Bay View Towers, the 23-story project being proposed for Bellingham has agreed to pay $353,000 towards cultural projects downtown. That is the amount of money they would have paid in park impact fees had they not applied for the project before the city imposed those fee requirements.

The developers feel that cultural developments are what makes a downtown vibrant and will make them want to live there. Bay View Tower will have 124 residential condominiums including several penthouse suites selling for over $2 million.

$40,000 of the money will go towards Depot Market Square which is a city owned lot at the south end of Railroad Avenue. Campaign for Arts would be the other main beneficiary.

The City of Bellingham recently decided that the project would not have any significant environmental impact with conditions. People can comment on that decision until Wednesday June 7.