Get ready for a summer full of construction at a popular Lake Whatcom swimming hole

Summertime construction work at Bloedel-Donovan Park will close the community center and force beach-goers to take the long way around to the waterfront.

It’s part of an effort to add a charging station for electric cars, and replace the roof on the community center and change its utilities to electric.

Part of the southwest side of the beach area will be cordoned off for construction equipment and trenching to bring new underground electrical lines for EV charging facilities, Parks and Recreation Department Director Nicole Oliver told The Bellingham Herald.

A pathway to the beach will be at the east end of the parking lot, she said.

Construction could start as soon as this month and will continue from June through September. Work in salmon-bearing waterways is limited to that time frame.

“Of course, the window to do all this work is when it’s hot and dry,” Oliver said in a phone interview.

That’s when the park is packed with boaters, swimmers and sun worshippers.

Oliver said the boat launch will remain open, with flaggers for traffic control. Summer camps that normally are held at the park’s community center will move to the new pavilion at Cordata Park, and campers will be bused to Bloedel Donovan to swim.

In a March 11 presentation to the City Council, project engineer Gina Austin said that work will be intermittent from June 1 to Sept. 30.

“We’re going to work as soon as the equipment arrives and get in and get out. But we wanted to let the public know that we intermittently could be in this site,” Austin said.