Birch Bay Gets No Respect

Blaine’s Urban Growth Area is the “most significantly oversized” UGA in the county. This is according to Whatcom County officials, as reported by Tara Nelson in The Northern Light this week. Blaine's City Council is offering a reduction of 2,549 acres, leaving 1,176 for future development. The County Planning Department is expected to recommend that Birch Bay's UGA remain unchanged at 4,375 acres. In population, the county is projecting Blaine’s growth to grow from 4,667 residents in 2008 to 8,370 in 2031. Birch Bay’s growth, now estimated at 5,290, is projected at 9,619 in 2031.

Whatcom County is under the gun from the State to update its growth management plan. After a series of extensions, the deadline for the county is now Dec. 1. This month, cities and unincorporated communities are negotiating their plans with the county.

Here, in summary, is Blaine's argument for larger allocations:
“While the work of the Birch Bay Steering Committee is admirable and it is clear that they and many more in Birch Bay have invested a great deal of time and thought into Birch Bay improvements, they are nevertheless only a committee and not a governing body. Birch Bay has limited infrastructure built to rural standards (roads, pedestrian sidewalks or walkways, storm water facilities.) Additionally, Birch Bay does not have many essential public services and facilities at an adequate urban standard to service Birch By community (police and fire protection, park and recreational facilities, public library community/senior center, schools.)”

We regard this statement as a gratuitous slap. It would be easy to ridicule the Blaine government and its problems with resolving difficulties, starting with the airport. And certainly, Birch Bay has problems, too. But the overriding factor is that the two communities have good reasons to work together. Where would the Blaine school system be without Birch Bay students and the Birch Bay tax base? North Whatcom Fire and Rescue is as much Birch Bay as it is Blaine. The Park & Rec District, recently rejuvenated, is an example of community cooperation and a building block.

Moreover, the county's growth plan is for 2031. Essentially, it provides guidelines. It is not about forcing newcomers where to live. They will have choices – Fairhaven, Ferndale, etc. Does the Blaine City Council believe the factors that have attracted people to Birch Bay – the water and beaches plus enterprising developers – will have less influence in the next two decades? As for this decade, as Alan Friedlob argued here in a February post, Birch Bay is doing fine in cooperation with the county.

What does the Blaine council expect will happen in 20 years? Will Birch Bay incorporate? Or, more likely, will growth create a contiguous, single community to foster a merger as happened with Fairhaven and Bellingham?

All of the Whatcom communities will present their recommendations to Whatcom County Council tomorrow night (June 16). Birch Bay is scheduled for 7 o'clock; Blaine for 7:25. There is only time for presentations this week. Tuesday evening, the 23rd, will be the time for public comment. To read the UGA proposal of all communities go to www.co.whatcom.wa/us/pds/2031

ak

Access to Property Owner

“Tell them to xxxx ooo,” said the property owner when told that some of our readers complain that his new posts are encroaching on beach access from Birch Bay Drive south of Jackson Road. He said that twice more while explaining that he has five permits that took a year and a half to obtain. Hearing his voice louder and seeing his face redder, it was time for your correspondent to depart.



ak

Optimism for Recreation in Birch Bay

A total of $215,000 for Birch Bay recreation support projects is included in the master plan approved by the Northwest Park & Rec District at a meeting Tuesday evening, May 12. The breakdown:

Upgrade the gym at Bay Horizon Park, $35,000
Sports fields, $140,000
Children's play structures, $40,000

Of course there is no certainty. This is simply a plan, and information that expensive wetland restoration would be required for the area at Bay Horizon where ball fields were expected puts a damper on that hope. (Ted Morse, district president, said he is looking for alternative sites.) Nonetheless, this is good news. See the whole plan at www.nwprd2.org

Commissioners of the district have been frugal. Most of the levy money that came to the rejuvenated district with approval of a levy has been saved. Treasurer Dorothy Robertson has some $275,000 on hand, About $300,000 more will come from this year's property taxes. (The impressive 50-page plan, a necessity in seeking state and federal grants, was created for only $20,000, a bargain considering the number of community meetings conducted by the consultants.)

As expected, the commissioners voted to forego another levy request this year. In light of current economic climate, this is a “prudent decision," said Commissioner Terry Johnson (pictured here) in making the motion. All five commissioners voted yes.

Another achievement by the district is a portfolio of classes that will be available. Those at the meeting were shown a mock-up for a Summer Activities Guide, a catalog of 27 opportunities for children and adults taught by qualified local experts this summer. The catalog will be included in the Northern Light this Thursday, the 28th.

Most of the work in qualifying teachers and assembling the information was done by Linda Roorda, the district's secretary, who is paid for only 20 hours a week. Putting this package together for the first time is a tremendous achievement.

AK

Creating a Birch Bay Community Park Looks Like Hard Work

Stakeholders who could make a community park possible for Birch Bay on the Camp Horizon Park property may be coming together:

· Whatcom County has budgeted money and is seeking bids to demolish obsolete buildings on the property;

· The Lions Camp Horizon Foundation that operates a summer program for individuals with special needs is sprucing up the buildings with new roofs and painting;

· The Northwest Parks and Recreation District 2, rejuvenated by the levy approved two years ago, is completing its master plan that includes a children’s playground at the park.

