Lining Their Own Pockets

3/17/25 letter to City of Blaine:

At the March 24, 2023 Blaine City Council and Department Head Retreat, Blaine Community Development Services (CDS) presented an Executive Summary of the work completed by the Downtown Advisory Committee (DAC).  The city council then authorized Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon to, "develop a plan to render recommendations from the Committee" for the purpose of 1. Reducing parking requirements, and 2. Increasing building heights in the Central Business District (CBD). This predetermined plan--absent any public participation whatsoever--violated the Washington State Growth Management Act  (GMA), overseen by the Whatcom County Council.

Blaine CDS Director Stacie Pratschner (now with the City of Mount Vernon) and her assistant Alex Wenger (subsequently appointed to replace her) then carried out their unlawful instructions from city manager Harmon. To illustrate Ms. Pratschner's lack of integrity, she was also informed by the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) that the proposed developments (i.e. Skip Jansen et al) in Blaine's Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) required an Environmental Impact Statement and that the SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) designation of non-significance by CDS was illegal. Pratschner and Wenger ignored DOE.

The Downtown Advisory Committee (DAC) members voting on changes to city development regulations on June 6, 2023, included the following members: Mia Richardson, Glen Pentland, Greg McHenry, Scott Meaker, Susan Sturgill, Kevin Owens, and Gurdeep Bains. Gurdeep Bains is a developer who owns three sites downtown. Greg McHenry works for the Port of Bellingham. Scott Meaker is a downtown builder. Kevin Owens is a Blaine Planning Commissioner.

McHenry moved and Bains seconded a motion to reduce minimum parking requirements downtown. Pentland and Sturgill opposed. 

Meaker moved and Owens seconded a motion to investigate a municipal parking facility. Pentland and Sturgill opposed.

Bains moved and Meaker seconded a motion to amend building height restrictions. Pentland opposed.

Meaker moved and McHenry seconded a motion to increase building heights by twelve feet. Pentland opposed.

Councilman Mike Hill, a downtown developer who owns numerous properties in the CBD, did not recuse himself from participating in the city council’s discussion session on the DAC recommendations or recuse himself from participating in several city council votes specific to the DAC downtown zoning and development regulations recommendations. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter to County Prosecutor

To Mr. Eric J. Richey, Whatcom Prosecuting Attorney, 311 Grand, Ste. 201, Bellingham WA 98225 I write to you as Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney in hope you will protect the rights of the people of Blaine from a city government that--due to embedded corruption--is unable to effectively govern and is putting our health and prosperity at risk by their unlawful acts. Your reply requested.  I am told you have the authority to empanel a grand jury to investigate official misconduct and encourage you to do so. I copy my most recent letter to the City of Blaine below. This is the tip of the iceberg, and we have abundant evidence of widespread intentional wrongdoing.   To 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...
Read more

BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine : BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP A Town that Never Learns By  Jay Taber Blaine Water Coalition Blaine City Council member  Mike Hill --recently under investigation by the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department for accosting Blaine Water Coalition activist Otto Pointer at the November 12, 2024, city council meeting (Case #24A39027)--has a problem with his plan to develop condos across Peace Portal Drive from his  Chevron  station downtown. In a November 28, 2023,  Hazardous Materials Analysis Report  presented by GeoEngineers to the City of Blaine, Hill's Chevron is listed as a 'high-risk' Department of Ecology site (Cleanup Site ID # 9280) due to confirmed releases of petroleum products--including  Benzene --on and off the property,  contaminating the groundwater  that migrates from the Chevron station under Starbuck's toward  Cain Creek  and  Drayton Harbor . The  Drayton Harbor estuary  is home t...
Read more

Mike Hill on CCTV

1/30/25 letter to City of Blaine : BLAINE'S SHAME CCTV of Blaine City Council member Mike Hill accosting community activist Otto Pointer at the November 13, 2024, council meeting. Mike Hill, owner of Starbuck's and Chevron, as well as a downtown and CARA developer, has not recused himself when voting on zoning amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code that financially benefit him. This self-dealing is against the law. In late 2023, when Blaine community activists handed over their extensive evidence of alleged official corruption by the City of Blaine to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criminal division and the FBI, they had reason to believe that the rule of law would be restored in their town. The City of Blaine--which had illegally up-zoned the city's Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) into a Planned Unit Development (PUD) over the city's drinking water aquifer without preparing a legally required Environmental Impact Statement--was clearly in the wr...
Read more