BELLINGHAM — A new public library could be a focal point for the first phase of waterfront redevelopment along an extension of Bay Street, Mayor Dan Pike suggests.

Pike already has urged the Port of Bellingham to consider the area between the Bay Street and Central Avenue rights of way, southwest of Roeder Avenue, as the best area for the first phase of redevelopment of 220 acres of waterfront property being converted from industrial uses.

Now Pike is floating the idea of putting a new library there, as part of a multipurpose building that could include parking for both downtown and the new waterfront. The same building could include shops and offices for both public and private tenants, linking the existing downtown to the new development.

“It would tie things together really well,” Pike said. “It would provide a great connection, a great start.”

Port Executive Director Jim Darling agreed.

“I think that could be one of the great connectors that connects the waterfront to downtown,” Darling said.

City officials have been trying to put together a plan for a new public library for more than seven years. A number of sites in the central city have been suggested and discarded during that time.

Most recently, the City Council reluctantly agreed to shelve plans for a $56.4 million voterapproved bond issue that would have provided money for a new library on the site of the existing one at 210 Central Ave., along with underground parking and Fairhaven branch renovations. Pike and council members said the project, and the resulting increased operating costs, probably were more than the city and its voters could support in the current economic climate.

City Library Director Pam Kiesner said Pike suggested the Bay Street location at a recent library board meeting. Board members were receptive to the idea, but she stressed that the idea was in the earliest of stages — “just kind of a twinkle in people’s eyes,” she said.