Last Saturday, May 9, “Friends of Bay Horizon Park,” a small band of activists that has gained the recognition of the county, invited the community to “Come Plan Birch Bay's Community Park.” The prime mover of the Friends is Alan Friedlob, who earned a PhD in health science and was a commissioned officer on the staff of the Surgeon General. (For European vacations, he is able to fly on military aircraft.) The Northern Light publicized the event and volunteers distributed flyers to area businesses and some nearby residents.

The primary reason for the meeting was for folks to express their wishes to Rod Lamb, a county planner and landscape architect, and Lynne Givler, his colleague, who is responsible for building demolition.

Participants, most of whom expressed the need for recreation facilities for youth, got a cold shower of reality:

· While the county has money for demolition, site planning and a few amenities such as gates in the fences that now keep neighbors out, there is not much else. Lamb, who is preparing the site plan, reported that significant wetlands will require expensive mitigation;

· The Lions Foundation, which is supported by 64 clubs in Northwest Washington and Southwest British Columbia, is protective of its rights based on a 25-year lease dating from 1988.

Don Webster, the president, is a sweet guy who obviously took his congeniality pills before coming to the meeting. He expressed concern about traffic that could cause accidents and the effect of visitors on the special needs campers who range in age from eight to 80. Pointedly, he noted that the Foundation is spending $100,000 on improvements to the buildings this year and 50 volunteers – twice the number of community people at Saturday's meeting – have put in 6,000 hours of labor. And he offered to rent the facilities, such as the gymnasium, to the community. At the end of the meeting, after participants had seen restrooms in buildings that looked like they could be opened when needed, he warned that there are now no public facilities;

· When we campaigned and voted for the Park & Rec District 2 levy, we talked about playgrounds and ball fields at Camp Horizon that would augment the Pipeline fields, which, under the control of the Blaine School District, close at the end of the school year. At Saturday's meeting, Ted Morris, president of the Park and Rec District 2 commissioners, said he is looking for an alternative location for ball fields. (Pictured are a few existing swings, and, in the background, an old tire jungle. Also, a short distance away, the Loft Lane homes have their own colorful play set.)

While the some-time libertarians who write this blog respect contracts, the rule of law, etc., it seems niggardly that an organization whose motto is “We Serve” would tie up a natural community resource for 11 months of the year. For example, if a group of young men wants to play basketball in the gym on Monday and Thursday nights from December through March – should they need to pay rent to the Lions? Wouldn't modest dues to cover light and heat be enough? Similarly, do the Lions need to keep toilets out of reach if Friends are willing to pay for upkeep?

On another side of this issue, the nearby residents need to decide if they want to do what is necessary to establish and maintain a community park. They will need to contribute and solicit money to develop the ball fields and playgrounds; they can't expect the money to fall out of the County Council. And they need to volunteer to help build and maintain those facilities.

Scott Dobson, who represents the D. B. Johnson homeowners in Bay Crest, says, “It is relatively easy to build something, it is a lot harder to maintain it.”

The Friends and the county plan three more public meetings.

ak & rah

Birch Bay in 30 Years?

Seeking Comments: Of the blogs we read, the most interesting attract a lot of comments. We note that many of those who respond do not use their real names. Heretofore we’ve had a policy of discarding anonymous messages. That’s ended. Use your name of you wish, but don’t hesitate to use any name or names you like. No limit on comments.


Whatcom officialdom is going through a process of determining where the expected number of future residents should live. It is estimated the county’s population will grow to over 251,000 by 2031. That’s approximately 60,000 more than present. (We round these numbers off to emphasize they are estimates, whereas the county’s calculators use numbers like 60,490.)

The state’s Growth Management Act requires counties to create their own growth plans, allocating expected growth to particular areas. Whatcom County is behind and losing out on six-figure state grants. A Growth Management Hearings Board told Whatcom to catch up by June 30. So last fall the County Council formed a Growth Management Coordinating Council to advise on deciding how many of the expected new residents should go where. That group consists of two county council members and the mayors of the seven cities in the county, but not representatives of the two unincorporated UGAs, Birch Bay and Columbia Valley.

The county planning department then began a series of community meetings with an informational website and questionnaires. Thursday, February 5, the Birch Bay Steering Committee sponsored a meeting with Gary Davis and Kate Koch of the planning department. Among their maps was one showing what land the planning department views as available for building.

Informed members of the community found these maps wholly inaccurate. Bill Grant was outraged, citing his own and other properties colored as vacant that are approved and platted for development. Lisa Guthrie, who represents Homestead, was relaxed but nonetheless critical.

Koch and Davis were not devastated. Such happens, they explained, and kept smiling, passing out colored pencils for participants to mark up the large maps arranged conveniently on tables.

In a conversation a week later, Kate Koch (pronounced cook), when asked what medication she used to maintain equanimity, said, “Green tea is enough”.

She said that a few days after the meeting she went back to Birch Bay with staff and the map-makers to look at the questioned properties. Guthrie, as the representative of Homestead, seems to know all the available land in the UGA. She wrote to Koch in an e-mail that, “I do not feel we have near the physical capacity of density that has been assumed.”

If you split the difference between two annual growth rates used by the planners in this exercise (7.5 percent and 4.8 percent) to 6.2 percent and compound out 10 years from the estimated Birch Bay population last year (5,292), you come to 9,094 by 2018.

But this subject is akin to a white glove inspection of a platoon’s barracks before the soldiers ship overseas – purposeful but relatively insignificant because of uncertainty. What is important is that this exercise confronts the Birch Bay community with the need to decide its own future.

All comments are welcomed.



ak