December 15 - 21, 2022
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County budget expands in health and law, page 2
Quiet year for northern giant hornets, page 5
School board deadline extended, page 5
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Council selects Michael Harmon as Blaine’s next city manager By Grace McCarthy
(See Harmon, page 2)
s About 30 people attended Blaine’s planning commission December 8 public hearing on whether to allow large manufactured home parks in east Blaine. The planning commission tabled the vote, which if approved, will go before Blaine City Council. Photo by Grace McCarthy
Planning commission tables vote on east Blaine manufactured home code amendment By Grace McCarthy About 30 people packed Blaine’s planning commission public hearing December 8 on a proposed zoning text amendment that would allow large manufactured home parks in east Blaine. After two hours of discussion and debate, the commission tabled the vote for a future meeting. City zoning code inconsistencies currently don’t allow manufactured homes in residential planned unit developments (PUDs) within the city’s planned residential zone, which runs east of 15th Street to city limits and from the U.S./Canada border to H Street Road. However, manufactured home parks less than five acres, meaning they are not part of a PUD, are allowed in east Blaine. Background While the public hearing was on changing the zoning code inconsistencies, most of the public’s concerns surrounded potential manufactured home development in East Harbor Hills. Developers Skip and Katie Jansen, of JIJ Corporation, asked the city to address the zoning code inconsistencies at the beginning of the year. If the code is changed, the city would still need to consider approval for manufactured homes in East Harbor Hills or any other residential PUD, Stacie Pratschner,
the city’s community development services (CDS) director, previously told The Northern Light. “Really what’s at issue here is a discrepancy in the code,” said Craig Parkinson, principal engineer of Cascade Engineering Group, who is the developers’ client and also working on other Blaine projects such as Semiahmoo Highlands. “The [planned residential] zoning has a requirement in it that states projects over five acres must do a PUD. So if you have a site that’s less than five acres, you may do a manufactured home park on it today.” The inconsistencies were made inadvertently through various code changes and adoptions since a 2001 ordinance on manufactured homes, Parkinson said. In 2001, city council adopted an ordinance to allow manufactured homes, parks and subdivisions in east Blaine. Manufactured home standards were changed in 2005 to adhere to state law. In 2009, city council revised the code for PUDs to exclude manufactured homes, and staff was unable to determine why that change was made, according to the staff report for the December 8 hearing. Parkinson said the developers would like to create single-family, multi-family and manufactured homes within the development because those will generate
more income in the current housing market. City code doesn’t allow single-wide or park-model homes in a manufactured home park. The park must have at least 20 feet of a vegetation buffer and a city-approved landscaping plan, among other requirements, Parkinson said. “They look almost indistinguishable from stick-built homes,” Parkinson said. “They’ve got landscaping. They’ve got streets that meet requirement standards. They have open space amenities.” (See Hearing, page 3)
INSIDE
Blaine City Council unanimously approved Michael Harmon’s employment contract as city manager during the December 12 council meeting. Harmon is the chief operating officer of an electric utility provider in Wyoming and former city administrator of Spearfish, South Dakota. “My family and I are looking forward to returning to the Pacific Northwest and making Blaine our home,” Harmon said in an email to The Northern Light. “Blaine is a special community with great potential and I am eager to work with the council, city staff and the community to unlock some of the potential while maintaining Blaine’s unique and special charm.” Council interviewed four final candidates last week and subsequently evaluated them in a December 1 executive session. Harmon is expected to start the job on January 16, 2023. Harmon has worked as chief operating officer of High Plains Power in Riverton, Wyoming since July 2021, according to his resume. He said after being recruited to the positon he realized he preferred the public sector because of its impact on local communities and varied work. Harmon worked as city administrator of Spearfish, South Dakota, population 12,300, from 2017 to 2021. As Spearfish city administrator, Harmon led 125 fulltime staff members, oversaw a $42 million operational budget and improved water infrastructure. He supervised the development of a 300-home affordable housing project, 40-acre sports complex and an $8 million streetscape renovation. Before Spearfish, Harmon was the city administrator of Fairfield, Iowa, a city of 9,600 people, for two years. Harmon also worked as a police officer in Pierre, South Dakota and for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A Fairfield native, Harmon earned his bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Northern Iowa and earned his master of public administration from the University of South Dakota. “Having 11 years of leadership experience – eight as a city administrator – as well as law enforcement experience and electric utility experience, I am uniquely qualified to be Blaine’s next city manager,” Harmon wrote in his cover letter to the city. The city of Blaine had a budget of $65 million and about 70 full-time employees to run the city of about 6,000 people in 2022. Harmon, a father of two, said he was looking to relocate his family long term to the Pacific Northwest where his father’s side of the family originates. He was also a finalist for city manager positions in Topeka, Kansas and Astoria, Oregon late this sum-
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