Letter to City

Blaine City Council, Planning Commission, and Community Development Services

As you proceed with the downtown rezone/development regulation items of parking and building heights this month, I remind you that this process was corrupted at the outset when on 3/24/2023 Blaine City Council ordered the Blaine City Manager to instruct the Downtown Advisory Committee they were being changed from an advisory group to a quasi-official body voting on text amendment recommendations. Specific instructions to the Downtown Advisory Committee as to what the recommendations should be were included. 

Not by chance, the committee's integrity itself was compromised by the conflicts of interest inherent in its members. When a developer, builder, and planning commissioner teamed up on 6/4/2023 to move and second motions to vote on the text amendment changes that financially benefit developers, a big alarm bell should have gone off at city hall. This is corruption writ large.

This intentional bypass of the "early, continuous, and inclusive public participation" required under the Growth Management Act poisons the entire process afterward. By conspiring to violate the Growth Management Act you are now subject to recall from public office. Blaine City Council resolution 1923-23, passed on 7/10/2023, forwarding the unlawful text amendment changes to Blaine Planning commission is likewise toxic.

--Jay Taber 4/4/24

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