Planning Commission Fools

Today's letter to Blaine City Council:

Calvin Armerding, chair of Blaine Planning Commission, showed what a fool he is by his dismissive remarks in The Northern Light regarding Central Business District upzoning for condo developers. The city has no evidence that this upzoning will be financially beneficial to the city, especially when it displaces all public parking downtown for condo tenants due to commission and city council giveaways to developers.

Armerding is well aware that the public process leading up to these giveaways was illegal, and that this official corruption was facilitated by Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger. Yet, Commissioner Armerding never once asked the commission to investigate self-dealing that included one of the planning commissioners and developer Gurdeep Bains bringing forward unlawful zoning and development amendments that benefit Bains and Councilman Hill financially.

The planning commission is to be a citizen oversight body to ensure the city council is informed about issues such as conflicts of interest among planning commission and council members, as well as cost/benefit analysis of their decisions. More importantly, the commission is tasked with ensuring that "early, continuous, and inclusive public participation"—as required by law—is facilitated by the city. Armerding, et al, have intentionally neglected their duty in this regard, making themselves and the city liable. 

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