May 14 - 20, 2026 IN THIS
ISSUE
RCMP rescues woman in Semiahmoo Bay, page 2
Blaine City Council approves manufactured home park
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
Candidates file for August primary, page 5
Girls golf heads to state, page 6
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
National Safe Boating Week celebrated in Blaine
By Kari Mar
The Blaine City Council unanimously approved a 150-unit manufactured home park Monday night, backing city staff recommendations that expanded several development exceptions beyond what the city’s hearing examiner endorsed. The project, known as Creekside at The Ridge, will be built on about 49 acres east of Harvey Road and north of H Street Road near the Harbor Hills neighborhood. Plans include manufactured homes, private roads, stormwater facilities, trails, recreational amenities and a community clubhouse. The council approved the project through a planned unit development, or PUD, ordinance after staff recommended a series of modifications to the hearing examiner’s earlier conditional approval.
HEARING EXAMINER DENIES 8 WAIVER REQUESTS The vote highlighted a sharp divide between the city’s professional staff and Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts, who had warned in his April 20 (See City Council, page 3)
Birch Bay Waterslides on the market for $6 million By Grace Mccarthy
Birch Bay Waterslides was listed for sale shortly after the water park announced it would not open this summer. On Monday, John L. Scott Bellingham Real Estate put the 43-year-old water park and the surrounding land on the market for $6 million. The water park makes up one-third of the 14.5-acre property at 4874 Birch Bay-Lynden Road, with vacant land covering the other two-thirds, according to the listing. The unincorporated Whatcom County land is zoned general commercial, which allows for multi-family, mixeduse residential and a variety of commercial options. In early May, the water park posted a notice on its website and updated social media to inform customers it would be closed for (See Waterslides, page 11)
Blaine City Council passed a resolution recognizing National Safe Boating Week, which runs May 16-22, during its Monday meeting. The National Safe Boating Council’s campaign reminds boaters of precautions they should take, such as wearing life jackets and checking equipment, before getting on the water for Memorial Day weekend. For more information on boating safety, visit safeboatingcampaign.com.
Photo by Grace McCarthy
Cost of living crisis impacting families, service providers By NolaN BaKer The ongoing cost of living crisis has not spared Whatcom County residents, and local service providers say they are seeing the effects. Food banks face donation shortages and struggle to truck in food rescued from grocery stores due to spiking diesel prices. At the Blaine School District (BSD), homelessness rates have gone up since COVID, reflecting a harsh economic climate for working families.
The Northern Light spoke with service providers from multiple agencies around Blaine and Whatcom County to see how helping working families and those facing homelessness has changed due to the current economic climate.
‘WHAT BILL CAN I GO WITHOUT?’ At the BSD Family Service Center, Director Julie Butschli has been connecting low-income and unhoused families with federal aid, grants and countless other methods of assistance — from Christ-
mas presents to school supplies to housing referrals — since 2020. Even compared to the zenith of the pandemic, she said, families are struggling more today. Emergency gas vouchers are an example of how the center is currently scrambling to meet the needs of local families. By law, the school district cannot give out standard gas cards, and has had to partner with one local gas station for emergency funds in case, (See Cost of living, page 11)
Blaine man sentenced for child rape, assaults By Grace Mccarthy
A 24-year-old Blaine man was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison in Whatcom County Superior Court on May 6 after pleading guilty to child rape and two domestic violence assaults. His eligibility for release will be reviewed at the end of his sentence, with the possibility of up to life in prison. The sentencing comes after Fredy Eduardo Martin Esteban, 24, of Blaine, pled guilty in superior court to second-degree child rape and two counts
of domestic violence assaults in the second- and fourth-degrees on March 17. A plea deal had been struck that dropped the rape charge from first degree to second, and dismissed five assault charges and a malicious mischief charge. Martin Esteban, then 20, was arrested on Nov. 11, 2022, the same day that Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, where a young (See Man sentenced, page 5)
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