With the school district needing to relocate a nearby elementary school, the challenging facing Bellingham Parks and Recreation was whether offering a portion of their Civic Athletic Complex site to the school district might make sense as part of a land swap.

To begin the process, the team developed a comprehensive inventory and database of the existing site conditions. From the buildings on the complex, including their minor league baseball team, high school football stadium and the City’s aquatic center, to the critical ares, to athletic surfaces, to the coherency, cohesiveness and clarity of the landscape, our team helped set a strong baseline for Bellingham Parks and Recreation to be able to have an informed conversation with the school district.

That conversation then happened through a series of MxM-facilitated charrettes that were grounded in the physical assets and the parks departments’ stated values and principles as articulated in their PRO Plan. This strategic grounding established clear parameters for how to accomodate new uses on the site for both parks and the school district.

The emerging plan, which still needs to be vetted by the broader community, offers users a compelling balance of excitement and passive recreation, equity and environmentalism, and a neighborhood park within a regional athletics destination. What is most exciting all parties came together to collaboratively create the plan, strengthening the partnership that will unfold over the ensuing years.