CDS Shell Game

11/28/24 letter to Blaine Chief of Police:

Dear Chief Funk,

Keeping track of the unlawful Blaine Community Development Services (CDS) shell game involved in upzoning downtown for developers requires fortitude. The June 10, 2024, vote by Blaine City Council, including council member Mike Hill, reduced parking requirements for downtown developers. (The slide show at the meeting by Alex Wenger, director of CDS, examined council member Hill's property behind Starbuck's.) This is self-dealing, and as that is a crime in Washington State, you should contact the FBI regarding official corruption. I copy the Washington Attorney General so you can coordinate with them as well.

In her November 26, 2024, article on increasing downtown building heights, Grace McCarthy, editor of The Northern Light, shows she has mastered the art of concealing the truth. Granted, she answers to Patrick Grubb, publisher of The Northern Light, but that doesn't excuse her abetting fraud by Blaine City Council, Blaine Planning Commission, Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon, and CDS.

In her article, she justifies the illegal council action upzoning properties downtown by referencing the downtown advisory committee (DAC) support for increasing building heights but does not mention that the committee's votes on building heights and parking requirements--choreographed by City Manager Harmon and CDS director Wenger involved financial conflicts of interest on the part of two committee members--Gurdeep Bains and Scott Meaker--as well as the improper voting by committee member Kevin Owens, a Blaine Planning Commissioner. (See dissenting DAC report by committee member Glen Pentland.)

This advisory committee was revamped in June 2023, by Mayor Steward, City Manager Mike Harmon, and Community Development Services director Alex Wenger into a voting body despite the inherent conflicts of interest. Their corrupt vote to increase building heights and reduce parking requirements for downtown developers--such as council member Mike Hill--preceded any public participation in planning the redevelopment of Blaine's Central Business District as required by the WA State Growth Management Act and Blaine Municipal Code.

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." 

Public participation has yet to occur. 

Additionally, the City of Blaine Shoreline Master Program comes into effect due to the setbacks for development required by the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that the city is neglecting to enforce. The proposed west of Portal Way condominiums for which the Blaine Municipal Code was changed by Blaine City Council in June and November of this year fall within the setbacks required by SEPA and NEPA in order to protect Drayton Harbor and the contiguous saltmarsh. I have seen river otters and bald eagles in the saltmarsh. Drayton Harbor is the estuary for California and Dakota creeks, which are salmon-bearing streams. Juvenile salmon reside in Drayton Harbor until they are large enough to go to sea. Pollution from unlawful shoreline development in Blaine harms them. A recent article notes that the Washington State Department of Transportation is restoring the nearby Cain Creek as a result of a federal lawsuit by Northwest treaty tribes, such as Lummi Nation of which Drayton Harbor is part of their traditional territory.

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."