Waterfront once again atop year's top story list Railroad Avenue cleanup made news in 2006.

1. Port unveils waterfront draft framework plan and initial financial analysis

New Whatcom began shaping up this year.

At the end of September, the City and Port of Bellingham revealed a first glimpse of what the New Whatcom waterfront might look like in 20 years, as well as its initial projected cost of $1.2 billion.

The plan for the 220-acre site, which the Port of Bellingham purchased from Georgia-Pacific in January 2005, envisioned creating 5.9 million square feet of new building construction and brick-building reuse for commercial development