Preferred UGA Alternative

5/9/25 letter to city and county:

Resolution 1973-25, aka Preferred Urban Growth Area Alternative, on the May 12, 2025 Blaine City Council agenda, is yet another fraudulent attempt by Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger to circumvent state and federal law. The resolution, like the Whatcom County 2025 Comprehensive Plan Draft EIS, neglects to protect the civil rights of Blaine citizens to participate in planning their future and protecting their environment.

Blaine's proposed UGA SWAP, with no environmental considerations, is but one example of the county government ignoring illegal zoning amendments by the City of Blaine, 2023-2024. Had Whatcom County abided by the public participation requirements under GMA, as well as the GMA requirement to prove water and sewer service capacity prior to designating UGAs and population increases, Blaine Water Coalition members would not have had to endure three years of battling official corruption and environmental destruction by Blaine public officials.

All the alternatives listed in chapter 2 of the Draft Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan EIS are flawed due to the myopic approach by the county that is driven solely by the building and real estate industries that are not providing affordable housing but rather housing that few who now live here can afford to rent, let alone own. This stampede to build tens of thousands of homes for new residents ignores examining whether the cities, such as Blaine, have the capacity to expand water and sewer to serve these new residents without gouging existing residents. It also ignores whether the cities are protecting or destroying critical areas as we speak.

The failure of Whatcom County government to supervise and harmonize the comprehensive planning of the cities in its jurisdiction--in particular the Urban Growth Area shell game and Critical Aquifer Recharge Area illegal rezone in Blaine--as well as bring to light the cover-up of a toxic waste site downtown next to Cain Creek, where WSDOT plans a salmon restoration project, and the 211-unit condominium plan on Semiahmoo spit that violates both SEPA and the Shoreline Management Act makes the comprehensive plans of Blaine and Whatcom County dead-on-arrival.

My May 7, 2025 letter to the editor of Cascadia Daily News below elaborates.
Editor,

The Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan Update, under the supervision of County Executive Satpal Sidhu, is a farce. His remark that, “Having a broad spectrum of public input will ensure that our planners and policymakers are giving proper consideration to all alternatives” is disingenuous.

Had Sidhu genuinely sought public input, he would have had a series of public educational workshops around the county last fall to orient citizens to the substance and process to give them time to think as they become informed. Instead, county staff have developed a draft Environmental Impact Statement prior to public participation. This is backwards.

As an example of concerns the county has not addressed, a public letter regarding the proposed Blaine UGA SWAP notes that there is no mention of any environmental considerations. Another letter regarding countywide planning policies and water availability addresses the shortcomings of the Coordinated Water System Plan, noting that numerous water providers, including many municipalities (Ferndale, Blaine, Everson, Nooksack), have insufficient water to accommodate future buildout as shown in the current Comprehensive Plan.

Yet another letter regarding county planning and water notes, “We are not the ones speculating about water availability. Instead, our letter asks the county to stop speculating on water availability before adopting population projections and allocations … there appears to be no consideration of water system planning currently in the county’s growth projections and allocations … the Countywide Planning Policies should reflect the Growth Management Act requirement that water is available in quantities adequate to serve future population growth. The record, thus far, does not show that this mandate is being met.”

Jay Taber
Blaine

 

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