Birch Bay, Blaine creating vision for the future
Stakeholders focus on smart growth

The wharf in Blaine is a popular summer hangout for all ages.

By Kate N. Nichols

Spectacular beaches with terrific clam harvesting, walkways on the waterfront to view the sunset, two golf courses and great marinas – these amenities are enticing people to the Birch Bay/Blaine area in the northwest corner of Whatcom County. Residents here already are faced with the challenges of managing the growth the area is attracting.

Birch Bay and Blaine share a geographical area around Puget Sound; but the two areas are rich in their differences. Birch Bay started as a recreational area, whereas Blaine began as a working waterfront with a strong downtown. Blaine is an incorporated city with self-governance. Birch Bay is an unincorporated urban growth area (UGA) governed by Whatcom County.
“It is to their advantage to remain separate with their unique characteristics and individual set of priorities,” explains Blaine Community Development Director Terry Galvin. The two areas are compatible and enjoy a mutual trail system and celebrate some festivals together such as Wings Over the Water.

Birch Bay Faces Unique Challenges
Community activists Doralee Booth and Kathy Berg worked with Whatcom County staff to form the Birch Bay Steering Committee to give the residents a forum while working with county staff to develop a feasibility plan for the future of Birch Bay. After four years of working with the community, the county adopted the plan in September 2004. The committee continues to function as an “open town-hall meeting” for Birch Bay with Berg as chairwoman and Booth as secretary.
The steering committee divided into subcommittees to implement different actions recommended in the plan. One of those subcommittee deals with the issue of governance – What entity should govern Birch Bay? The report made three suggestions, it could stay under the county’s governance, Blaine could annex it (which probably won’t happen) or the residents could incorporate as a city.
There is the “potential to have a higher level of services” if Birch Bay incorporated, Berg surmised from the report. “But I haven’t seen the leadership step forward,” she said. “It will only happen if citizens are willing to work at it.” The first step is to gather 600 signatures, but no one is out collecting them.
Managing growth in Birch Bay is a real concern to protecting the water quality of the bay and getting services. Although the estimated permanent population is 5,900 people, the Birch Bay Subarea Plan calls for a year 2022 population of 9,619 persons. But with current growth it has been suggested that number may be reached around year 2010. In addition, it has a fluctuating population – an estimated 51 percent of the houses are second homes. As the permanent population continues to grow, incorporation becomes more feasible.

A Personal Response to Birch Bay
Susan Brush is a recent transplant to Birch Bay from Chico, Calif. As an artist she was attracted to the area’s scenery. But there aren’t many commercial businesses to offer her a day job in Birch Bay, and rather than be a starving artist, she became a hair stylist. She opened Birch Bay Hair Care and 101 Gallery last May. The walls of her hair salon double as a showcase for her artwork.
“Business is better than I had imagined it would be,” she said. “During the summer we will probably be open on Sundays because we have to acknowledge that this area is a tourist town.”
Even though she is a newcomer, Brush has taken the community to heart. She used her entrepreneurial skills to benefit the community when she couldn’t find a central gathering place like a grange or a community center to socialize. “I’m sure we’d come together in an emergency, but why wait?” Brush asked. She jumped right into a solution by organizing a Thursday night farmers market, which opened Aug. 30.
“A lot of people have come out of the woodwork to help, it is a win-win situation for them,” she said. Patrick and Patricia Alesse, proprietors of the candy store The “C” Shop offered her the property across from their store at the intersection of Alderson Road and Peace Portal Drive to run the market.
This year the market opened Thursday, May 22, despite the slow start to the growing season. This year’s market will expand by partnering with Ferndale’s Farmers Market. Ferndale’s vendors will bring additional products to Birch Bay and the Birch Bay vendors will sell at the Ferndale Market on Saturdays. “It is a good marriage. We will share publicity fliers advertising our different markets,” she said.
Brush is aware of the growth in the area and she is concerned about how it will grow. She believes that within five years when the baby boomers start retiring to Birch Bay, the area’s growth will really jump. But she hopes for balanced growth and that families with children who will still need parks and recreation come into to the area. “Kids will suffer if this becomes a retirement community,” Brush lamented.

