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Blaine school merger paused, page 2
Port votes on expansion measure, page 3
Bains appointed to city council, page 6
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Blaine Downtown Revitalization Project starts East Blaine de-annexation to go before city voters By Grace McCarthy
(See De-annex, page 7)
s Crews closed Peace Portal Drive, from H to Boblett streets, to vehicle traffic on July 14 as they began construction on the Blaine Downtown Revitalization Project. A detour has been established on 3rd Street as construction is expected to continue through mid-September. The project’s first phase will include sidewalk replacement, tree removal, electrical work, installment of pedestrian rails and crosswalk repainting from H to Boblett streets. Photo by Grace McCarthy
Immigration officials release Portland children detained at Peace Arch Park The U.S.-born children’s parents are being held at the ICE facility in Tacoma B y T r o y B ry n e l s o n / O r e g o n Public Broadcasting After two weeks in custody, four Portland children have been released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, OPB has learned. Their parents are still being held. Kenia Jackeline “Jackie” Merlos and her U.S.-born children had been apprehended at Peace Arch State Park, near the U.S.-Canada Border on June 28 while visiting family. Merlos’ husband was detained a few days later. The couple’s children appeared to be heading for deportation when a family friend, Mimi Lettunich, said she was called to come pick up the kids from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The children had new passports and
were presumably preparing for a flight out of the U.S., she said. “The government – our government – got them passports on Friday,” said Lettunich, who is now taking care of the four children in Portland. “They don’t need passports to come back to Oregon.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Jason Givens told OPB that he couldn’t comment on the events at the airport, saying “privacy regulations typically preclude CBP from disclosing travel information regarding U.S. citizens.” Merlos’ case is the second documented instance of a family with children being held at a Washington border patrol station, which is not designed for long-term (See Detention, page 3)
INSIDE
City of Blaine residents will soon decide whether they would like to de-annex a chunk of east Blaine, which would likely lead to high-density housing near Semiahmoo. Blaine City Council unanimously voted 6-0 during its Blaine City Council meeting on July 14 to place a ballot measure in the November 4 election that will allow city voters to decide if they want to de-annex 573 acres of incorporated urban growth area (UGA) in east Blaine, 473 of which is the Grandis Pond property. “We’re trying to do the right thing and secure a housing supply for a very long time,” said Alex Wenger, director of the city’s Community Development Services Department, before the meeting. “We’re charting new territory with the de-annexation and UGA swap. It would be a heck of a lot easier to stick to the status quo.” Grandis Pond was once slated to be one of the largest housing developments in the county, bringing over 1,100 residential units. However, east Blaine residents Kevin Keck and Rebeka Ruiz-Lembo purchased the property in December 2023 and don’t have plans to develop it as densely. Keck has publicly said he supports the de-annexation. Without dense housing planned in Grandis Pond, where the city has been planning future growth, city planners crafted a new plan. City staff brought a new idea to council last fall that would de-annex the east Blaine property, which was initially annexed into the city in 1996. De-annexing the property would require a 60 percent supermajority vote. Wenger said the city could be the first in the state to de-annex this amount of land, which would shrink the size of the city. If the ballot measure passes, city staff would then like to swap the land lost in the de-annexation with 453 acres of unincorporated UGA near Semiahmoo and 539 acres of connected UGA reserve in
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