CODIFYING CRIME

April 16, 2026 Blaine Planning Commission remarks by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon:

"So everything you're going to hear tonight staff have vetted these processes are in play in other communities. They've been vetted by our legal counsel and we ask for your favorable recommendation on these to help us take a step forward in eliminating these barriers, eliminating some of the costs. The last SEPA appeal that the city went through, we spent over $100,000 just on our attorney to defend the city's position only to have a hearing examiner come back and say that staff issued a bulletproof SEPA decision and that it was really well written. And so there are costs in there not only for the developer but for the tax payers to blame that just really aren't necessary. And so we're asking for your help tonight to move this forward to council with a new pass recommendation."

Harmon's prejudicial remarks disparaging the citizen effort led by Water Planning Matters to hold the city accountable for SEPA fraud were prelude to his request that the planning commission approve Title 17 Amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code that will deprive Blaine citizens of their civil rights, in order to expedite future development without public scrutiny or government transparency.

Read Water Planning Matters analysis of judicial bias by the Blaine Hearing Examiner, who removed Department of Ecology maps conflicting with the city's from the public record, in order to approve the referenced SEPA appeal for a planned unit development at Birch Point (see Avista at Birch Point SEPA Appeal) that will flood Birch Bay Village. The amendments Harmon proposes are designed to eliminate public oversight. Watch the Water Planning Matters video of urgent threats to Blaine's drinking water, that Blaine City Council is expected to approve on April 27.

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