December 21 - 27, 2023
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Celebrating the New Year in Birch Bay, page 5
DOE fines Treoil Industries, page 6
Blaine restaurant holds soft opening, page 10
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
1,400 toys donated to Community Toy Store Blaine police, public works administration move to city hall By Nolan Baker
(See City hall, page 5)
s The Community Assistance Program (CAP) held its annual Community Toy Store at Valley Church’s Blaine campus December 7-9. North Whatcom County residents donated around 1,400 toys for people living on low incomes to purchase at a 75 percent discount, which then generated proceeds to benefit Loads of Love, VC Essentials and The Bridge Community Hope Center’s emergency fund. Photo by Laura Vogee
Horizon housing developer files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Grandis Pond sells to local developer By Grace McCarthy The real estate development company in charge of Horizon at Semiahmoo and previously under contract to purchase Grandis Pond has filed for bankruptcy. Harbor Custom Development (HCD) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma to wind down or restructure business. “The Chapter 11 cases will provide the company with time and breathing room needed to market and sell its real estate assets and right-size operations for the benefit of the company’s creditors and stakeholders,” wrote Jeff Habersetzer, interim CEO of HCD, in a statement. HCD is a Tacoma-based real estate company involved in all levels of land development, from land acquisition to residential sales, in Washington, California, Texas and Florida. In summer 2021, the company pur-
chased Horizon at Semiahmoo after the vacant property lay idle for years. Construction broke ground at Horizon and, as of January 2023, was expected to bring over 540 units, between 140 single-family and 400 multi-family units, to its 149acre subdivision. HCD also entered a contract in December 2021 to purchase Grandis Pond for $14 million from Bellingham developer Ken Hertz, who purchased the property in 2005. HCD previously said Grandis Pond was its largest development project. HCD delayed closing the contract and ultimately pulled out of the agreement about two months ago, Hertz said. Hertz said he sold Grandis Pond to a local company for $10 million on December 14. Grandis Pond was bought by east Blaine residents Kevin Keck and Rebeka Ruiz-Lembo, according to the statutory warranty deed filed in the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. Grandis Pond is slated to eventu-
ally bring 872 single-family lots, 120 multi-family units and 10 acres of commercial space to east Blaine, but has been stalled for several decades because of lack(See HCD, page 5)
INSIDE
The Blaine Police Department (BPD) and public works department have begun moving their administrative offices into the second floor of the city hall building, located at 435 Martin Street, Suite 2000. Police officers will still work from the current police station on 322 H Street, but now services such as fingerprinting, records requests and concealed pistol license applications will be conducted at city hall. The move was similar for public works, allowing more space for operations and maintenance crews in the existing building at 1200 Yew Avenue, and moving engineers and administration under the same roof as the rest of city government. BPD lieutenant Michael Munden told The Northern Light that the police station had run out of space to properly store evidence, and was able to gain back some much-needed storage and training space with administration moved to city hall. “[Overcrowding] was an enormous issue,” Munden said. “Imagine your own home or office with no storage capacity. We had to stack things in halls and cram items into existing offices.” Munden said the overcrowding created safety issues for its employees, and made it hard to work quickly when important items were being lost in the office’s halls. Moving the administrative side of the police department to a central location where the majority of other Blaine city government organizations work day in and day out also helps with inter-agency efficiency, Munden said. Gary McSpadden, assistant director of public works, said that while the Yew Avenue office wasn’t as crowded as the police station, having city engineers and planners working under the same roof increases cohesion among the team.“It just made sense to get the engineering staff and the [city] planning group in the same building. They work so closely together,” McSpadden said. The move also allowed for the police department to utilize a $30,000 Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission grant, which funded the conversion
TheNorthernLight
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . 11, 12 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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Celebrate New Year’s in Birch Bay! Ring of Fire & Hope
December 31 • 7 pm
@TheNorthernLightNews
41st Annual Polar Bear Plunge
January 1 • Plunge at Noon
For more details, see ad on page 9 or visit birchbaychamber.com