The city wants to enter into a partnership with a developer to bring a larger library, multifamily housing and childcare to downtown Blaine.
Wednesday, July 8, is the submission deadline for the city’s request for proposals for city-owned property along 3rd Street.
Here’s a look at what officials desire, drawing on city of Blaine documents, information from the Blaine Public Library and an interview with Mike Harmon, Blaine’s city manager.
How much a redevelopment project could cost isn’t known yet. The City Council may consider a selected proposal on Aug. 10, according to a tentative timeline.
Why is this project being proposed?
It’s part of the city’s plans to revitalize the downtown, create housing and bring investment into its core, according to Harmon.
“It checks a number of boxes that are important to our community,” Harmon said.
What are those boxes?
A larger library, missing housing elements, childcare services, bringing more people to the downtown to help businesses that are struggling because of a sharp drop in Canadian visitors and shoppers.
Noting the attendant impact on Blaine sales taxes with fewer Canadians, Harmon said the city needed to be less reliant on visitors and “more self-reliant” by getting people to live and work in the downtown core and to shop locally.
What does the city want?
Key desires include:
A new library building of about 8,000 square feet.
Library supporters said the current 5,400-square-foot space at 610 3rd St., which opened more than 30 years ago in a converted Blaine Public Works garage, can’t meet needs that include technology expansion, meeting space and community programs.
Harmon said the aging library hasn’t kept up with population growth in Blaine.
The city owns the library land and building, while the Whatcom County Library System provides the services.
More than 30 multifamily residential units that include a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom spaces. Whether those units will be affordable or market rate will depend on proposals submitted to Blaine, Harmon said, adding that the city left the request for proposal wide open to see what sort of creativity officials could get out of the private sector.
“It’s really a great location for multifamily housing,” Harmon said. “We know that density is better for the environment, it’s better for the public in terms of getting the value out of it.”
Set aside or build space for a childcare facility. Harmon said he often hears from people moving to Blaine and business owners that childcare is needed here.
Other city wishes for the development include enhancing walkability downtown and economic activity as well as what the city calls “thoughtful parking solutions,” given that the city recently removed minimum parking and height requirements for the area. The City Council voted in March to remove those requirements for a year to help incentivize the growth of housing, according to previous reporting from The Northern Light.
What do you want readers to understand about this proposal?
“We are doing our very best to relieve the tax burden of a new library by working collaboratively with the private sector,” Harmon said, adding that the city also was looking at ways to best leverage its resources to bring foot traffic to the downtown core.
And unlike a previous proposal that didn’t pan out, the skate park won’t need to be moved, according to Harmon.
