R.G. Haley and Cornwall Avenue Landfill Site Cleanup

Historic site activities

The City owns parts of two neighboring Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) cleanup sites on the Bellingham Bay waterfront, at the south end of Cornwall Avenue. These sites are called the R.G. Haley site and Cornwall Avenue Landfill site. In the past, industrial activities at both locations caused pollution in the soil, groundwater, and sediment.

The R.G. Haley site used to be the location of a wood treatment facility that operated until 1985. Before that, the area was used for lumber, coal, and wharf operations. The site covers about 6 acres of land and 60 acres of water.

The Cornwall Avenue Landfill site was the City’s landfill from 1954 to 1965. It was also used for sawmill operations and storing logs. This site include about 13 acres of land and 3.5 acres of water.

Planned cleanup work

Cleanup work at both sites will include:

• On land: regrading the ground, installing a protective plastic liner (called an LLDPE cap) under a layer of soil, and planting vegetation to help restore the area
• Along the shoreline: regrading the beach, creating small beach areas (called “pocket beaches”), adding rock structures to prevent erosion, and building a rock barrier to protect against waves
• In the water: Adding a drainage layer, restoring eelgrass, and improving habitat for forage fish

For more project details, including site cleanup plans and design reports, visit the Washington State Department of Ecology project webpages for these two sites:

• R.G. Haley
• Cornwall Avenue Landfill

Salish Landing Park

The effort to clean up the two contaminated sites will happen at the same time as the first phase of the new Salish Landing Park. This first phase includes the construction of a small parking area, trails, plantings, and utilities in preparation for future phases. Phase 1 of the park includes only those items that are necessary to construct with the cleanup so we can avoid interacting with the capped contaminated materials in the future.