PC to UMU Rezone

3/1/25 letter to Blaine Planning Commission and Whatcom County Planning Commission:

The Blaine Planned Commercial to Urban Mixed Use Rezone Proposal at the mouth of Dakota Creek cannot legally proceed until the City of Blaine revises its Shoreline Management Plan and setback requirements for wetlands and shorelines of statewide significance to harmonize with the setback recommendations of the Washington State Department of Ecology and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as with those of Whatcom County under the Washington State Growth Management Act and Shoreline Management Act.

Endangered species such as juvenile chinook salmon in the Drayton Harbor estuary for Dakota and California Creeks use eelgrass along shorelines to hide from predators, and the unlawful shoreline armoring elsewhere in Drayton Harbor and Semiahmoo Bay--allowed by the City of Blaine--combined with an ongoing track record of falsifying SEPA documents by Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger, makes this application a loser.

The City of Blaine should enact a moratorium on all rezones until Mr. Wenger and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon are investigated by the appropriate law enforcement agencies for their roles in lying on other rezone applications, illegally rushed through in 2024 under the outdated 2019 Washington State Department of Ecology Stormwater Management Manual.

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