Blaine Confidential

December 4 letter to Whatcom County: With an eye toward the 2025 ten-year update to the Blaine Comprehensive Plan, the City of Blaine from 2023-25 fast-tracked amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code that illegally increased development density and reduced environmental protections in critical areas and shorelines. Three of these amendments governing redevelopment of the Central Business District were voted on by Blaine officials with  financial conflicts of interest . These amendments are featured in the proposed Blaine UGA element, despite being evidence of government misconduct. Whatcom County officials need to remove these proceeds of crime from the Blaine plan, and require Blaine to repeal these self-dealing ordinances in order to come into compliance with the   Ethics in Public Service Act   and Growth Management Act. Additionally, they should be referred to the appropriate state law enforcement agencies.  

Growth Management is a farce. This  system that excludes the public  must be changed.  While cities have taxpayer funded attorneys to fight against them, citizens protecting their communities from harm do not. The  Protect Mud Bay Cliffs SEPA appeal  and  Water Planning Matters SEPA appeal  by citizens holding Bellingham and Blaine accountable under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) are up against insurmountable odds.  Each SEPA court appeal can cost half a million dollars in lawyers fees. Imagine fighting multiple unlawful SEPA determinations simultaneously as WPM has done. Washingtonians need  to discuss ways out of this systematic impasse that undermines environmental protection, public participation, and ethical governance in the pursuit of home sales taxes. The SEPA process needs to be changed by the state legislature to make it fair. That would require a regional outcry from a misinformed public. Mainstream media is no help. For...

As Birch Bay residents establish a new municipality, they would be wise to include an ethics commission--elected by voters and independent of their city government--to investigate ethics complaints from its citizens. To empower the commission, the City of Birch Bay could adopt a code of ethics to guide the commission in its oversight responsibilities. The City of Ferndale code of ethics is a good example. An ethics commission comprised of civic leaders, charged with preventing conflicts of interest from taking root in their city government, adds a layer of protection from government misconduct liability. Ensuring that the legally required public participation process--including access to public records--is followed by public officials cannot be left to the government to decide. Witness the incitement of violence against Blaine citizens demanding accountability from their government. Take a lesson from Blaine on how not to conduct land use and water resource planning. Our government has...

November 26 letter to Whatcom County: With one month left to complete the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan 10-year update, it is impossible to include the non-compliant Blaine Comprehensive Plan without making the county plan vulnerable to legal challenge. Blaine's  strategic  and  egregious undermining of public participation   violates the very cornerstone of Growth Management .  The revelation on the record and under oath during the  Avista at Birch Point SEPA Appeal  that  Blaine Community Development Services used false maps and outdated science  to designate Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas (CARAs) is enough alone for rejecting Blaine's plan.  Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward's attack on citizens  (who had to sue to obtain the public records revealing this information withheld by the city) illustrates the level of non-compliance by Blaine. The Central Business District (CBD) and Urban Mixed Use (UMU) rezones passed by Blaine Plan...

Mayor Mary Lou Steward's fairy tales , routinely repeated without question by The Northern Light, are the ramblings of a disturbed person who cannot tolerate any criticism. Her apparent mental illness and ongoing mistreatment of citizens who oppose government misconduct under her reign is leading our city into ruin. Steward's response to the Washington Coalition for Open Government op-ed is a warning sign.

November 24 letter to Whatcom County Council : Protect ing  Blaine and Birch Bay Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas (CARAs) Whatcom County oversees many special purpose districts with taxing authority to meet public needs. A  CARA Protection District  for Blaine and Birch Bay that can purchase the east Blaine and Birch Point CARA properties under county jurisdiction in order to protect our joint public water supply system, reduce flooding, and control urban pollution fits that purpose well.  Combined with improved stormwater management in the Drayton Harbor and Birch Bay watersheds, putting these aquifers in public hands would allow for public health, educational and recreational opportunities within an area beset by luxury, gated, planned unit developments. They could become forested 'greenway parks' as a n oasis from the surrounding chaos. Recommendation Whatcom  County Council   adopt  a  moratorium on  new  development applications...