Public Relations Ploy

Corruption in Blaine City Hall is disturbing for two primary reasons: it keeps us from moving forward as a community, and it drives away community members who want to help our community thrive. The downtown development scandal--detailed in the Pentland report to Blaine City Council--illustrates the lengths to which Community Development Services (CDS) will go to concoct a plan that ignores vital public concerns over their corrupt, unethical and illegal behavior in service to a handful of developers.  

As the report's author observes, The DAC [Downtown Advisory Committee] was positioned to play a major role in the development and revitalization of the downtown, fulfilling an important “advisory” responsibility to City Council. Given this public positioning, there was an expectation from the Blaine community that the community’s interests would be fairly represented.

According to Pentland, a member of DAC who attended all meetings, "The primary focus of the DAC became one of voting on downtown zoning recommendations (which were reduced to building height and parking) and not writing a report to support those recommendations. Only 7 members of the DAC participated in the June 6, 2023, meeting and voted on the Downtown Zoning Code change options provided by CDS...This low level of community representation, and no report to support the recommendations, brings into question the validity of the DAC’s recommendations."

Emphasizing the need to address conflicts of interest among DAC members, Pentland observes, "when the Committee’s scope is reduced, and the main purpose of the committee is to vote on sensitive and important zoning code changes, a higher test to represent the community appears to exist, and personal conflicts of interest become relevant and important, otherwise the Government’s responsibility to uphold public trust could come into question...The appearances of conflicts of interest are significant and bring into question the validity of the DAC’s recommendations."

Writing further, Pentland notes, "In the summer of 2022, CDS selected candidates for the DAC committee and the applications of these candidates were provided to City Council for review and approval on August 8, 2022. It appears City Council and CDS directed DAC committee members to participate in voting on June 6, 2023, when they would have known that some committee members appeared to have conflicts of interest. No efforts appear to have been made to request members appearing to have conflicts of interests to abstain from voting on June 6, 2023."

Noting serious procedural concerns, Pentland says, the requirement for the DAC to vote was further reinforced in an April 7, 2023, email to the DAC from the City Manager based on the Manager’s recent discussion with Council at their retreat at which the performance of the DAC was discussed: [The city manager said] “I will also propose (to Council) the DAC meet three or four more times to forward policy recommendations to the City Council concerning the following: (1) Reduction in minimum parking requirements. (2) Increases in building heights. (3) Design guidelines. ...If the Resolution is approved by Council, I will direct CDS to develop policy recommendations that propose reductions in the parking requirements; higher building height limits; and update design guidelines in the CBD zone... These recommendations will be reviewed by the DAC at the three or four subsequent meetings. The DAC will by majority vote determine their recommendation to Council." The DAC had not formally discussed parking or building heights at this point. 

As Pentland remarks, "The appearance of steering the committee can compromise its independence and integrity, and also brings into question the objectivity and validity of its recommendations." 

Continuing, he says, the Central Business District Project Charter (approved on August 8, 2022) includes a comprehensive Public Participation Plan. Some statements from that plan include: "This charter, like the update to the City’s central business district regulations in 2018, proposes a robust public participation plan, and will be consistent with the State Growth Management Act provisions for public participation and current best management practices for participant involvement [and] The purpose of the following Public Participation Plan is to describe how City of Blaine will encourage early and continuous public participation throughout the process of reviewing and updating the CBD Development Standards and targeted sections of the Shoreline Master Program [and] Engage in two-way communication with citizens, and create an environment for open decision-making, and responsiveness to citizen input." 

Pentland says, "It appears that early and continuous public engagement is to occur before decisions are made. To date, the Blaine community has not been invited to participate in two-way communication since City Council approved the Project Charter 16 months ago...While other cities and towns have taken months, even years, of extensive work, research, and discussions to make zoning recommendations...Blaine’s DAC completed their recommendations in a couple of hours." Concluding, he notes, "The Committee appeared to become a public relations ploy to help “sell” height increases and parking requirement decreases to City Council, the Planning Commission and the Community."