Blaine and Birch Bay residents attended a Whatcom County Planning Commission work session on December 12, as the county and city representatives move toward updating the comprehensive plan.
Multiple speakers from Blaine and Birch Bay, city representatives, developers and residents, asked the county planning commission to look carefully at the projections it makes for population, employment, development and utility use in Blaine and the Birch Bay Urban Growth Area (UGA).
One factor that has created concern regarding the county planning process is that the county has yet to finalize its population and employment projections, which directly impact how a city or UGA is allowed to develop. Without finalized projections, city governments are unable to move forward with submitting their own projections.
In the words of former county planning director David Stalheim, the commission is in a sticky situation.
“I think the planners are in this Catch-22 about this because you do need numbers to start doing things,” Stalheim said during the work session. “The numbers help you start the planning but you need the numbers to start doing your planning.”
The planning commission was basing its population projections on data from the Washington State Office of Financial Management, which estimates Whatcom County’s population to increase to over 240,000 residents by 2025, and over 300,000 by 2050.
How the county plans for that influx of residents, the jobs and housing they need to live is the question yet to be finalized by the commission.
City of Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger told the commission that having finalized recommendations on population and employment figures from the county greatly helps Blaine prioritize what it needs for infrastructure improvements.
“We’re working on our comprehensive plans too, of course, working on our utility service plan updates and all that takes a lot of time and we need those numbers to move forward with our plan,” Wenger said. “On behalf of the city of Blaine and other small cities, we’re looking forward to the recommendation.”
While many residents came to discuss the possibility of changes to the Birch Bay UGA, the commission did not plan on making any final decisions during the work session.
Any ruling on the expansion or contraction of the Birch Bay UGA will be made at a future date. Many people who spoke during public comment advocated for keeping the Birch Bay UGA borders as they have been historically, with a northern border on Lincoln Road.
“Although UGA proposals are not before you, the numbers may have implications for UGA sizing,” senior planner Mark Aamot said.
Under the state Growth Management Act, the county must finalize its comprehensive plan update by December 31, 2025.
