| City
planners take another look at Seagrass project
By
Meg Olson
The Blaine planning commission has begun to chew over
a new application for the Seagrass development on Semiahmoo
Spit, and is choking on the same bone that led to the denial
of the first Seagrass application: Does it match the projections
approved by the city in the 1985 Semiahmoo Master Development
Plan, and does it need to?
“This master plan clearly anticipates a development
of a certain size and I want to assure myself what’s
being proposed falls into that,” said planning commissioner
Harry Robinson at a March 1 work session. “I think
a lot has changed and now we’re talking about something
totally different and I have difficulty trying to reconcile
that.”
The
new Seagrass II application is asking for fewer units
than the original application, assembled in fewer buildings.
The first Seagrass application had called for 35 duplexes
on 22 acres and Seagrass II is asking for eight duplex
lots and 13 four-plexes – 68 rather
than 70 total units.
In
their denial of the first application, planning commissioners
and city council had cited the first design’s lack
of compliance with the Semiahmoo Master Plan’s “clustered” representation
of residential development in that area, scaled to
be compatible with the “dunes environment.”
“This
is kind of where we were last time,” said
commissioner Sue Sturgill. “What determines
the intent of the plan?”
The
staff report accompanying the new application states
that the “configuration
of the proposed development is generally consistent
with the residential zones described in the Semiahmoo
Resort Master Plan,” though it does
raise some concern over the scale of the larger
buildings which might not be “scaled to achieve
a beach house image,” as the master plan
describes.
“One
interpretation is that the master plan was illustrative
but general,” said
city contract planner Rollin Harper. “The
other end being that this spit diagram shows
a blueprint. There’s quite a bit of room
for disagreement on that issue. Part of the dilemma
is it gives us these pictures, these numbers,
but doesn’t tell us if it’s
meant to be prescriptive.”
Robinson’s
objection is that the current proposal mixes
development plans for what the master plan
considers three of the four different residential areas
proposed for build-out on the spit. “What
we’re starting
to look at is the development of the spit in
its totality,” he
said. “Is what we should be looking at
the entire buildout?”
In
their submissions to the city Trillium Corporation, the
project proponent and owner of most of the undeveloped
land on the spit, submitted a conceptual plan for the
entire area with a final count of 375 residential units.
The 1984 master plan projected from 260 to 375 residential
units. Today there are 33 units at the Beachwalker condominiums,
54 more will be added with the approved Meritage project
next to the hotel and Seagrass would add 68 more. The
conceptual design calls for an additional 220 residential
units at higher density in what is now marina parking
and marine services areas, and 60,000 square-feet of
additional commercial space. Parking needs would be met
primarily with two underground lots totaling over 400
new parking spaces.
“We’re
all concerned with the cumulative impacts at the end
of the spit. You hear it from the audience, you hear
it from staff – we need to look at the big
picture and that will help to clarify the
proportional relationships,” said Blaine community development
director Terry Galvin. Of the 16 members
of the public who wrote to express concern over the project, four asked
for an update to the existing master plan
reflecting buildout and current conditions prior to approval of Seagrass
and several others wanted a new environmental
impact statement. Half of the letters submitted indicated concern for environmental
protection of the Spit’s delicate
ecology, while four asked that scrutiny
be given to proposed parking and stormwater
facilities.
Blaine
planning commissioner Ken Oplinger said beyond the issue
of conceptual consistency with the 1984 plan he wanted
to make sure issues like total impervious
surfaces for the area were addressed,
as well as an overall strategy for managing
stormwater. “As buildout occurs
you could have stormwater leaking from
one site into another,” he
said. “It’s almost better
to do the whole spit.”
Galvin
said the existing master plan called for benchmark
reviews to the document. “At
50 percent you take a look at environmental,
social, transportation impacts and
you make adjustments” he said. “This
development is right on the edge of
triggering a new look at all of that.
The alternative would be incremental
development and hodge-podge solutions.”
Despite
concerns over how the current proposal
would fit in with the development
of the whole spit, city planning staff
are recommending the planning commission
recommend approval to city council, if
the applicant can meet 24 conditions
of approval as well as the 21 conditions
attached to a mitigated determination
of nonsignificance issued following a
review under the State Environmental
Policy Act. Conditions include analyses
of impervious surfaces in relation to
the proposed buildout, establishment
of a homeowners association to manage
and fund a stormwater facility, protection
for migratory birds and public access
to the water.
At
the recent work session planning commissioners could
only comfortably sign off on seven of the conditions
and will plan future work sessions to refine their recommendation. “We
can always revisit any of these issues,” said
commission chairman Jeff Arntzen. “No
one should feel hemmed in.” |
