Blaine City Council roundup: Mayor appointed, restaurant usage approved

News from the January 8 Blaine City Council meeting …

Mayor, deputy mayor appointment

Blaine City Council unanimously appointed Mary Lou Steward to a second term as mayor. Steward was sworn into council in 2015.

Council also appointed Rhyan Lopez, who has served as a councilmember since last January, as deputy mayor. Lopez’s appointment was a 4-2 vote, with councilmember Sonia Hurt abstaining and Kerena Higgins and Richard May in opposition.

Public Works and Parks Advisory Board

City council unanimously approved dissolving the Public Works Advisory Committee and Parks and Cemetery Board, and merging the two to become the Public Works and Parks Advisory Board.

City staff determined merging the two groups would save time and money for the Blaine Public Works Department, which oversees them. The new board has seven members, consistent with Blaine City Council and Blaine Planning Commission. Members of the parks board and public works committee will be appointed to the new board and finish out their terms. The city is interviewing for two vacant positions on the new board.

Restaurant zoning

Council unanimously approved allowing restaurants in the residential office zoning district, running a few blocks east of Peace Portal Drive from the south of the central business district to Albert Street.

Hurt, who represents the Salishan neighborhood adjacent to the zoning district, said a lot of Salishan residents are in favor of the zoning change.

Lizzie’s Café and Ocean Bay Chinese Restaurant, which both closed in spring 2020, had grandfathered rights that allowed them to operate before zoning laws changed in the ’90s. Mandeep Sran and Shamsher Sran applied for the zoning text amendment in August so they could open a restaurant in the former Lizzie’s Café, at 1700 Peace Portal Drive.