Welcome to the York Neighborhood Association Website!
Revised 2024-03-22 1140
The York Neighborhood Association (YNA) exists to preserve and enhance the community and engage citizens in civic affairs. We work to promote a safe, comfortable, and thriving urban neighborhood bordering downtown Bellingham, Washington.
As a neighborhood, we are involved in planning for the future, historic preservation, traffic and pedestrian safety, social events, and park improvements. If you live or work in the York Neighborhood, we hope youll get involved!
Use our contact page to subscribe to the YNA List and indicate other interests.
Upcoming Events
YNA Board Meeting: March 27 | Annual Painted-Rock Hunt: mid-April (TBA) | Plant Exchange: April 19–21
Date/Time: Fourth Wednesday Each Month (except August & December), 6:30pm meeting
Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Location - In Person: Nelson’s Market—514 Potter Street
Proposed Agenda:
Questions? Contact: Colin Beazley.
Date/Time: mid-April 2024 (date still to be determined)
Location: all around the neighborhood
For children from birth to 99; hosted by the .
We do need volunteers to paint rocks!
Bring your child on a treasure hunt around the York Neighborhood to find rocks painted with spring themes. Be sure to post your finds on York’s Facebook page.
How to contribute rocks: Rocks can be painted with acrylics or permanent markers; then seal with any clear sealant. If you need help with this step, email Kim Owen at JK_Owen2@hotmail.com. Add the year and your initials if you want. Once you’re done, hide them before 10:00a.m. on the day of the event, along the sidewalks and in the parks, for kids to find.
Date/Time: April 19–21, 2024
Location - In Person: Nelson’s Market—514 Potter Street
Hosted by the . Details to be posted nearer the event.
Come join us Wednesday, February 28, at Norway Hall for our October General Meeting. The focus will be the upcoming design for the renovation of Rock Hill Park, and our guests will be Parks Department staff.
Doors open at 6 p.m. - we will have some refreshments, and the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30. We look forward to seeing many of you there!
Date/Time: Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 6:00pm gather, 6:30pm meeting
Location - In Person: Norway Hall—1419 North Forest Street
Parking is available, but the meeting will be held downstairs; it’s ADA-accessible, but assistance will be required so please notify us in advance if possible.
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at Noon
Location - In Person: Nelson’s Market—514 Potter Street
To discuss the development of the Interactive Walking Map.
Student Tips
Welcome to incoming York student residents!
Nestled between Downtown Bellingham and the freeway, the York neighborhood is a friendly, green, fun, peaceful haven…an eclectic mix of families and students, homeowners and renters, parks and pets, and a variety of businesses ranging from grocery stores, restaurants, and breweries to healthcare practitioners, social services, and auto shops.
Every fall, a new group of students arrive who don’t really know where they have landed. Check out the flyer at right for some tips for how you can make your time among us a good one.
Moving Out? Pack It Out!—Education campaign against refuse in our greenways and alleys
YNA’s 2020 Dumpster Day and WWU’s 2020 Move Out Madness were unable to be scheduled due to CoViD-19 response & concerns. The first annual “Moving Out? Pack It Out!” campaign is providing alternatives.
The campaign name/slogan is based on the time-tested Leave No Trace—Pack It In, Pack It Out campaign for our wildernesses.
Think of this as an Urban Leave No Trace (except memories).
Those interested in a yard sign or poster for your window, please send
Signs will be picked up after the campaign.
This campaign is a partnership between the City of Bellingham, Western Washington University, and the York Neighborhood Association.
Trees of York
Break that cabin fever with a walk around York, and check out our neighborhood’s trees!
Use these maps to explore the historic trees of the York neighborhood as well as the trees of Harriet Spanel Park.
Lights On, Please
Porch lights brighten up the neighborhood and deter unsavory behavior. An LED bulb will save tons of energy ($), alleviating the guilt of leaving outside lights on. And your mail carrier and delivery people will be grateful, too, for safer navigation to and from your door!
Samish Way News
October 2019—Ground Broken! — Take a few minutes to check out the former Aloha Motel site, along Samish Way between Otis, Laurel, Abbott, and Maple streets! At the end of October, the Bellingham Housing Authority hosted the groundbreaking for the new building which will be constructed over the next year and a half, with leasing to start in early 2021.
This building will house fixed-rent apartments, as well as street-level commercial tenants, and was designed to serve as part of the Samish Way Urban Village Plan (2009). The housing authority will have proprietary interest in this new building, as they will be be among the very first tenants!
The development will be just across Samish Way from the York Neighborhood’s south leg, so it will be part of our community.
Regarding the project during the CoViD-19 response period:
“Governor Inslee’s Stay Home - Stay Healthy Proclamation specifically identifies construction of low-income housing as essential work. As you’ve probably noticed, Dawson Construction has prominently posted “Essential Work Site” banners on the construction fence. They have also implemented an impressively sophisticated set of social distancing/pandemic safety protocols in accordance with Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
At this point, construction continues to move forward and the City is conducting inspections as required by code. Feel free to keep your fingers crossed for us as we move forward!”
—Brien Thane, Bellingham & Whatcom County Housing Authorities, April 3, 2020
If you have a presentation you would like to give or a question to place before Yorkers and neighbors, we would love to hear from you. Please contact our or , and we will discuss opportunities. Please note meeting time can be limited, and contacting us well in advance really helps us allocate time for your topic.