May 26 - June 1, 2016
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Blaine students test above average, page 2
County council decision could present a funding hurdle for Birch Bay roads
Home and Garden special section, page 8-10
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Orca Fest in Birch Bay this weekend, page 10
The force awakens in Birch Bay
By Oliver Lazenby
(See UGA, page 3)
s Rey and a First Order stormtrooper from “Star Wars Episode VII-The Force Awakens” visited Bay Horizon Park on May 21 for the Picnic in the Playground. The performers came from Vancouver’s Outer Rim Garrison, a cosplay group that uses authentic, licensed costumes from the “Star Wars” films and visits children’s hospitals, charities and other events. See more photos online at thenorthernlight.com.
Photo by Steve Guntli
East Blaine neighborhood protests LID charges By Steve Guntli Residents of an East Blaine neighborhood came out to a Blaine City Council meeting this week to voice their unhappiness with a new municipal project. The city of Blaine is expanding sewer services to the Vista Terrace neighborhood by forming Local Improvement District (LID) 35. Under a sewer LID, property owners are responsible for sharing the costs of constructing and connecting to the city’s sewer system. According to city assessments, each property owner will need to pay $15,705 for the construction of the sewer lines. On May 23, the city held a special council meeting to take input from the community on the project. The council will take the comments under advisement and decide whether or not to ap-
56TH ANNUAL SCOTTISH
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prove the ordinance, possibly by the June 13 council meeting. Jon Sitkin, Blaine’s city attorney, was present to discuss the legal ramifications of the LID. The Vista Terrace neighborhood has 60 properties and 53 homes. Four of those homes are vacant, and another five are already on the city’s sewer system. Forty-eight homes have septic tanks, 31 of which were either installed before 1985 or before permits were required. The LID was proposed in 2010 and approved in early 2011. At the time, only one home in the neighborhood had a failing septic system. Since then, three more systems have failed, which public works director Ravyn Whitewolf said is in line with the city’s estimates. The city decided to fast track the project in 2013 to prevent any more septic system failures. “LIDs are fairly common,” Whitewolf said. “Much of this city’s infrastructure
was built via LIDs.” One point of dispute had been GFF charges. GFFs, or general facility fees, rep(See LID, page 2)
INSIDE
A Whatcom County Council decision to exclude a 201-acre parcel from Birch Bay’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) could make it more difficult to fund improvements to Blaine Road – Birch Bay’s main north-south corridor, which will see more use as the area grows. The parcel in question surrounds Blaine Road between Arnie Road and Birch Bay-Lynden Road. It’s surrounded on three sides by land in Birch Bay’s UGA. Under the state’s Growth Management Act, communities must plan for growth in UGAs. The designation helps plan for future growth, but the state transportation improvement board also uses it as criteria for some roadwork grants. The county council made the decision to leave the parcel out of the UGA despite a county staff recommendation to upgrade it to UGA status. The county projected that Birch Bay will grow by 5,500 people in the next 20 years, and an analysis of the UGA estimated that its boundaries could accommodate 5,250 more. To make up the difference, county staff recommended adding the parcel to the UGA. Council voted to leave it out of the UGA because the parcel contains unbuildable floodplains and wetlands, and because the projected population growth barely exceeds Birch Bay’s current UGA areas. “The numbers were close so we decided to error on maybe a slightly smaller number of people per year moving there,” councilmember Todd Donovan said. But that decision has implications the council may not have considered, said Doralee Booth, member of the Birch Bay Steering Committee and Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce. She pointed out to county council at its May 10 meeting that UGA status is criteria for state transportation improvement board funds. “You guys have to understand, when you tweak one thing it always tweaks another,” Booth said. “Blaine Road is the only north-south connector road
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