In February 2008, Bellingham Parks and Recreaction staff issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to determine the fate of the Caretaker's House at the former Rose Garden in Fairhaven Park.  Surprisingly no proposals were received before the RFP deadline, and the house was being considered for demolition.  South Neighborhood residents approached the Bellingham Parks and Recreation Advisory board in April 2008  and were successful in getting a second RFP issued.

While this effort was initiated by South Neighborhood Association members, our numbers grew quickly as word spread of the potentially imminent removal of the house from the Fairhaven Park site.  A proposal team worked quickly to meet the July 1 deadline.  Our proposal, in PDF form.

We interviewed with a Parks led evaluation team in August, and our proposal was unanimously approved by Bellingham City Council on September 8, 2008. 

Since that time we have been busy with the numerous tasks of forming a nonprofit corporation; adopting bylaws, electing board officers, setting committee assignments, and getting a bank account. 

Meanwhile, the City of Bellingham is drafting a lease agreement along with a Memorandum of Understanding which will guide our future efforts.  We anticipate signing a lease by the end of the year (2008).

At this time our efforts are focused on developing our fundraising strategy.  We will host an invitational open house on December 4 at the Fairhaven Library to bring community leaders together to review our progress to date.  To raise immediate funds, volunteers have designed and built commemorative planter boxes, complete with seed packets and decorative pots, which will be sold at the Farmers Market and in the Fairhaven business district on Saturdays through the holiday season.

Other committees are beginning the process of making plans to renovate the Caretaker's House, design and install the demonstration gardens, and explore all the programming options we could imagine.  Any day now we expect to gain access and begin cleaning up the Caretaker's House, which has been lying dormant since 1999.