HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works February 27 2007WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Public Works and Safety Committee
February 27, 2007
Committee Member L. Ward Nelson called the meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. in the
Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
Present: Absent:
Barbara Brenner None
Laurie Caskey- Schreiber
Also Present:
Seth Fleetwood
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL — COMP PLAN
1. RESOLUTION INITIATING THE 2007 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND ZONING
AMENDMENTS (AB2007 -090)
Docket #2007 -D: Birch Bay Subarea Plan
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Nelson moved to recommend to the full Council docketing all three items.
Kathy Berg, Birch Bay, stated many things need to be dealt with. The subarea plan
item is a place holder for a number issues. Docket the Birch Bay Subarea Plan, which gives
the community time to receive the analysis on several issues. Also docket the concurrency
management item, for the same reason.
John Everett, Planning and Development Services Department, stated all of these
three items are intertwined. Staff could consolidate the three items.
Caskey - Schreiber asked if the Birch Bay Stormwater Master Plan needs to be folded
into the Birch Bay Subarea Plan through this process. Everett stated they could broaden
the scope of the Birch Bay Subarea Plan to include it, if it isn't already. He's not familiar
with that item.
Brenner stated she agrees with the motion.
Tom Fields, North Whatcom Fire and Rescue District 21 Chief, stated they've asked
for an amendment to the Subarea Plan and Comprehensive Plan to delete the reference to
the golden standard, which is a four to six minute response time. He never found where
that standard came from. It didn't come from his district. His district has never averaged a
four to six minute response time. The average is more in the ten to 12 minute response
time. The district is working to improve its response time. However, the response time is
going in the opposite direction, given all the growth in the district. The District just signed a
contract for a capital facilities planning consultant. The planning consultant will start next
week, and should have some preliminary information in four to six weeks.
Public Works and Safety Committee, 2/27/2007, Page 1
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2 The Birch Bay Subarea Plan and Comprehensive Plan don't include the 2005 change
3 to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program. A new sales tax funds Medic One. A
4 part of that agreement is that the big users, including North Whatcom, would pick up basic
5 life support (BLS) transports. That is a key component of the program. The impact to the
6 District's ability to . meet the response time standard is dramatic. When doing a BLS
7 transport, the out -of- service time for the unit is about two hours. That has a huge impact
8 on their ability to serve the additional development that is occurring.
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10 The District has hired 21 firefighters and will staff three stations. It will improve the
11 response time and ability to serve the population increase. However, they still struggle with
12 the impact of development and their ability to replace apparatus, equipment, and facilities,
13 based on the fact that the majority of their revenue is now going to staffing.
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15 Brenner asked if the lawsuit is still going. Fields stated it is. It doesn't deal with the
16 District's capital facilities planning, per se. The lawsuit deals with the Planning Department
17 and the will serve letter. It hasn't been corrected. There has been a huge shift in the
18 County from the past. Although the District signed a will serve letter for Shintaffer Farms,
19 in the Blaine urban growth area (UGA), the County staff indicated that the will serve letter
20 doesn't mean there is concurrency.
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22 Brenner stated that concurrency is more than will serve, according to the County.
23 The County must consider other components, such as traffic. Since they're all working well
24 together, they should work on issues rather than get tied up in court. Fields stated the
25 Board of Commissioners agree. However, they still have to serve them. If the County
26 Planning Department is going to allow 1,500 or 2,000 homes to be developed, without
27 considering the District's ability to serve the homes at a proper level, the Fire District
28 doesn't have any other recourse. The Board is not obstructionist. It doesn't want to stop
29 growth. It is concerned about the fact that there may not be concurrency if the District
30 says it will serve. The question is where the liability and risk are.
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32 Brenner stated it seems that the District will be clear about whether or not it can
33 serve new development. They are tied up because of that one development. That same
34 issue won't come up again. Fields stated it will continue to come up until the Birch Bay
35 Subarea Plan is revised. It was referenced in Hearing Examiner Bobbink's decision.
36 Because it is identified in the plan, it exists. The Board shifted its position on the Shintaffer
37 development two weeks ago, because it is outside the Birch Bay UGA. It passed a
38 resolution that will allow the District to sign will serve letters, not concurrency letters.
