| Birch Bay, WA and its Steering Committee |
| A Healthy Birch Bay Begins With You |
|
BIRCH BAY is... and will be... what we make of it TOGETHER.
|
|
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead
|
|
Birch Bay is #1 in Washington State with
26,000 clammers in the summer of 2009.
According to the WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife
|
|
40th Annual Birch Bay Marathon 2-18-08 pictures
|
|
Birch Bay is an unincorporated UGA (urban growth area) in the northwest corner of Whatcom County, WA. It consists of approximately 8,699 acres located 6 miles south of the City of Blaine and the Canadian border on the Georgia Strait. The U.S. Census showed Birch Bay with 2,656 persons in 1990 and in the year 2000 with 4,961 persons, an increase of 87%. Birch Bay in 2007 was estimated to have approximately 5,900 persons (Berk & Assoc.). The Birch Bay Subarea Plan calls for a year 2022 population of 9,619 persons.
Birch Bay has been a resort destination for over 100 years with 51% of the housing stock in year 2000 being seasonally occupied according to the U. S. Census. The summer population is estimated to triple to quadruple (3 to 4 times) in size according to the Birch Bay Water & Sewer District. Also in year 2000, a mailing to property owners showed that approximately 33% of property owners were Canadian. The growth today is probably more in permanent residents but vacation properties are also growing, including the addition of time-shares and hotel properties. Forecasting is further complicated by the fact that vacations homes can be turned into permanent residences without any changes being apparent. The mailing address for Birch Bay is Blaine, WA 98230.
Whatcom County in 1997 made Birch Bay an urban growth area where growth is allowed and urbanization is encouraged. The community has seen this growth and has decided, as community, that this growth must occur responsibly with considered deliberation and that the quality of life that has drawn people here in the first place must, at least, be maintained, if not improved.
|
We the People of Birch Bay hereby set forth a vision statement and pledge our commitment to achieve a common vision for the future of the Birch Bay Community. We the people of Birch Bay have identified a set of central values which we as a Community hold in common:
• We believe that the essence of a prosperous and vibrant Community is found not in its structures but in the collective spirit of those who live and work within the Community. We hold that the built aspects of a community - its transportation network, utility system, buildings and other facilities - should not be considered ends in themselves, but as means for enhancing the quality of life and enriching the human spirit.
• We respect the picturesque setting of Birch Bay and believe that any development along its shores must achieve harmony between this natural and man-made environment.
• We believe that certain controls on the choices of individual action are appropriate to ensure that the community’s best interests are realized.
• We believe that human activities should be considered as one component of a complex system of relationships among living things and their environment and that we have a responsibility to ourselves and to future generations to seek a mutually supportive balance within this system.
From the Birch Bay Community Plan as adopted in 2004.
|
|
Building a Better Birch Bay, 2006 article about the Birch Bay Steering Committee
| 
Build a Better BB |
|
| Birch Bay Community Plan Implementation Update as of 10-09 |
The 7 Action Strategies are found on page 16-36 of the Plan and here is what has occurred to date to implement those strategies.
- The City of Blaine was approached to discuss annexation of the Birch Bay UGA into the City and Blaine officials rejected the idea.
- The Birch Bay Incorporation Feasibility Study, financed by Whatcom County with active participation by the Birch Bay community, was completed in March 2008.
- So far there has not been sufficient public interest and support for Birch Bay incorporation for County to be asked for assistance to develop and circulate a petition to initiate an incorporation election in Birch Bay.
- Whatcom County in early 2009 adopted traffic impact fees from new development to fund a pro-rata share of the transportation and improvements identified in the County Capital Facilities Plan and amended the Community Plan Chapter 11 – Transportation and the transportation portion of Chapter 2 – Summary. The development and adoption of Park Impact Fees might be useful, either through Whatcom County or the Northwest Parks & Recreation District #2 or some combination thereof. It must be noted that Impact Fees/Mitigation Fees alone are not the magic bullets to solving the cost to provide additional services imposed by growth and development.
