ANTIPATHY OF DEMOCRACY

May 19 letter to Blaine City Council:

The Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) is meant to examine the impacts of proposed developments prior to issuing development permits. The questions SEPA requires of developers must be answered and vetted by the public. When--due to inherent conflicts of interest--applicants or planning departments lie, it is the citizens who have a right to hold them accountable. The proposed response in the form of these SEPA amendments by Blaine Community Development Services is to eliminate public participation.

While you are contemplating SEPA amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code that are designed to eliminate public participation, you might want to read my letter to the editor at Cascadia Daily News on the topic. The proposed SEPA Amendment Ordinance 26-3046 is unconstitutional, as it deprives low-income citizens of any voice in civic affairs. The proposed $5,000 fee barrier to those who wish to question city staff or challenge environmental decisions is the antipathy of democracy. Adopting this ordinance is a sure way of the city being sued for violating our civil rights.

Blaine citizens, including me and other members of Water Planning Matters, were more than once denied a voice in Critical Aquifer Recharge Area planned unit development hearings due to financial hardship in overcoming the now $7,500 hurdle to question City of Blaine SEPA designations, Critical Area Determinations, and Stormwater reports.

Fraud committed by Blaine hearing examiner Phil Olbrechts on the Avista at Birch Point appeal by Water Planning Matters--as well as his defamation of citizens intervening on behalf of the public water system in Blaine--is something you should vigorously oppose, even drawing this government misconduct to the attention of the FBI and the Washington State Bar Association. Your apparent contempt for public health and public participation in pursuit of home sales taxes and real estate commissions makes you accomplices in crime.

Now, it's up to the Washington Secretary of Health and the Chief Health Law Judge to decide.

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