39 There will be two letters. The will serve letter indicates that they will serve the
40 development since it collects taxes. The District will serve to the level defined in the
41 concurrency letter.
42
43 Berg stated she doesn't know what the Fire District wants to change in the Subarea
44 Plan. The Subarea Plan that the Steering Committee and a consultant worked on and the
45 Council adopted says that they want an urban level of service, which is a four to six minute
46 response time, in the Birch Bay UGA. They also asked for an urban level of service for the
47 roads. The Planning Commission threw that out. The community will not agree to a lesser
48 level of service. At that time, Fire District 13 told their consultant that their response time
49 was five minutes, which is well- within that urban level of service, and that the Birch Bay
50 station was manned 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Things have changed. Go
51 through this process and that conversation again.
52
Public Works and Safety Committee, 2/27/2007, Page 2
1 Caskey- Schreiber stated that what the community desires is something that this Fire
2 District has not been able to meet. The two need to come together and figure out what is
3 something that both parties can live with. That is hopefully a product that will come out of
4 this process.
5
6 Brenner asked if the Birch Bay - Lynden Road station is open. Fields stated the
7 District staffing plan calls for station 71, which is the Lynden station, to be staffed next.
8 Following that station, the Birch Bay station will be staffed. They will end up with the O'Dell
9 Street station, which serves Blaine and everyone east of the tracks. The Birch Bay station
10 will be staffed by May 15. The Birch Bay station is on the Birch Bay - Lynden Road. It will be
11 staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
12
13 Brenner asked the population compared to the area of the former Fire District 3.
14 Fields stated District 3 was 96 square miles and served a population of about 12,000. Fire
15 District 13 was 54 square miles with a population slightly larger.
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17 Brenner asked why they would open a Lynden station before a Birch Bay station, and
18 whether the Birch Bay station serves more people. Fields stated it is based on an
19 operational decision. Volunteer response is declining rapidly. The Lynden station serves
20 about 100 tails annually fewer than District 13. It was his decision to staff Lynden first.
21 Ten firefighters are training now. Another 11 will be hired the first of April. All the training
22 is going on at Birch Bay. Even though those firefighters aren't fully ready, the District can
23 use them because they were hired with at least minimum certifications. They have the
24 ground to train in Birch Bay, but not in Lynden. Lynden station will be the busiest station in
25 the District, effective June 1. The Birch Bay responses will be cut in half. There will be two
26 stations responding.
27
28 They are not fighting the Birch Bay Subarea Plan. They would like to provide a four -
29 minute response at an advanced life support (ALS) level to everyone. They can't do that.
30 The proposal is because the language was used by the Hearing Examiner, and the
31 Comprehensive Plan doesn't consider the change that the BLS transport puts on the District.
32 It's a huge impact.
33
34 Brenner asked if the response time will be cut in half in May when the Birch Bay -
35 Lynden Road station opens. Fields stated it won't cut the response time in half. If the BLS
36 transport is doing a transport, and they get a second call, the car will have to come from
37 Blaine or they will have to re- staff. The total number of calls to the West Battalion will be
38 cut in half. They will have two stations responding instead of one station. Station activity
39 will be cut in half on the west side. The east station in Lynden will be busier.
40
41 Motion carried unanimously.
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43 2. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE RECENTLY APPROVED REQUEST TO AWARD
44 BID #07 -03 TO THE LOW BIDDER, TRIMAXX CONSTRUCTION INC., FOR THE
45 CONSTRUCTION OF A PARKING LOT AT THE LUMMI ISLAND FERRY
46 TERMINAL, IN THE AMOUNT OF $409,446.50 (AB2007 -094A)
47
48 Brenner stated she scheduled this item because she needed more information, which
49 she received already.
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52 OTHER BUSINESS
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Public Works and Safety Committee, 2/27/2007, Page 3
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There was no other business.
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 2;04 p.m.
Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair
Public Works and Safety Committee, 2/27/2007, Page 4