Around Birch Bay

by Jack Kintner

The Whatcom County Council has set in motion efforts to at least study what it would take to incorporate Birch Bay by approving $100,000 to fund the Birch Bay incorporation feasibility study.
In a separate action the council also approved the Birch Bay Watershed Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan and corrected an error that had placed 34 acres on Point Whitehorn into a long-term instead of short-term planning area.

The stormwater plan, completed by CH2M Hill, provides for the development of low-impact development standards and on-going monitoring of stormwater quality to protect what the plan refers to as the largest shellfish harvesting area in the state, Birch Bay, as development proceeds.

The incorporation study is mandated by the Birch Bay subarea plan which was adopted in 2004 by the county after being developed by the Birch Bay steering committee.

Work begins this week on the initial request for proposal (RFP) that will be presented to the Birch Bay community in December at a time to be announced. The contract will be signed by March and the plan itself is to be completed by next September.

“This will help the community make decisions about when and how to incorporate,” said Birch Bay steering committee chair Kathy Berg.

The next meeting of the committee will be on Wednesday, December 6, at 7 p.m. at the Birch Bay Community Church at 7039 Jackson Road.
Roland Middleton of Whatcom County Planning and Development Services will discuss several projects that have come out of work done by the steering committee, including plans for shoreline enhancement, design guidelines for a proposed town center, transportation alternatives and the stormwater plan that was approved November 8.