Developers enthusiastic about area
Gary Nelson, a local developer, commented, “I see more children getting on school buses.” So, for now at least, it appears Brush’s worries can be laid to rest.
Nelson is part of the Rising Tide Marketing Group. He defines it as “a group of 11 or 12 developers who are marketing the Birch Bay/Blaine and Semiahmoo areas.” He is building 14 $1 million-plus town homes over the next two and a half years. He said he isn’t worried about selling them because home sales in the area “have leveled off,” and the market is “back to normal.”
Nelson said the group’s Web site is called “Undiscovered Waterfront” to raise awareness of this remarkable area’s potential. “The Internet site is getting a good response,” he added. At first they targeted the Canadian market as the strong Canadian dollar goes farther in the states. Now they’ve expanded and are putting ads all over Puget Sound and nationally in a successful bid to tempt people to buy homes in the area.
Pam Andrews of Bellingham-based developer Trillium Corp. has also been involved in marketing Trillium’s properties through the Web site.
Their marketing efforts are getting noticed, as the New York Times picked up the story in October 2007, profiling Birch Bay. It drew a lot of attention from all over the county, in effect, saying “Here we are in the other corner with lots of properties and lots of opportunities,” Andrews said.
“There’s a national trend you see … people are moving to the edge” – communities on both coasts, she added.
The media’s also been creating a buzz around another of the Rising Tide Group’s members, Fred Bovenkamp and his Horizon development at Semiahmoo. Bovenkamp has teamed with renowned Seattle architectural firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen to create nine contemporary home designs for this gated community that’s expected to be completed in 2009. The development will also include commercial-retail space, including an organic market, according to the Horizon Web site. The site also touts Horizon’s eco-conscious elements, such as sustainable building practices and landscaping using native species.

Beautifying Blaine
If you haven’t been to Blaine recently you are missing out on the renaissance of the small town as civic leaders and residents develop the city to take advantage of the spectacular scenery that surrounds it.
City Manager Gary Tomsic took a key role in beautifying downtown starting in 2000. Cyclone fences were removed and replaced with picket fences, broken sidewalks were repaired and old buildings were cleaned up. The entry to Blaine on Marine Drive was resurfaced and new lighting and banners were added. The trail system has been improved and they built a plaza with seating for performances on the bay.
“Blaine would like to maintain its quality of life and create a locally diverse economy that is homegrown, that can support the community that lives here,” Galvin said. “It is remarkable how beautiful it is here.” Blaine’s small size works to its advantage because they don’t have unwieldy administration. “I can help make a difference to create the vision,” Galvin cites as one reason his work is rewarding.

Keys to Blaine’s Vision
The three key areas that Galvin sees in the city’s vision for growth are strong neighborhoods, the waterfront and opening the industrial area. A long-range vision for downtown Blaine is to have a mix of public and private investment to create a mixed-use district.
“Blaine has wonderful historical neighborhoods with turn-of-the-century homes,” Galvin said. “The city is flat so it is easy to walk and bike to the city center and parks. We’re working on more parks, a boardwalk and pedestrian bridge to downtown.”
Blaine’s proximity to the border puts it in an unusual position to benefit from international trade. Blaine’s small recreational airport has been closed and the 35 acres zoned mixed-use. “The location of the airport almost served as a wall, now the area will be the gateway to services and industry,” Galvin said.
City staff has spent the last six months putting together regulatory guidelines to ensure that Blaine will benefit from the sale and development of the land. It will be sold to “an appropriate developer” who will complement the Blaine community’s vision for the property as a service area for international traffic.
The Port of Bellingham and the city of Blaine are working together to update the waterfront plan to provide overall design and land use. The promenade will be upgraded, the marina expanded, new benches and picnic tables will be added at the fishing pier, and improvements made to the wharf. Mariner Village is planned as a mixed-use area with waterfront views. Besides enhancing the quality of life for residents, the upgrades will appeal to visitors.

