INTERIM ZONING CONTROL ORDINANCE

March 5, 2026 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.


The proposed Interim Zoning Control Ordinance for Design Review, Height and Parking provides no detail, but I assume it is related to the unlawful Central Business District building height and parking rezone ordinances passed by Blaine City Council in 2024. The June 10, 2024 reduction of parking requirements in the Central Business District ordinance, and the November 25, 2024 increase in building heights in the Central Business District ordinance (included in the Blaine Comprehensive Plan UGA) were voted on by Councilman Mike Hill, who owns numerous commercial properties in the Central Business District, and did not recuse himself as state law requires.

Both these UGA land use rezones were done without public participation, as noted in the Pentland report on the Downtown Advisory Committee, which included Blaine Councilwoman Sarbie Bains' husband Gurdeep Bains, who voted to increase building heights and reduce parking requirements for his three commercial properties, despite his direct financial conflict of interest.

Additionally, the lack of enforcement of the Blaine Municipal Code by City of Blaine Code Enforcement, as evidenced by the attached Water Planning Matters report on Shoreline Management Plan Compliance Failure (see attached), invalidates the Blaine Comprehensive Plan land use rezones proposed to Whatcom County for approval. 

The Urban Mixed Use rezone Ordinance No. 25-3028, unlawfully reduced Central Business District salmon creek setbacks and other protections in violation of the Blaine Critical Areas Ordinance, as well as financially benefitted Blaine Planning Commissioner Sam Randhawa and his employer, Freeman Real Estate (see attached complaint to U.S. Department of Justice). Randhawa and Freeman should not profit from crime, and the comprehensive plan is invalid until this ordinance is repealed.

Learn more about violations of the Municipal Ethics Act in the June 13, 2025 Formal Complaint to the Washington State Auditor Office (SAO) from Blaine Water Coalition. See also my September 26, 2025 letter Exercise in Deception sent to Whatcom County and Washington State (Commerce, Ecology, and Attorney General).

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