City awards $1.3 million bid to Ebenal General

By Meg Olson

Blaine city council gave their approval for low-bidder Ebenal General, a Bellingham-based contracting group, to build the first phase of the downtown boardwalk.

The group which started in Alaska in the 1970s, was named as one of Whatcom County’s top 50 privately-owned businesses.
The $1.3 million, bid was approved with the caveat that the city will not stop there.
“We’ve made a commitment here to complete this part of the project,” said mayor John Liebert at the July 25 Blaine city council meeting. “Now we’re going to complete it with a string.”

The bid approval is conditioned on county approval, because it is a grant-and-loan package through the county’s rural sales tax fund that will be paying for most of the project.

The county also has agreed to pay for a portion of a whole boardwalk, not just the two road-end portions slated for the first phase.
City manager Gary Tomsic said the city would likely need to come up with an additional $700,000 to complete the project and link the G and H street termini.

The current bid also does not include the lighthouse performance pavilion planned for the boardwalk and the pedestrian bridge to connect the project with the Marine Drive area.

“We think with any luck we’ll be able to get it all done,” Tomsic said.
He added that the city would look at other grant options and some community fundraising to help fund the rest of the project.