County council tables no-shooting zone discussion

After nearly an hour-and-a-half contentious public hearing and rigid council debate, Whatcom County Council voted 5-2 to table discussion on the Drayton Harbor no-shooting zone for two weeks. The decision, opposed by councilmembers Todd Donovan and Carol Frazey, followed councilmembers’ debate that included extending the current 300-foot buffer zone, which doesn’t allow shooting within 300 feet of the shoreline, to 1,000 feet.

County councilmembers also voted 6-1, with Frazey opposed, for a two-week voting hold on the proposed Dearborn no-shooting zone, near Drayton Harbor and Dakota Creek. Five people spoke during a shorter public hearing on the Dearborn, while 10 spoke during the Drayton Harbor public hearing.

In July 2019, Blaine City Council unanimously voted on a proclamation asking county council to adopt a no-shooting zone ordinance in Drayton Harbor. After several county council meetings and many discussions, headway on a decision halted as local jurisdictions faced the pandemic. Blaine city manager Michael Jones asked county council to continue pursuing the no-shooting ordinance in February, but enough time had passed that it needed to be reintroduced to county council again. A separate, but similar, area called Dearborn was also introduced as a proposed no-shooting zone during the March 16 Whatcom County Council meeting.

The debate centers around permitting waterfowl hunting in the area, which has a season that lasts from October to the end of January. Residents have voiced concerns to Blaine officials of gunfire close to residential and recreational areas.

Blaine city councilmember Mary Lou Steward kicked off the Drayton Harbor public hearing in support of the no-shooting ordinance, citing numerous complaints and concerns surrounding public safety in a growing area. Blaine mayor Bonnie Onyon and a Drayton Harbor resident also shared similar sentiments.

Tyler Bahrenburg, a Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) police sergeant, said WDFW is unaware of any calls on practices of unsafe hunting practices or injuries in Drayton Harbor. Bahrenburg also asked council to consider lack of public access to sea duck hunting in Washington and throughout the U.S.

“It’s a sport that our public loves and I would hate to see it diminish,” he said.

During the separate Dearborn public hearing, Bahrenburg clarified to council that WDFW can’t enforce county code.

WDFW officer Ryan Valentine said in the 18 years he’s worked in Whatcom County for WDFW, the agency in charge of fielding concerns, he has not responded to any public safety issues concerning hunting in Drayton Harbor.

Valentine said the hunting occurs farther in the water with shot guns that only reach a couple hundred yards.

“It’s unfortunate that people are scared when they hear a shotgun blast, but the safety issue that is being purported is simply not there from what I’ve seen in the 18 years’ of patrolling that area vigilantly,” he said.

Valentine said the no-shooting zone in Wiser Lake, an argument for those supporting a Drayton Harbor shooting ban, was created as a game reserve for migratory waterfowl.

Tino Villaluz, a representative for the Swinomish Indian Tribe’s hunting and wildlife department and a Whatcom County resident, spoke against the proposed ordinance.

“The city of Blaine is taking an empathetic view of this perceived public safety threat,” Villaluz said. “We don’t have a perception on injustice as tribal people, we have a reality. And that reality is ever present and constantly constricting our life ways. You’re systemically taking away our rights.”

Villaluz said he asked to have more than three minutes to address council because he was representing a sovereign nation, which he argued should not be categorized as the general public.

Frank Bob, a Lummi Nation member and a Lummi Nation resource and policy representative, said his family has lived in the surrounding area, including Semiahmoo Village, since time immemorial, but they were removed from their homes when the city of Blaine was built.

“I used to hunt deer and elk here, where the golf course in now, and on Birch Point, where the condominiums are right now, and now the city of Blaine wants to take the waterfowl hunting away from our people,” Bob said. “We will not tolerate that. Lummi will challenge the decision as long as we need to.”

Bob Harriman, with Borderline Bassin’ Contenders hunting and fishing club, said he believes hunters practice safe shooting through hunting restrictions and WDFW laws.

“It’s the town that grew outward into the county, not the county that grew into the city,” Harriman said.

Following the Drayton Harbor public hearing, councilmember Tyler Byrd voiced many concerns on the proposed ordinance, including concerns on county code. The no-shooting zone only applies in the water, meaning someone could shoot a shotgun near homes on the shoreline, Byrd said.

“If you’re worried about guns, wouldn’t you want to go out and create a no-shooting zone on land, where the houses and the people actually are?” Byrd asked council.

Ben Elenbaas said he didn’t want to ban something just because neighbors were annoyed.

Byrd said the city of Blaine could annex the area and create a no-shooting zone, but until then, he doesn’t see a need for county council to address the issue.

“It’s incredibly important that we look at the data and base our decisions off the data, and not how we feel about something or a political belief about something or a fear about what might happen,” Byrd said. “If we go down that route, we’ll end up banning everything in the world.”

Byrd expressed interest in pushing discussion for two weeks so councilmembers could gather stakeholders to discuss a 1,000-foot buffer as a compromise, which councilmember Rud Browne had previously proposed in 2019 with no interest from the parties.

“Councilmember Browne said he brought the two parties together and asked them if they wanted this 1,000-foot buffer. Everyone said no and the city council of Blaine is asking us to do [the no-shooting zone], but no, we’re going to make our own little rules here. Who are we representing here? I’m against this,” Frazey said with a headshake.

Elenbaas opposed the 1,000-foot buffer, saying it would create a safety issue by crowding
hunters.

Jones told county council after the public hearing that the city did not support a 1,000-foot buffer because city limits extend more than 1,000 feet into the harbor in some areas.

“In a number of cases, that would be the city basically allowing shooting within the city, which we disallow completely across the board in the city,” Jones said. “That would be inconsistent with the request city council has received from the majority of the citizens they have heard from, so it would be an untenable political situation.”