Blaine Confidential

The 2024 Central Business District rezone was laden with financial conflicts of interest by downtown developers Gurdeep Bains and Councilman Mike Hill.  The resignation of Councilman Hill--implicated in numerous counts of self-dealing--is an opportunity for a new beginning. Recurring p erjury by City Manager Mike Harmon, and fraudulent State Environmental Policy Act determinations by Development Director Alex Wenger,  need to be investigated by the Washington State Auditor. This city council appointed three realtors to the planning commission . On March 13, 2025,  Blaine Planning Commissioner  Sam Randhawa--the listed agent at Freeman Real Estate for the properties in the  Urban Mixed Use rezone -- unlawfully   voted himself a $50,000 windfall in commission value and a $2 million increase in property values for his clients . This city council refused to adopt a code of ethics , and the misconduct of Mike Harmon at the June 23 city council meeting is evi...

7/10/25 letter to city and county: The Washington State Growth Management Act was adopted by the Washington State Legislature in 1991 as a TAX ABATEMENT MEASURE. Unregulated, unplanned growth was causing municipalities to go in the red dealing with the impacts of this chaos on local taxes and critical areas such as drinking water aquifers. Thirty-four years later, the City of Blaine is presently destroying its Critical Aquifer Recharge Area and planning to destroy Birch Bay's, all for luxury homes that will significantly increase utility rates and rents, already unaffordable for a community where one third of the population lives in poverty.  This is all made possible by the failure of Whatcom County to supervise planning by the cities in its jurisdiction, and by the failure of the State of Washington to enforce Growth Management Act mandates and the federal Clean Water Act. This is not planning for sustainable development; it is a complete abandonment of the rule of law, and it WI...

The two  ballot measure resolutions for altering Blaine City Limits explicitly link reduction of the Urban Growth Area (UGA) in East Blaine--which was unlawfully located over our drinking water Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA)--to a massive new UGA on the Semiahmoo Uplands , which is currently under Whatcom County jurisdiction, and located over another Critical Aquifer Recharge Area that serves drinking water to Birch Bay . The proposed new Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) under the proposed UGA Swap, like the PUDs in East Blaine, have not been preceded by state-mandated Environmental Impact Statements, required for any development in a CARA . This shell game by Blaine Community Development Services is intended to generate sales tax revenue from the one thousand luxury homes on the Semiahmoo Uplands . The city plan for funding the electric, water and sewer system upgrades would require SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN UTILITY BILLS FOR EXISTING BLAINE RESIDENTS . Due to the failure ...

7/10/25 letter to city and county: Something Blaine City Council does not understand is that town halls in the form of community visioning and discussion about their future only work when facilitated by unbiased parties, as opposed to the fake town halls controlled by Councilman May. Real town halls would take place at the community center on Saturdays where citizens can ask questions of experts, get answers from officials, and offer alternative ideas to explore and discuss. The fake town halls do none of this, limiting citizens comments to once a month for one minute, with no opportunity to thoroughly critique corrupt city policy and the abuse of the public process that has become routine at city hall.  It has now been over 500 days since oral public comment, twice a month for three minutes per person at city council meetings was shut down. That was minimal public participation; town halls are something else altogether. They are community discussions where officials can be held to...

March 3, 2025 , Blaine Water Coalition files appeal of Determination of Non Significance (DNS-2025006) by Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger for the   UMU rezone of two properties   on Cain Creek and Dakota Creek respectively. The appeal was denied due to insufficient funds ($2,500 for appeal--double that of Whatcom County). March 5, 2025 , Blaine Water Coalition submits its  substantive environmental and procedural objections  as written public comments to Blaine Planning Commission  for inclusion in the record  for the March 13, 2025 UMU rezone hearing by Blaine Planning Commission. These comments note  unlawfully reduced shoreline setbacks and critical area protections . March 13, 2025 , Blaine Planning Commission holds hearing on the UMU rezone at which Alex Wenger fails to disclose to the commission chair Calvin Armerding that Planning Commissioner Sam Randhawa has a  direct financial conflict of interest  as Free...

  Ballot Measure Initiative Committee Application As a candidate to a public agency legislative body this application (which includes the information you enter into it) will be available to the City Council and the public upon request. This includes attachments to the application (cover letter, resume, etc.). Date 7/7/2025 I live within the city limits of Blaine Yes First Name Jay Last Name Taber Email tbarj@yahoo.com Phone Number (360) 371-4387 Address1 715 G Street #22 Address2 Field not completed. City Blaine State WA Zip 98230 On which committee are you interested in serving? Con Are you a registered voter? Yes Please tell us why you are interested in serving on this committee? 1.The call for this ballot measure voter pamphlet committee applicants was never advertised, thus posing a legal procedural flaw. 2.The ballot measure resolutions explicitly link reduction of the Urban Growth Area (UGA) in East Blaine, which was unlawfully located over our Critical Aquifer Recharge Area ...