- About 2007 or ‘08, Whatcom County adopted School Impact Fees in which the Blaine School District has, so far, declined to participate.
- The Parks, Recreation and Open Space subcommittee of the Birch Bay Steering Committee worked to reinstate the operation of the Northwest Parks and Recreation District #2 which has successfully gone out to the Blaine and Birch Bay communities for a levy and is offering a vigorous list of recreation opportunities. Whatcom County Parks, Northwest Parks and the Birch Bay community are working on a master plan for a community park at County’s Bay Horizon Park (the former Blaine Air Force Station) in Birch Bay.
- Working with Whatcom County, the Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resource Management District (to address storm water management, flood control and water quality issues) and the Birch Bay Shellfish Protection District were formed in 2008 and 2009 respectively. These particular developments are THE most important because the healthy state of the Bay itself is the one thing upon which everyone can agree and upon which everyone shares genuine concern.
The Birch Bay Community Plan has and continues to serve the community well.
|
| The Steering Committee and the Implementation Subcommittees |
The Birch Bay Steering Committee is Birch Bay’s version of the town hall meeting where we come together as community to discuss concerns, questions and opportunities in an effort to take charge of our own future.
The Steering committee:
Is not empowered by any official authority,
does not answer to any constituency, and
does not have any mechanism to enforce its recommendations.
The Steering Committee:
Is only as representative as those who choose to participate.
Is a direct communication from the people but does not claim to represent all the people in the community.
Is a group of the community which works towards education and consensus or, at least, tries to define issues/differences/opportunities.
The job of the chair of the Steering Committee is to facilitate civil, respectful discussion, provide organization and a means of communication and to encourage responsibility and resourcefulness. The chair does not speak for the whole community or for the Steering Committee except when expressly directed to do so by the Committee.
The Steering Committee coordinates the work of the implementation subcommittees. The formal organization of voting representatives exists for those occasions when the community needs to speak as one with a service provider or on a specific issue. The Steering Committee usually meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month when there is a need or desire to do so. The Chair is Kathy Berg, Vice Chair is Doralee Booth. See also the History page.
|
Implementation subcommittees of the Birch Bay Steering Committee are implementing the Birch Bay Community Plan, the subarea plan of the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan as originally adopted September 28, 2004 and may have been amended since. ALL meetings are open to the public and your participation is encouraged if you are a resident and/or property owner in the Birch Bay area.
Implementation Subcommittees and those working for the betterment of the Birch Bay include:
Incorporation – has studied the feasibility of incorporation as suggested in the Community Plan.
Birch Bay Shoreline Enhancement - working with the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce to restore shoreline natural habitat and processes, modernize infrastructure and build a berm with promenade on top from Terrell Creek north to Roger's Slough (aka Seagull Cove or Stinky Cove).
Design Guidelines - Has developed, with the community and the aid of a consultant, design standards for the resort, neighborhood and general commercial zones of the Birch Bay UGA, beginning to answer the question, "What do we want Birch Bay to look and feel like?"
Land use/Economic Development/Infrastructure –
Transportation/Public Safety – Co-chaired by Doralee Booth and Claudia Hollod.
Parks, Recreation & Open Space – Actively worked towards the reactivation of the Northwest Parks and Recreation District.
BBWARM (Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resource Management District) and the Birch Bay Shellfish Protection District - The combined citizen advisory committees meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
Marine Resources/Water Quality Specialist is Gerald (Jerry) Larson - Birch Bays' representative to the Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee and an appointee to the Puget Sound Crab & Shrimp review panel of the WA State Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (DFW).
Birch Bay School – working with the Blaine School District to establish a school in the Birch Bay UGA. Co-chairs are Doralee & Bill Booth.
Emergency Preparedness Task Force - Chair is Ruth Higgins, Vice Chair is Richard Williams.
Chums of Terrell Creek (N-SEA) - salmon habitat restoration. Chair is Elie Friedlob. Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association website http://www.n-sea.org/
|
|