Development Challenges Bay’s Health
Blaine got its start from abundant fishing, but the area’s growth has led to a decline in the bay’s health. The city keeps its two marinas, stormwater and onsite sewage facilities in “good shape” confirmed Scott Berbells of the Washington State Department of Health (DOH).
But most of Drayton Harbor is still closed to shellfish harvesting, although the water quality has improved through citizen and government efforts, and several beds were reopened to harvesting in 2004. Those areas have conditional approval Berbells explained, “because there are predictable conditions that require it to be closed for six days – after it rains three-quarters of an inch or more.” Then DOH contacts the approved shellfish harvesters to notify them when the area is closed.
Although Birch Bay has good water quality it also faces the stresses of growth. “The community wants to grow well; uncontrolled growth is a threat to the bay,” Berg said. “The runoff from impervious surfaces goes straight into the bay without treatment. We want to catch it, treat it before it runs into the bay. Nobody wants to live on a sewage pond,” she said bluntly.
“There are lots of good effects to fixing the bay – lots of bang for the $6.6 million buck,” Berg said of the feasibility plan’s recommendations. In addition to protecting the shoreline it aids economic development. “This has been a resort area for more than 100 years,” Berg stated. “If we improve the area it will attract more tourists.”
The Birch Bay Steering Committee’s Shoreline Enhancement Subcommittee wants to see the shoreline restored and built out. “In the 1940s they put in groins of concrete along the beach that they thought would keep the shoreline from washing out,” Berg explained. “But now they know it doesn’t work so they need to be taken out as well as the cement pipes emptying untreated storm water into the bay.” The subcommittee recommends the shoreline be protected by a berm made of the proper materials with a pedestrian walkway on top for better access.
The committee asked the county staff for a way to protect the bay from stormwater. The response was to form the Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resource Management District to address shellfish protection and restoration of the shoreline. Next they will work out funding for the projects.
Recently Whatcom County was awarded a $431,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and the county will match it by 25 percent to implement a pilot program to minimize the impact of development in the watershed on the water quality of the bay. The program is based on a study the county did last year. It will be a comprehensive look at how to protect and restore the Birch Bay watershed. As testimony to the work of the Shoreline Enhancement Subcommittee is doing, their participation is an integral part of the grant.
This grant is an opportunity not only to guide the development in Birch Bay, but for the entire Puget Sound area. “We’re looking at novel ideas and innovation,” said Peter Gill, planner with the Whatcom County Planning & Development Services. The grant will enable the county and citizens to work with developers to give them “incentives for smart growth” such as low impact development, conservation easements and open spaces.

Not enough fire protection
The Board of the North Whatcom Fire & Rescue (NWFR), aka Whatcom County Fire District #21, commissioned a study to determine the capital and facility needs required to meet the development in the area. The study showed a projected 22 percent increase in population because of new development. Currently, the fire district does not have response capability to address those needs or the capacity to fund them. So it has challenged Whatcom County to address the needs of fire protection.
The report helped to quantify the needs of the fire district. This action will help the NWFR set a precedent in Whatcom County for the inclusion of fire protection and emergency response in growth management decisions.

What about the Olympic Games?
Blaine citizens are well aware of the upcoming 2010 Olympics Games across the border in Vancouver. The Canadians are busy constructing improved border facilities. The U.S. improvements to the border crossing were supposed to be finished before the Olympics. But it now appears the improvements will take place during the event and there may be detours through the city. At first Blaine businesses looked at the extra traffic as an inconvenience, but now they are looking at the possibilities.
The timing could be a real boost to Blaine’s economy as motorists move through the city. Signage will be installed to entice them to stop and take advantage of amenities such as restrooms, parks, the pier and beaches. The Blaine Chamber of Commerce is planning to market places to sleep and eat during the Olympic Games.

‘Good things are happening’
The area’s tremendous views, trail access to the water and other natural features are bringing more and more people into this area. “There always will be development. It is never a still life picture,” Galvin said.
But the area’s residents are working hard and “good things are happening, we’re beginning to get a handle on it.” Berg said enthusiastically. “As a community we’re learning a whole lot” about how to take care of this area.





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This rendering of the new Blaine Boardwalk, designed by Carletti Architects of Mount Vernon, shows what the finished product will look like. The two large plazas at either end of the boardwalk are finished, but the center remains to be completed.