Work Session
Who: Planning Commission
About: Revised strategic guidelines for the Central Waterfront
When: 7pm, Thursday, February 2
Where: Council Chambers at City Hall, 210 Lottie Street.

Public Hearing
Held by: The Historic Preservation Commission
About: Application to designate the Waldron Building a local landmark
Location: 12th St. & McKenzie Ave
Applicant: David Ebenal
When: 7pm, Tuesday, February 28
Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, 210 Lottie St.

Hearing
Scheduled by: Dawn Sturworld, Hearing Examiner
About: Application to reconsider request for a variance
Location: 1203/1211 W. Holly Street
Applicant: Next Faze LLC
Details: The applicant wants a variance allowing 57.6% lot coverage, rather than the standard 35% limit for a mixed use building with underground parking, street level office and residential units upstairs.
When: February 9
Comment Deadline: February 8

Comment
Application: For planned development approval, design review permit & wetland/stream permit
Location: 4034 Northwest Ave
Size: 8,000 square feet retail/office, 174,000 square feet retail/office/residential building & 102,000 square foot office/residential building.
Parking: 435 stall parking structure
Land: 3.82 acres
Comment Deadline: Wednesday, February 1

More info: 676-6982.

Location: 1750 Moore St.
What: Indoor baseball/softball facility
Name: Extra Innings
Size: 14,000 square feet
Owner: Bruce Tipton
General Contractor: Credo Construction
Completion: Spring
Special: In order to create the batting cage within the existing building, they need to dig a pit.

Blaine residents will have to wait another month to see if the Peace Arch Border crossing is going to buy their land in order to expand the crossing. Officials said they need more time to finalize the plans. Several priorities that they are trying to finalize are limiting environmental impact and ensuring easy access to both the City of Blaine and the I-5.

See our previous post about this topic to find out more.

Last month, the Bellingham Public Library put out a request for land in downtown Bellingham that they could purchase to expand the library. Their bidding time ended on Friday without a single response.

This leaves the library with the two options that they had before: build on the back lawn of their current site or land that is occupied by the city’s Municipal Court building. The library has already spent $60,000 to study the feasibility of building on their back lawn.

The library board will discuss their options and then present to the Bellingham City council sometime this spring. That means that there is potential for a library levy on the next ballot. How much the levy would be is yet to be determined. It will be interesting to see how Bellingham residents, who are ranked among the highest in the nation for their use of the library, will react to a levy.

A brief article in the Bellingham Herald on Saturday, January 28, sent my irritation level soaring.  It is a perfect example of one of my pet peeves, which is a special interest group taking a stand on an issue based entirely upon what they perceive their self interest to be, while telling the rest of us they are doing it for our benefit.  Over the years I have been and currently am a member of some of these groups, like the Association of Realtors and National and Washington Education Associations, who consistently tout themselves as experts in their field and use that cover to promote ideas which may be for the benefit of their members, but not necessarily the public at large.

The BIAW (Building Industry Association of Washington) has filed notice of their intent to sue the government over the November listing of our region’s killer whales as an endangered species.  The brief news article I read regarding their announcement made the following points:

        1.  The practical impact of the federal decision has not yet been outlined.

        2.  The BIAW “is concerned that the listing will increase restrictions on the development and use of property on or near Puget Sound”.

        3.  The BIAW notes that there are orca populations elsewhere.

When will groups like this stop mouthing platitudes about quality of life and understand that it is the environment that creates the quality of life that is bringing people to this area, fueling the strong building climate we have enjoyed over the past several years?  When will it dawn on them that actively developing ways to protect the environment while providing housing and educating the public on the benefits of that protection is in their own self interest?  Causing degradation of the natural environment we all enjoy is not going to lead to sustainable development and long-term health for the building industry.

Let me say that I do not condemn all of the BIAW’s positions.  Here in Whatcom County they have consistently pointed out that controlling building around Lake Whatcom is not sufficient to ensure the health of the lake - it is essential that runoff from existing developments and roads be dealt with.  I think they are absolutely right.

We as citizens, however, need to look and listen carefully to any position taken by a special interest group, whether it is representing an industry or an environmental issue.  They may see the trees more clearly than the rest of us, but it is up to us to see the forest.

Bellingham was recently selected by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association to host the 2007 state finals for Class 1A and 2A state track and field as well as the 2007 golf championship for all classifications. The track and field events will be held at Civic Stadium and the golf events will happen at 9 different golf courses throughout Whatcom and Skagit County.

This is an excellent opportunity to help put our growing city on the map. The events will bring an estimated 4,350 athletes, coaches and staff to our area and add approximately $400,000 to our economy.

On top of the economic benefits, Whatcom County residents will get to cheer on their athletes at the state level without having to travel!

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The Bellingham Budget Advisory Committee is looking into privatizing some city services such as the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center and the Bayview Cemetery. The idea has been presented before by conservatives and a budget watchdog group, but was scoffed at by council members.

The city-funded committee is going through the city’s $193 million budget looking for places to cut back and save. Their goal is to have the city be more precise in its budgeting. Questions have been raised on the city Council regarding the usefulness of the committe, and its future will be discussed by the Bellingham City Council at a February 4th retreat.

The Ferndale City hearing examiner is recommending that the city not support an application from Emerald Bay Events and Faber Brothers Construction to build an 80,000 square foot events center in Ferndale. The proposed site is in a manufacturing zone and would be surrounded by manufacturing, waste disposal and commercial uses. City officials feel that the center is a great idea, but that it is incompatible.

See other posts about this event center.
FerndaleReal Estate Development
Large Events Center Proposed for Ferndale

Ferndale City Council has put a 40 day moratorium on commercial planned unit applications. The council will host several meetings during that time to hear from residents and review the current rules.

Many residents pushed for the moratorium because they were worried about Pioneer Plaza, a 100 acre commercial and residential project.  

The city met on Tuesday with residents to hear their views. On Wednesday, February 1, they will meet at 9:30am to review the rules. On Monday February 6, the council will have a work session at 5pm and a public hearing at 7pm. All of the meetings will be held at the Ferndale City Hall Annex, 5694 Second Ave. For more info, call 384-4006.

This is one of those rare moments where many people are GLAD that their bill won’t go down. Evergreen Water-Sewer District No. 19 commissioners decided to cancel its earlier decision to cut the water bills by $20. Had the plan gone through, the water district would have lost approximately $10,000 a month and would have quickly eaten up their reserve funds.

After the last few meetings of the water district breaking out into screaming matches, racial slurs and threats, the commissioners decided to meet at the law offices of Langabeer & Tull on Tuesday morning with only 20 onlookers. The lawyers presented some ideas for helping to keep order at future meetings including limiting meetings to one a month and having a designated comment time for residents.

Hopefully the water district will be able to turn itself around and receive a better report from the state auditors, who plan to return this month.

See our previous post about this issue.

http://www.johnsonteamrealestate.com/blog/index.php/2006/01/11/trouble-with-the-water-in-kendall/