The latest from the Blaine City Council meeting on March 10.
The city of Blaine held its first regular town hall on March 10 after city council voted two weeks ago to hold a town hall before the first council meeting of each month.
The town hall was scheduled for 30 minutes before the regular council meeting, with each person being allotted one minute to speak. Councilmembers and city staff quickly responded to questions.
Council chambers was standing-room only as it was packed with several dozen people. Most in attendance were against the city manager’s recommendation for the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 to receive an operations contract for senior services at the Blaine Community Center, as opposed to the Blaine Senior Center. Council will likely be presented with official recommendation in April, city manager Mike Harmon said.
About 10 people made a line to speak at the podium, where a new crowd-control barrier separated them from council and staff. Half of the speakers were in support of the Blaine Senior Center receiving the contract, while other topics included a stormwater manual update, “single female drivers” speeding on H Street, allowing motels in the residential/office zoning, disdain for a small majority writing negative emails to the city – and a request for more dinosaurs to be included in the new Blaine Marine Park plans.
The town hall was cordial. While councilmembers are not required to attend town halls, every council member attended except for Rhyan Lopez, who also wasn’t present at the council meeting. All city department leaders were there.
The town hall signified one of the first times members of the public could speak to council and staff since mayor Mary Lou Steward removed oral comment from meetings in February 2024.
Councilmember Eric Lewis had asked council to discuss adopting the city of Ferndale’s code of ethics policy, which would enact voluntary guidelines in addition to state requirements. City staff refrained from making a recommendation on the motion.
“I suggest that we simply take any word where there is a reference to Ferndale and put in ‘Blaine,’” Lewis suggested.
Lewis said the code of ethics clarified what was in Blaine’s current rules of procedure and he learned a lot reading it as a councilmember.
“These would be additional guidelines that you would impose on yourself and it’s your choice whether you follow them or not,” Harmon said. “They’re not state law so if you deviate from them, there isn’t necessarily a punishment per se.”
Councilmember Sonia Hurt thought the additional guidelines would reflect well on the city.
Steward questioned whether Lewis had looked at other codes of ethics and how they compared to Ferndale’s, to which Lewis replied he hadn’t.
Councilmember Eric Davidson said, “Scratching out Ferndale and writing Blaine at the top isn’t something I want to do.”
Council agreed to table the topic until Lewis researched other examples and presented those findings to council.
Harpiar Gandhi, director of Blaine Public Works Department, told council that the Blaine Public Works and Park Advisory Board recommended the city select the second of two options for bringing new amenities to Blaine Marine Park.
The second option would add two sand volleyball courts, a pump track, skate park, six pickleball courts, vendors area, picnic area and large parking lot. Gandhi said the advisory committee recommended the park should be done in phases if the city didn’t have the funds to make all of the upgrades at once.
Hurt said she had submitted an alternative plan to the city that would put the pickleball courts in Lincoln Park, which would preserve some of the field. Hurt said the green space would be needed for events, such as the Bellingham Scottish Gathering, and it would keep the park’s serenity.
Harmon said council would likely have a study session on Blaine Marine Park during the Monday, April 28 meeting.
The city held two open houses on the design concepts in December to receive public input.
Harmon said a presentation on the city’s five-year cash flow would be given to council likely during the Monday, March 24 meeting, which ushered in a conversation about how the tariffs on Canada could impact Blaine.
Harmon said the city won’t see how Blaine sales tax revenue has been impacted until April or May because sales tax numbers are delayed. He assured council that staff was watching the impacts on the sales tax, which is vital for the city’s budget.
Hurt said the Blaine Tourism Advisory Committee is focusing on how to promote tourism to Canadians.
“I have a feeling this will be on par with the pandemic,” Hurt said. “It will have just as dramatic of an effect.”
Councilmember Mike Hill recommended that the city focus on cleaning the town to attract Canadians as it can’t change decisions made at the federal level.
Council approved city staff executing a contract with Semiahmoo Resort that would allow the city to operate the Plover ferry from the Plover dock in Semiahmoo.
Drayton Harbor Maritime (DHM), the nonprofit that previously managed the Plover until last year, owns the Plover dock but leases the ground from which the dock and gangway sit on top from Semiahmoo Resort. DHM and Semiahmoo Resort have an agreement that states if DHM doesn’t operate a ferry service, the resort can reassign use of the dock for a ferry operator.
Hurt asked what would prevent DHM from moving its dock, to which Harmon replied “nothing.”
“The city would then put in its own dock and exercise its own lease with the resort if we couldn’t come to an agreement with Drayton Harbor Maritime,” Harmon said.
Council approved David Evans and Associates receive a contract to design 30 percent of the Bell Road-BNSF Railway Grade Separation Project.
City staff and the Washington State Department of Transportation determined David Evans and Associates was the most qualified. The federal government is fully funding the $6 million project. According to the contract, 30 percent of the design must be completed by December 31, 2031.
The project, years in the making, will build an overpass above train tracks near Bell Road and Peace Portal Drive. The project will cost about $80 million in total.
Council did not vote on updating its stormwater management manual from the state’s 2019 to 2024 version after city staff told council the city had already updated the newest version. Lewis had asked city staff during the last council meeting to provide more information on updating the manual after a few Blaine residents voiced concern that the city may not be in compliance with state standards.
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