huthman substituting for the absent Councilmember Jace Cotton (who was present for the second item). Two trail-related items were on the agenda.

Jill's Court Trail Contract Award (Agenda Bill 24954)

The committee considered awarding a construction contract for the Jill's Court Trail (Project P0145), which will build a new multi-use trail connecting Jill's Court to Telegraph Road in the north end of Bellingham. The trail is intended to provide a safer north-south route for residents in the King Mountain and Bakerview neighborhoods, bypassing a stretch of James Street between Orchard Drive and Telegraph Road that currently has no shoulders.

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver and Greenways Project Manager Paul Knippel presented the item. The city received nine bids on April 21, 2026, and the lowest responsive bid of $873,428.25 was submitted by Specialty Equipment Inc. (DBA Neptune General Contractors). That figure came in well below the engineer's estimate of $797,617 — wait, the transcript states the bid was $873,428.25 and the engineer's estimate was $797,617, meaning the bid exceeded the estimate slightly; however, Oliver noted the project came in "quite a bit below the engineer's estimate," suggesting the engineer's estimate figure as read may have been misstated in the transcript. The discrepancy is unclear from the source material.

Oliver explained that the project is topographically challenging, requiring significant retaining walls to climb from Jill's Court up to Telegraph Road. The city also ultimately had to purchase the Telegraph Road parcel outright after years of unsuccessful attempts to obtain an easement, which necessitated a design update. The winning contractor's competitive bid was attributed in part to a favorable relationship with a neighboring property owner that provides better site access — important given the narrow construction corridor.

The project includes an apprenticeship hour requirement due to its scope. Councilmember Hammill expressed enthusiasm for the project, calling it emblematic of the city's commitment to improving trail connectivity and amenities in parts of north Bellingham that have historically been underserved.

Vote: Moved and seconded (specific mover/seconder not clearly identified in transcript); passed unanimously by the three-member committee on a voice vote (all in favor, none opposed). To be reported at the full evening council meeting.

Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail — RCO Grant Application (Agenda Bill 24955)

The committee considered a resolution authorizing the Parks and Recreation Department to apply for a Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) grant of $1,470,000 to fund development of the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail.

Director Oliver described the trail as a long-planned connection between Cordata Park and the future Van Wyck Park to the east. Earlier trail alignments were ruled out due to extensive wetlands east of Cordata Park. The selected property features forested wetlands and will require an elaborate series of boardwalk segments. Design work has been ongoing and complicated — at one point the trail alignment had to be shifted to avoid an eagle's nest discovered mid-design.

A panhandle portion of the property extending to Meridian Street is planned to be surplussed as commercial property. Councilmember Cotton asked whether a pedestrian connection to Meridian was feasible from the site; Oliver confirmed it was not the preferred option, explaining that the better pedestrian connection runs to Stuart Road, which has a lighted intersection for safer street crossing.

Oliver expressed confidence the application would compete well for RCO funding, and noted that if successful, construction would likely be pushed to 2028. Councilmember Hammill again voiced support, calling it another meaningful amenity addition to a different part of town.

Vote: Moved and seconded (specific mover/seconder not clearly identified in transcript); passed unanimously by the committee on a voice vote (all in favor, none opposed). To be reported at the full evening council meeting.

Key Takeaways

Jill's Court Trail moves to construction: A contract worth approximately $873,000 was awarded to Neptune General Contractors for a new multi-use trail connecting north Bellingham neighborhoods to Telegraph Road, offering a safer alternative to a shoulderless stretch of James Street.

Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail grant application authorized: The city will seek $1.47 million from the state RCO to build a boardwalk trail through wetlands connecting Cordata Park toward the future Van Wyck Park — construction likely in 2028 if funded.

North Bellingham trail connectivity is a clear priority: Both projects reflect a sustained departmental focus on improving non-motorized access in parts of the city that have historically had fewer parks and trail amenities.

Both items were approved unanimously and will advance to the full City Council for final action at the evening meeting.

AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.

What happened at this meeting

A contract award for Jills Court Trail, project P0145, Bid No. 15B-2026

Staff presented a contract award for the Jill's Court Trail (Project P0145, Bid No. 15B-2026), a multi-use trail connecting Jill's Court to Telegraph Road. Specialty Equipment Inc. DBA Neptune General Contractors submitted the lowest responsive bid of $873,428.25, significantly below the engineer's estimate of $1,797,617. Nicole Oliver and Paul Knippel explained the project's importance for north-south connectivity in the King Mountain and Bakerview neighborhoods, noting topography challenges and the city's purchase of Telegraph Road property after unsuccessful easement negotiations. Councilmember Hamel praised the project as an outstanding example of the city's commitment to connectivity and amenities in the north end, and voted to approve the contract.

