Over 100 residents attend Semiahmoo Highlands community meeting, stormwater questions raised

Over 100 Blaine and Birch Bay residents packed into Semiahmoo Resort’s Blakely room or joined remotely to attend a community meeting on the proposed Semiahmoo Highlands, a 353-acre development expected to bring over 480 residential units and retail space. Tension between residents and the developer was felt throughout the meeting as people quickly brought up concerns over stormwater management and infrastructure issues.

Semiahmoo Highlands developer Wayne Schwandt, who was also in charge of the Sea Smoke neighborhood along Semiahmoo Parkway, led most of the two-hour meeting on March 30. Presenters planned to answer questions after giving an overview of the project, but were soon bombarded with interruptions and raised hands from concerned community members.

Schwandt said he acquired the Semiahmoo property from California-based Ocean View Farms, which left the property undeveloped after it was unable to successfully start a blueberry farm nearly a decade ago. 

The project will keep a cohesive design despite being divided between the city of Blaine and Whatcom County land almost evenly. Single-family lots, townhomes and multi-family buildings will be included in the project as well as commercial spaces, with development being denser within city limits. The project will have a 100-foot buffer of mature trees along Semiahmoo Parkway, developers said, in addition to community parks and trail systems through forested areas and wetlands.

The first phase won’t be built out for another six to eight years, Schwandt said. It will have 40 lots and a neighborhood service area on the north-end of the project, along Semiahmoo Parkway.

Denise Macris, who is developing Semiahmoo’s new luxury neighborhood Muirfield, is also in charge of leading future community meetings and research on what commercial space could be put in the neighborhood service area. Semiahmoo Highlands is zoned for schools but developers said that discussion was a long way away.

“Think of this project as being a long-term project that starts out now in response to the needs as the community grows and changes,” Schwandt said.

Stormwater management was the top concern among residents who attended the community meeting, especially voiced by Birch Bay Village residents who experienced significant flooding from runoff during the historic floods last November.

Craig Parkinson, the project’s civil engineer from Cascade Engineering Group, said the city requires the state department of ecology’s stormwater regulations to be followed. “We’ll be required to treat all pollution-generating surfaces and we’ll be required to detain stormwater to a forested condition as if the whole site was a natural forest,” he said.

The stormwater plan will be a cohesive plan approved by the city and county, Schwandt said.

“It makes no sense to parcel this out,” he said. “It’s one large project overall handled in these two different municipalities because that’s the way it is and that’s what we have to work with.”

A resident asked Schwandt if stormwater infrastructure that Birch Bay residents approved would be installed before the project broke ground on phase one. Frustration rippled through the audience when Schwandt appeared vague in response.

Community members also raised concerns on whether current transportation infrastructure would be able to accommodate nearly another 500 households, especially given traffic backups at the Bell Road and Peace Portal Drive intersection.

Gleneagle Villas resident Blair Smith said he was worried about public safety from the Bell Road intersection that can delay emergency vehicles. He also said concerns brought up during the Sea Smoke community meeting several years ago weren’t addressed and impact him today.

“You’re diminishing west Blaine’s quality of life and slowly and surely, bit by bit, destroying the natural beauty of Semiahmoo,” he said. “One day, those tourists who come to this resort are going to be looking as they drive down this place and say, ‘This kind of looks like what we’re trying to escape from. Maybe this place isn’t too special.’”

City manager Michael Jones said the city and county’s planning departments would be working together on the project, although there was no way to guarantee both jurisdictions would receive the same information. Also in attendance from the city were mayor Mary Lou Steward, community planner Stacy Clauson, and councilmembers Rhyan Lopez and Richard May.

The community meeting was the developer’s first step to start the development process in the city of Blaine. Schwandt said he expects to submit preliminary plan and PUD applications to the city by mid-May and will start the county process next month. Homes could start being built at the beginning of 2023, Schwandt said.