Woodberry project moves forward after city council approval

It was standing room only on the night of the vote, one of many such nights at Blaine City Hall for city council and planning commission sessions on the topic. Dozens of emails had flooded city inboxes leading up to the meeting; many Semiahmoo residents voiced their concerns more than once during various public hearings.

Despite wide community opposition, the Woodberry Planned Unit Development (PUD) and Preliminary Plat was approved 5-1 by Blaine City Council at the April 8 regular meeting. Applicants Rolf and Linda Haugen must submit a final master plan within 180 days of city council approval in accordance with the conditions of project approval.

The Woodberry PUD and Preliminary Plat will sit on 9.7 acres in the Semiahmoo uplands west of Semiahmoo Parkway and just south of the North Whatcom fire station. It will be a gated neighborhood with 29 single-family lots accessed by private roadways with a density of 2.9 dwelling units per acre.

The process was textbook, continuing steadily through each step. The project application was submitted to the city on March 28, 2018 and passed environmental review before coming before the planning commission in early January. After consideration of the facts, the planning commission recommended approval to city council on February 28.

The community opposition that emerged was perhaps more than the city expected. Approximately 70 people packed into the council chambers for numerous planning commission and city council meetings. Alec Berkman, treasurer of the Semiahmoo Resort Association Board of Trustees, acted as chairman of a committee to oppose Woodberry, even going so far as to meet with Rolf Haugen to negotiate.

The required 14-day comment period was eventually extended to 63 days.

Blaine community planner Alex Wenger said he couldn’t explain why this project in particular garnered so much public attention.

Perhaps city councilmember Alicia Rule, the one dissenting vote, summed up the community’s concern best when she said before the vote, “Semiahmoo is a gem. Semiahmoo is irreplaceable … Although we do need to move forward and progress, and housing is necessary, I don’t know that this project fits consistently with our comprehensive plan.”

Though the planning commission included a few community suggestions in their conditions of project approval, many believe the city missed the larger point.

“It all started with Sea Smoke [a Semiahmoo development under construction]. To me, it’s gone from bad to worse,” said Sue Hammack, treasurer of the Turnberry Wood Homeowners Association. “The resort is the pinnacle of Blaine, and we’re just ripping it up! I don’t know what the city is doing to their crown jewel.”

The community’s primary concerns, communicated in letters and public testimony, included the impact on the aesthetics of Semiahmoo and environmental damage due to clear-cutting. These concerns have been alleviated, to some extent, in the conditions of approval.

“The city staff, planning commission and city council did take extra effort to make sure the community felt heard,” Wenger said.

The initial Woodberry application included plans to allow perimeter fencing that would be visible from Semiahmoo Parkway, and to clear-cut the land and mitigate loss of habitat with shrubbery.

In its recommendation to city council, the planning commission wrote that no perimeter fencing should be permitted. Per city code the buffer is to be 20 feet of open space tract with native vegetation kept intact.

The submission also recommended clearing the land in phases, rather than all at once. The initial phase will only include clearing necessary areas to create infrastructure such as roads and utilities. Trees will remain on lots until individual development.

The aesthetic of future Woodberry structures is up to the applicants partly due to the 2016 ordinance 15-2872 which removed the area from the Resort Semiahmoo Master Plan (RSMP) and by proxy the Semiahmoo Resort Association (SRA). However, not all areas in the RSMP must align with the architectural guidelines of the SRA, Wenger clarified, though most do. The SRA is bound by covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), not geography.

Though the Woodberry project is moving forward, the SRA is preparing for the next round.

“[The fight] started when we opened our eyes and saw what happened at Sea Smoke and what we saw coming about with Woodberry, and now we’re saying ‘that’s enough,’” said Semiahmoo resident Rick Beauregard.

The SRA feels that the Sea Smoke and Woodberry developments are indicative of what’s to come, piecemeal developments of small parcels that detract from the beauty and unique quality of Semiahmoo Parkway.

A new SRA city liaison committee will monitor city happenings closely, SRA president Greg Wendt said. If a new development application is submitted for Semiahmoo, the committee plans to be proactive in protecting the values of the SRA. In addition, the association has another goal: to urge city leaders and citizens to recognize Semiahmoo as a valued part of Blaine.

“What really bothers me is the ‘across the tracks’ ‘us and them’ kind of feeling there is in this town,” Beauregard said. “We need to do a better job at being Blaine.”

The community development services department is happy to answer any questions the public may have about Woodberry or any property land use, Wenger said.