A resolution authorizing application for Recreation and Conservation Office Grant – Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail

# Summary

Staff presented a resolution authorizing a $1,470,000 Recreation and Conservation Office grant application to develop the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail, which would connect Cordata Park to the future Van Wyck Park through a forested wetland area requiring boardwalk trail experiences. Nicole Oliver noted that the project design was modified to accommodate an eagle's nest discovered during planning. A committee member raised concerns about adding another amenity in a different part of town, while Council Member Cotton requested clarification about a potential Meridian connection; staff confirmed this was not feasible on-site but noted that Stuart Road provides a better-lit pedestrian crossing to Meridian services. If successful, the grant would likely push construction to 2028. The motion to approve carried unanimously.

Agenda items (2)

Procedural (2)

24954ProceduralA contract award for Jills Court Trail, project P0145, Bid No. 15B-2026

The city is awarding a construction contract for the Jills Court Trail project to the winning bidder. This will move forward with building or improving this local trail.

What happened

24955ProceduralA resolution authorizing application for Recreation and Conservation Office Grant – Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail

Bellingham is seeking approval to apply for state grant funding through the Recreation and Conservation Office to help pay for the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail project.

What happened

Additional votes recorded in minutes

Approve contract award for Jill's Court Trail (Agenda Bill 24954)

aye 1

voice voteaye

Approve resolution authorizing RCO grant application for Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail (Agenda Bill 24955)

aye 1

voice voteaye

Verbatim transcript available

34 transcript segments indexed

Welcome back to the Bellingham City Council Committee meetings. Um the next committee we have this afternoon is Parks and Recreation. Um that committee is chaired by Councilmember Williams, and I believe that we may have a substitution for one of the other councilmembers on that committee, but I will turn it over to Councilmember Williams.

City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Committee minutes June 1, 2026, 1:40 PM Chair: Edwin H. "Skip" Williams Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Daniel Hammill, Jace Cotton Email: ccmail@cob.org Web: cob.org/council City Council committee meetings Standing committee members receive reports and information, ask questions, and vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the regular meeting.

There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m. Present: Committee Chair Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Committee Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Member Jace Cotton, At-Large Parks and Recreation 24954 1.

>> Thank Thank you very much, President President Stone. Um today I am I am joined by Councilmember Hamel, and in the absence of Councilmember Cotton, um uh Councilmember Huffman will be substituting for him.

So, uh we have two items on our agenda today. The first item is agenda bill 24954, which is a contract award for the Jill's Court Trail, project num- number PO145, bid number 15B2026. The city is constructing a multi-use trail from Jill's Court to Telegraph Road.

A contract award for Jills Court Trail, project P0145, Bid No. 15B-2026 Summary: Nicole Oliver, Parks & Recreation Director, and Paul Knippel, Greenways Project Manager, presented the contract award for the Jills Court Trail, Bid No.

15B-2026. The project constructs 1500 linear feet of multi-use trails from Jills Court to Telegraph Road. Council Members discussed the contract award and asked questions. Action: Daniel Hammill moved to award contract 15B-2026 for the City of Bellingham Parks & Recreation Jills Court project P0145 to Specialty Equipment Inc., DBA Neptune General Contractors, in the amount of $873,428.25.

The city opened nine bids on April 21st, 2026, and Specialty Equipment Inc. DBA Neptune General Contractors was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of eight seven whoa, eight $873,428.25.

The engineer's estimate was $1,7 $797,617. This project includes an apprenticeship hour uh requirement due to the scope. So, at this time I'm going to turn this over to uh Nicole Oliver, Parks and Recreation Director, and Paul Knippel, the Greenways Project Manager.

MOTION CARRIED 3-0. 24955 2. A resolution authorizing application for Recreation and Conservation Office Grant – Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail Page 1 of 2 Summary: Nicole Oliver, Parks & Recreation Director, and Paul Knippel, Greenways Project Manager, presented the resolution, which authorizes the application for a Recreation and Conservation Office grant for the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail.

Council Members discussed the resolution and asked questions. Action: Daniel Hammill moved to recommend approval of the resolution. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

>> Thank you, Council Member Williams. Um I have today with me Paul Knippel, who's our Greenways Project Manager. Um this is a project that has been uh we've been looking forward to for a long time. You may have recall that um when Public Works presented the Transportation Improvement Program, this was one of the highlighted projects because it is going to create a connection uh north-south for the people in King Mountain and along Bakerview that will connect to the uh now overlaid Telegraph Road and will bypass that southern portion of James Street between Sunset Pond well, really between Orchard, Sunset Pond, and um Telegraph that has no shoulders whatsoever.

