City council deliberates on proposed development committee

Blaine City Council held an hour-long study session April 25 on a potential ad-hoc development committee that would keep councilmembers up-to-date on extensive growth that is expected in east and west Blaine. New councilmembers Kerena Higgins, Rhyan Lopez and Mike Hill first proposed the new committee during the April 11 city council meeting.

City manager Michael Jones advised against council creating a committee because the city’s community development services staff was already under workload strain with new development, and said council could stay informed on development through tools already available to council. Jones recommended expanding existing communication such as the city manager’s written report or to schedule a monthly 30-minute study session; have councilmembers serve as a liaison for the planning commission and hearing examiner; or create more education and training for councilmembers.

“We can modify some of what we’re doing and use some of what we already have in place,” Jones said.

Jones also advised the proposed committee should not duplicate planning commission’s work.

Councilmember Richard May said that if city staff put development information into the city manager’s report, it would only be what staff thought was interesting, and not what councilmembers thought needed extra attention.

Higgins said she wanted to have more councilmember interaction than listening to staff presentations during study sessions.

“I envision a committee being more interactive where the committee has the opportunity to be engaged and asking questions,” Higgins said. “If we’re hearing a presentation once a month, we’re not necessarily having the opportunity to drive the agenda. It’s the administration telling us what you think we want to hear. Whereas in a committee, if the chair is the one working with you, it’s a councilmember saying, ‘I think these are the things that would probably be most helpful for the council to know.’”

Councilmember Garth Baldwin said a committee providing more information on development would allow councilmembers to ask better development questions on behalf of their constituents.

“We can’t have the questions to ask because we don’t have the information with which to form the questions,” Baldwin said.

Jones discussed bringing back planning commission reports to city council meetings that were discontinued when city council went remote during the pandemic. He also said councilmembers could access planning commission meeting minutes on the city’s website.

City staff also recommended councilmembers check the city’s website where permit applications are published.

Councilmembers questioned if a list of potential developments could be shared with council members as a Google Doc, but Jones said it would then need to become a public document.

Higgins suggested the proposed committee meet during study session times before council meetings, so all councilmembers could attend if they wanted. Higgins said she would draft the committee’s framework and have it voted on in an upcoming meeting.