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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
December 8 - 14, 2016
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IN THIS
ISSUE
WCLS library survey nears an end, page 3
Harvest restrictions lifted on 810 acres of Drayton Harbor
Birch Bay Chamber receives $86,500, page 5
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Blaine wrestlers welcome new coach, page 7
Holiday events celebrate the season to be jolly
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e
(See Harbor, page 8)
s Cold winds and heavy rain didn’t stop Blaine from celebrating the holidays. The annual Christmas tree lighting and annual Blaine Harbor Lights Festival took place on December 3. For more photos of the weekend festivities, see page 15. Photo by Ruth Lauman
Property taxes will be slightly lower due to BP back tax windfall By Oliver Lazenby Blaine taxpayers will pay a little less in property taxes next year thanks to BP paying a lump sum of about $4.8 million in back taxes this October. Savings for property owners won’t be huge, but a homeowner with a property worth $250,000 will likely pay at least $50 less in 2017 than they did this year. BP owed the money after settling with Whatcom County on a multi-year dispute
over the value of BP’s Cherry Point property. The county valued the property at a taxable rate of $1.08 billion. BP argued to the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals that its property was worth $476 million (though the company spent more than $750 million to improve its refinery in the past 10 years, according to its website). After appealing, BP began paying taxes at a lower rate, as required by a statute designed to prevent taxing districts from having to give back money already spent.
Public weighs in on proposed update to waterfront development rules B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e A Blaine Planning Commission public hearing held December 1 to consider an amendment to the wharf district zoning rules was held over until Thursday, December 8 in response to questions raised by the proponent, commissioners and members of the public. While the hearing has been closed to oral comments, the commission will accept written comments from the public until the next meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Although its original recommendation to approve the amendment remains in force, planning staff have also prepared a supplementary report offering alternatives to the original proposal. The Port of Bellingham, which owns most of the property south of Marine Drive, requested the amendment in June. The commission will recommend either approval, approval with conditions or rejection of the proposed change, which would then be forwarded to city council for a final decision.
The amendment would change allowed uses and increase allowable heights in the area of the wharf district called Mariner Village, which is located between the harbor office to the west and the boundary of the property occupied by Sundance Yachts (formerly Blaine Marine Services) to the east. In the 2007 Wharf District Master Plan (WDMP), this area was zoned for a variety of uses such as commercial, retail and service space on ground floors (See Wharf, page 10)
BP and the county settled in August on a value of $840 million for the property, which will require BP to pay about $8.7 million annually in property taxes. That’s more than the company paid the last three years, so it had to make up the difference in a lump sum this fall. Taxing districts had already levied their full amounts for the year. Most will put that money toward their 2017 levies. That (See Taxes, page 2)
INSIDE
Two decades of commitment to improve water quality in Drayton Harbor has finally paid off – last week, recreational and commercial shellfish harvest restrictions were lifted on 810 acres of the harbor. The Washington State Department of Health made the announcement last week after tests revealed improvements to water quality. For more than 20 years, state and county agencies, nonprofit organizations and volunteers have worked to reduce high levels of fecal coliform in the water that have restricted harvesting as far back as 1995. To celebrate the occasion, the public is invited to gather at Drayton Harbor Oyster Company at 4 p.m. on Friday, December 16 to enjoy fresh oysters. The restaurant is located at 677 Peace Portal Drive in downtown Blaine. “I have been farming oysters in Drayton Harbor since the mid-1980s and have fallen in love with the place,” said owner of Drayton Harbor Oyster Company Steve Seymour in a statement on December 1. The family-owned eatery farms oysters in the harbor to source their product. “Today’s news is about a community which shares this appreciation and has been a willing partner in preserving this magic place for the next generation,” he said. Drayton Harbor saw its first commercial oyster farm crop up more than 100 years ago. Before pollution slogged its way into the waters, the Lummi Nation harvested as many as 30,000 clams per year in the early 1990s. Long-time player in the effort to improve water quality in the area, Geoff Menzies, described the work to revitalize the harbor as laborious, but not futile. Menzies and Seymour partnered to cultivate oysters in the harbor in the years leading up to its closure. It started in 1995, when Drayton Harbor was partially closed to shellfish harvesting due to high levels of pollution,
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . . . . 12 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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