Fairhaven Vacant Lots Continue to Be Developed

 Fairhaven residents and business owners are concerned about potential building developments in the neighborhood’s vacant lots.

Gordy Tweit has owned the Fairhaven Pharmacy for 51 years and has lived in Fairhaven long enough to witness many changes. In the wake of ongoing construction in Fairhaven’s lots, he spoke of community members’ concern over the heights of the new buildings. Tall buildings would not only obstruct views of the bay but would be inconsistent with the rest of the neighborhood. “High rises, to me, are the worst thing in the world,” said Tweit.

Even if a building in Fairhaven has been built recently, buildings in the neighborhood all share a historic appearance. One of Fairhaven’s requirements for new buildings is to fit in with the neighborhood’s historic motif. This includes staying within Fairhaven’s building code that requires the new buildings stay under a certain height limit, depending on the location.

Bellingham City Councilmember Michael Lilliquist, who serves on the Planning and Community Development Committee, said that when Fairhaven’s neighborhood plan was being revised in 2005 there was some “wrangling” over what Fairhaven’s future would be. There was a movement to instate a building height limit in Fairhaven in an effort to keep new buildings from breaking with the neighborhood’s historic feel. New buildings could be up to 54 feet tall and 66 feet tall depending on the building’s location. Buildings that would be installed in downhill lots would be shorter than buildings uphill so the view of the bay remained unobstructed. There are four vacant lots in Fairhaven that Lilliquist called “opportunity zones”; lots that have potential for new developments. Lilliquist expects these lots to contain businesses that will cater as much to visitors as they will to locals. One of the lots in question is on the northeast corner of Harris Avenue and 13^th Street.

Jody Finnegan, owner of 12^th Street Shoes and president of the Historic Fairhaven Association for the past two years, is familiar with the empty lot that is currently being used as a parking lot on Harris Avenue and 13^th Street behind the WECU bank. Finnegan expressed concern over the prospect of the development of the lot behind WECU bank. “We park in the lot behind WECU. That lot’s for sale so we won’t know how that will change,” said Finnegan. It is unsure exactly what the lot will turn into at this time, but the area is in a transition zone between commercial and residential developments.

Parking has been a point of tension in the Fairhaven community for a few years. Michael Lilliquist stated that a citizen-led parking task force is convening to resolve some of the parking issues that have arisen over the years with the influx of tourists and residents in the neighborhood. “There are going to be compromises, it won’t be an easy fix,” said Lilliquist.

There have been 30 new building and renovation construction projects in Fairhaven over the past 24 years. The newest building in the neighborhood is the Rocket Building which completed construction in 2013. The oldest building in the neighborhood is the Fairhaven Terminal building, which was built in 1888, and houses Tony’s Coffee and Tea Inc. and the Harris Avenue Café.

Fairhaven Pharmacy opened on Dec. 26^th, 1889 and moved 5 times until 1929 when it reached its current location at 1115 Harris Avenue. Gordy Tweit has owned the shop since 1962, but started work at the pharmacy as a delivery boy in 1941. “When I grew up in Bellingham there were people who owned cows and chickens and goats,” said Tweit. He has resided in Bellingham for most of his life, taking time away from the city to join the Navy and to attend school at the University of Washington to get his pharmacy license.

“I don’t know lots of the new places,” Tweit said. “When people get started on things, they start to change it. Always change, change, change.”