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BLAINE EXCLUDES ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

[Excerpts from How City Planning Departments Skirt Compliance in Washington State by Water Planning Matters.] October 15, 2025, the City had released over 100 previously withheld files , including important Department of Ecology (Ecology) concerns about frequently flooded areas, unmaintained ponds that flooded Birch Bay Village, disturbed and unprotected wetlands used for contaminated stormwater, polluted streams and project engineering correspondence...  The City and Applicant discounted Ecology's frequently flooding areas and wetlands concerns , ... and ignored an impaired creek deserving of protection for fish and lagoons in Birch Bay Village, primarily on procedural grounds, choosing to approve the project in a vacuum of missing facts and outdated city maps... There appeared to be concerted efforts by Applicant and City to exclude consequential information that might affect the buildable footprint or higher costs relating to mitigating flooding, pollution or wetlands damage r...

REJECT BLAINE PLAN--REQUEST INVESTIGATION

 April 19 letter to Whatcom County Planning Commission: The fraudulent Critical Area and SEPA determinations by the City of Blaine that underlie the designated Urban Growth Areas over the East Blaine municipal aquifer, in the Central Business District, and at Birch Point--combined with the elimination of public participation and the facilitation of self-dealing by Blaine public officials--require that the Whatcom County Planning Commission reject the Blaine Comprehensive Plan in its entirety, and advise the county council to request an investigation by the Washington State Auditor and Attorney General. Given this egregious violation of our civil rights, to do otherwise would expose Whatcom County to unnecessary potential liability.

BLAINE PLAN ILLEGAL

In May, Whatcom County Council will adopt the 10-year update to the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan, that includes the City of Blaine Comprehensive Plan update. Blaine's update includes municipal code changes that   eliminate public participation ,   financially benefit Blaine officials , and threaten public health .  All are illegal, and this should be communicated by Blaine and Birch Bay citizens to the county planning commission, county council, and county prosecutor ASAP. Whatcom County contacts: pds_planning_commission@co.whatcom.wa.us council@co.whatcom.wa.us 2025update@co.whatcom.wa.us erichey@co.whatcom.wa.us

MAY'S VISION

At the June 17, 2025, meeting at Blaine Public Library with county council members Scanlon and Elenbaas, I confronted them for neglecting their duty under the law to hold Blaine accountable for fraud and financial conflicts of interest by City of Blaine officials in preparing the 2025 10-year update to the Blaine Comprehensive Plan. When I announced our Formal Complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice against the City of Blaine for municipal corruption involving self-dealing by Blaine developers in their role as city officials, Blaine City Councilman Richard May suggested the city might be better off just letting developers [such as Councilwoman Sarbjit Bains] do whatever they want. On March 9, 2026, Blaine City Council did just that .

ONE TENTH OF ONE PERCENT

The one tenth of one percent of Blaine citizens who correspond with county, state, and federal agencies to return the rule of law to Blaine can't do it alone.  Those who are now learning what happened over the last six months--when the real estate industry took over our city government with help from The Northern Light--need to become involved in making our community a place where we can disagree with the mayor without receiving death threats and police retaliation . In the United States, we have the right to hold her accountable for criminal misconduct by Blaine officials. The downtown public assets give away and denial of our civil rights  by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon--because we oppose self-dealing by Blaine officials--must be stopped if we want to end criminal enterprise at city hall. Complaining to the criminals won't do it. Complaining to those who can investigate and prosecute them might. For starters, contact  Whatcom County Prosecutor   Eric Richey....

COUNTY PROSECUTOR STALLING

April 17 letter to Whatcom County Prosecutor: Dear Prosecutor Richey, I have not heard further from your office since your April 10, 2026 reply regarding my March 31 formal request to you to refer the Blaine Councilwoman Sarbjit Bains  self-dealing  matter (see attached letter to you) to the Washington Attorney General. This matter is of urgent importance, as Central Business District landlords, businesses, and residents of Blaine are drastically affected by the unlawful suspension of the Blaine Municipal Code to benefit downtown developers, including Mrs. Bains and her husband, Gurdeep. Your apparent stalling on upholding the law is causing significant harm. I would hope that your apparent reluctance to refer this for AG investigation and prosecution is not due to Whatcom District Court Judge Angela Anderson overruling you on November 4, 2025 and issuing civil protection orders for me and my associates. While we are grateful to Judge Anderson for protecting us from a convicte...

DEPRAVED AND DEPRIVED

Blaine has become a community of the depraved and the deprived . Depraved city officials working on behalf of the real estate industry have deprived the elderly on fixed incomes and those living in poverty (13.1%) of any voice in planning Blaine's future. The insatiable greed of the developers and realtors in Blaine is propelling the city toward municipal bankruptcy, due to already unfolding environmental impacts of unrestricted growth, as I warned city officials repeatedly.  The cumulative effect of Blaine's ghastly mismanagement by city manager Mike Harmon, combined with Harmon's propensity to defame--even demonize--open government activists who demand civic reform in order for the city to comply with state and federal law, is severe municipal dysfunction . This dysfunction will ultimately lead to resolution in federal court, once state and federal agencies intervene to reestablish civil rights and the rule of law in our community.