So, this will be a a really um enormous improvement um to access for the north for the neighborhood. They'll be able to get down through um there's a couple of different ways you can get down. I was just showing Council Member Lillquist some of the options, and if you look on the Strava heat map, you'll see that people make their way through to the south in a lot of different ways.

Um but we do expect that the um the trail will be uh will be built. Um the storage the storage um it's kind of a fancy storage facility project is what was required to dedicate this trail easement. There's some topography challenges.

It's a pretty expensive project because of the walls that it takes to get from Jill's Court up to Telegraph. And then when once we bought the Telegraph Road property, when we were unsuccessful for a couple of years trying to get an easement from the owner, we ended up buying that property outright.

Um so, then we had to um up update the design to include that connection. So, this complete project um did come in quite a bit below the engineer's estimate, and the real difference between the other bidders was about um access, and we think that they have um some a good relationship with the property owner who's giving them some pretty good access to do the project cuz it's a narrow uh width to to do some pretty significant work.

So, with If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them, or Paul is here if I cannot. >> Okay, committee members. Um Dan Hamill. >> Um I don't have any technical questions. I think that this um this kind of this speaks to you the the city's emphasis and then and the parks' really outstanding work in terms of providing connectivity and amenities to the north end of Bellingham, parts that um uh traditionally, but in in the past, I guess, just didn't have as much in the way of of, you know, trails and parks and and things like that.

So, I'm very pleased with this, and um I'm glad the the um the estimate or the responsive bid came in on on what it did. Um that's that's outstanding. So, I'm going to go ahead and vote to approve. >> Okay.

Um any further discussion? Seeing none, um all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed, motion carries, and I will report that at the evening meeting tonight. Okay, thank you very much. Now for item number two.

Um this is going to be agenda bill 24955, which is a resolution authorizing application for recreation and conserve for a recreation and conservation office grant for the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail.

The City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department requires City Council's authorization to apply for a grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, commonly called RCO, to develop the Middle Fork Spring Open Space Trail.

The Parks Department intends to apply for a grant in the amount of $1,470,000 to help fund this project. And once again, I'll turn it over to uh Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver. >> Thank you, Council Member Williams.

This is another um kind of long-standing connection that we've been trying to make between Cordata Park and the future Van Wyck Park, which is far to the east. Um we had other trail potential um that really ended up with some severe um wetlands that are gorgeous to the east of Cordata Park are some really beautiful forested wetlands.

So, this property became available and we have um spent quite a bit of time working on a design. It's a complicated property. Um you see the panhandle that extends to Meridian. That um is going to be surplussed as commercial property.

Um and the remaining uh parcel is quite a bit of wetlands um and the project is a pretty elaborate series of boardwalk trail boardwalk experiences. It also had to be moved for an eagle's nest in the middle of design.

Um so, we're applying for this grant. Um we think it's going to compete well. Uh we also know that the timing would push the construction likely to 2028 if we're successful with this grant. And I'm here again to answer any questions as is Paul, also the project manager.

>> Are there any questions, uh, committee? Yes. >> Um, not so much a question, same, um, I guess same thoughts as the previous, uh, agenda item. Yet another, um, added amenity, um, in this different part of town, close to the to the last one.

Um, therefore, I'm going to go ahead and vote to approve. >> Okay. It's been moved to approve. Any other discussion? Council member Cotton. >> Um, can you remind me, um, that the so connection with to Meridian is not possible on that site.

>> Yes, that is correct. It it it We actually were looking at it for some other potential projects, but, um, it the connection, the better connection for pedestrians is to Stuart Road because that has a lit, uh, intersection for crossing.

So, it is a better pedestrian connection to connect Cordata to the services there on Meridian. >> Thank you for that. >> Okay, any further questions, rest of the council? Seeing none, I will call the question for approval.

All in favor, say I. >> I. >> All opposed? Motion carries, and I will, uh, report that at the evening meeting tonight. >> Thank you. >> That concludes our agenda today, so I will adjourn the meeting and toss it back to you, President Stone.

>> Thank you very much, Councilmember Williams. Um, so this afternoon, our next committee will be Community and Economic Development, which is chaired by Councilmember Cotton. That committee is scheduled to begin at 2:05, so we will have a brief break, um, and we will reconvene shortly.