Year 19 No. 11 $2
NOVEMBER 2011
Garage stories, Page 10
Bellingham launches 2-year update to downtown master plan
Manufacturing | Itek Energy
BY BBJ STAFF editor@bbjtoday.com
SEE STORY ON PAGE 12: John Flanagan, president of Itek Energy, hopes that state incentives for solar panels made in Washington will help create demand for Itek’s solar panels, which are made in a facility in Irongate. After months of waiting for product safety certifications, the company is ramping up production and has capacity to make 120,000 solar panels a year. Isaac Bonnell | BBJ
Lightcatcher Building may get solar array BY ISAAC BONNELL ibonnell@bbjtoday.com The Lightcatcher Building in Bellingham may soon have a new addition to its roof: a $350,000 solar panel installation. The city of Bellingham is currently negotiating a lease with Community Energy Solutions, a nonprofit based in Bainbridge Island. Community Energy Solu-
tions was chosen after the city issued a request for proposals in April for solar installations on city-owned buildings. The project would be the first of its kind in Bellingham, using a state law enacted in 2009 that gives incentives for community solar installations, meaning projects owned by a group of people rather than one person or company, on buildings owned by
local governments. Details of the lease are still being worked out and the final lease will have to be approved by the City Council, said Ryan Nelson, the city’s resource conservation management specialist. Several city buildings were considered for solar installations, such as the Sportsplex and the Parkade, but the Lightcatcher stood out as the best location,
Nelson said. “One of the issues that came up with regard to many of our facilities was scheduled roof replacements. That’s where the Lightcatcher came out as a shining star, since it’s a new building,” he said. If a lease is approved, Community Energy Solution would
The city of Bellingham recently launched a two-year community outreach and planning effort focused on the Central Business District. The project will create a new Downtown Plan to replace the 2002 City Center Master Plan. The first phase of the outreach effort, dubbed “myDowntown,” was launched in late September and includes an online survey and activities and prizes at the Bellingham Farmers Market. “We want to hear what you love about downtown and what you wish for downtown,” Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike said in a press release. “We want to hear how you use downtown, how you get around downtown, and what your business needs to thrive downtown. We want to know what investments you think the city, community groups and private organizations can make to boost our downtown, to make a great place even better.” Information gathered this fall about what is and is not working downtown will feed into the next phase of the Downtown Plan process, when Bellingham resi-
SEE DOWNTOWN | PAGE 2
SEE SOLAR | PAGE 7
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