February 8 - 14, 2024
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Man arrested for racing on I-5, page 3
Developers to hold meeting on east Blaine manufactured home park
February 13 special election, page 4
Primary school hosts science night, page 5
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Rainbow ends at the Peace Arch
By Grace McCarthy
(See Meeting, page 3)
s A rainbow added a pop of color over the Peace Arch at the U.S./Canada border on February 1. Photo by Molly Ernst
Tokyo Monster Sushi opens in Birch Bay By Grace McCarthy Tokyo Monster Sushi opened in Birch Bay Square, bringing an expansive menu of Japanese and Asian cuisine. The restaurant held a soft opening February 1, and is expected to operate at full-service in the coming weeks. The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, though owner Phillip Kim said those hours will shift earlier as the restaurant phases in breakfast, offering Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts.
Tokyo Monster Sushi has a sushi bar, cocktail bar and stage where live jazz is anticipated Fridays through Sundays. The menu offerings are ample, with sushi rolls, nigiri, sashimi, Chinese wok and Korean specials, Vietnamese pho, ramen, teriyaki, yakisoba, fried rice, bento boxes, poke, steak, burger, Greek gyro, mozzarella sticks, oyster shooters and more. “You can taste just about all of the Asian food up here,” Kim said, adding that there are plenty of fish options. Kim said he selected the Birch Bay
Meet interim Blaine HS principal Beth Eide By Nolan Baker Newly appointed Blaine High School interim principal Beth Eide has lived in the world of education almost her entire life. Growing up in Montana, Eide would help set up her mother’s classroom where she taught special education. Her first experience educating on her own came when she volunteered at a summer program for students with disabilities. Following her mother’s footsteps, Eide became a special education teacher in
Montana before receiving a master’s degree from San Diego State University and teaching in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. Eide and her family – three boys, in college, middle school and elementary school – moved in 2016 to Washington where she earned her administrative certification from Western Washington University. Eide was then hired at the Blaine school district as dean of students for 6th-12th grade in 2021. Eide said that while every school has its
own unique qualities, she enjoys the closeness and sense of community when walking through the halls of Blaine High School. “Blaine feels comfortable to me,” Eide said. “I can walk through the courtyard and say hello to students, know their name, know what activities they are in that week, what assignments they are working on in English. … I’m invested in their wellbeing inside and outside of the school, and at a school this size, you (See Principal, page 10)
Square location because he wanted to bring more Asian food to Birch Bay. Kim previously owned a Tokyo Monster Sushi in Maple Valley, which he said he sold two years ago. He’s owned different sushi and teriyaki restaurants throughout the Puget Sound, including West Seattle, the University District, Kent, Federal Way and Auburn, he said. As for Kim’s menu favorites, he said the Monster, Godzilla, orange blossom, cherry blossom and rainbow rolls are (See Restaurant, page 2)
INSIDE
The developers of a proposed east Blaine manufactured home park have scheduled a meeting to inform the public on the project for 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 27 at the Blaine Boating Center, 235 Marine Drive. Developers Skip and Katie Jansen and Cascade Engineering Group will hold a community meeting on plans to construct 150 manufactured homes in East Harbor Hills, an upcoming neighborhood in east Blaine. East Harbor Hills is directly east of the Jansens’ other development, The Ridge at Harbor Hills, on the north side of H Street Road. The presentation, required for developers per Blaine Municipal Code, will inform residents living around the manufactured home park about the project and allow them to provide input. The 49-acre manufactured home park is planned to take up one-third of the total 144-acre East Harbor Hills property. Skip Jansen said the manufactured home park would be constructed first, and the remaining area of the subdivision would likely include multifamily and single-family homes. Residents would own their homes and attached garages, Skip Jansen said, but the manufactured home park would own and lease the land underneath the homes. The manufactured home park will cater to older adults who want to downsize, but the developers haven’t determined whether they want the area to be age-restricted. The development is proposed to have a clubhouse that could have an exercise room, kitchen, fireplace, common area and meeting rooms, with potentially pickleball courts, horseshoes and shuffleboards outside. “It’s designed for leisurely living,” Skip Jansen said. “It will be very well done.” The property is planned to have a buffer along H Street Road and the manufactured homes won’t be visible from the road. The development would have open spaces, trail
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Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . 11, 12 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . 6, 7 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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