FRONT PAGE

County gets to hear what’s on the
mind of Point Roberts (lucky county)

By Meg Olson

“This evening is not a public hearing, it’s actually a community conversation,” facilitator Mary Dumas told a full house at the community center. Two hours later Dumas ended the community’s chat with county officials and participants went home stunned by the unusual civility of the gathering. “I was told a meeting like this will never work in Point Roberts, there will be all sorts of civility issues. This could have turned out to be something that some said would happen and it didn’t,” said county executive Pete Kremen. “We’ll be back.”

Kremen called the April 19 community meeting after backing away from the idea of a rural advisory committee to keep the county informed about Point Roberts’ priorities. Dumas was hired from a private facilitation company to keep the meeting on the rails. “We’re trying to get a picture of your diverse community perspective,” she said. “The wisdom is in this room. The challenge is communicating.” Dumas gave in to the first protest from the group, asking to stay as one group rather than three addressing specific county areas of service, but ran a tight ship from then on keeping comments rolling and succinct. As the room spilled out grievances and requests, county staff kept the list growing, doing more writing than responding on most issues.

Many came to the meeting with specific projects they wanted to see the county make happen in Point Roberts: a larger new community center, a trail system, a public pier. There also was strong support for more public parks, specifically for acquiring Lily Point for public use, and improvements to the existing park at Maple Beach, such as putting in restrooms and improving parking. “Now we have this public beach with no amenities,” said Renee Coe.

Road and drainage improvements came out as a priority. A suggestion for a four-way stop at Mill and Johnson roads and a left turn lane at Tyee Drive and Johnson Road got loud applause, but there was disagreement on the issue of sidewalks and streetlights. “I’m not for streetlights and sidewalks,” said Sue Johnson. “I don’t want this to be a city.” Former marina manager Terry Ritchie said with the amount of bicycle traffic on Point Roberts roads, especially in the summer, “every time a major roadway is going to be improved we need a bike path,” he said.

Kevin Melsheimer of Leading Edge Electric said he had wanted a storefront for his business but, “It’s like swamp land everywhere in this commercial area. I want Point Roberts people to be able to live and work here. We need good drainage and sewer in the commercial area.”
Other property owners complained of poor drainage and complained that repeated calls to the county still left them with clogged ditches and soggy land. For some, soggy patches made the Point special. “You moved here because of what Point Roberts is,” said an audience member. “You drain the wetlands and bring in sewer and you get strip malls and McDonalds.” Jan Walker asked for a comprehensive wetlands inventory and if there was a drainage plan for the Point.
“There is evidently a drainage plan in the works already but we don’t know what it is. They just arrive and do something and leave. We need better communication,” said Madeleine Anderson.

Communication was a theme throughout the meeting. “It’s like the three Rs,” said Shannon Thomsen. “Be responsive, act responsibly and be reliable.” From road work to development permits, many audience members felt they were not involved in decision making, and often found out about projects when the bulldozers showed up. “We’re concerned and we really want to know,” said Eric Costa. Several people suggested the county should have a satellite office in Point Roberts, or at least a staff member responsible for coordinating Point Roberts outreach. “Someone who is familiar with the atmosphere of the community,” said Sandy Acheson.

There were also suggestions county council and the planning commission should meet on the Point if they were reviewing a project specific to this community. “We have been aware of the community difficulties and that’s why we did appoint John Lesow as a planning commissioner,” said council member Laurie Caskey-Schreiber, who attended the meeting with fellow council member Seth Fleetwood.
A symptom of poor communication was uneven enforcement of county regulations, many complained. “I’m shocked at how land is being cleared. Tree retention laws are not being enforced,” said John Fisher. “Trees are the only thing holding Point Roberts in place. There is no bedrock here. Point Roberts is just a pile of sand. You are issuing permits to build on land that is unstable.”

Others complained they had a hard time getting permits at all out of a clogged building services division. County planning and development services director Hal Hart said the county had seen a 30 percent increase in permit applications and that hadn’t been matched by an increase in staffing. “We’re working on how to do away with the old system,” he said. “The walls between departments are coming down and it’s going to be better, faster.”

At the close of the meeting county planner Amy Pederson said her department would take the list of community concerns and prepare a report that would be shared between county department and made available in the Point Roberts library and on the county web site. “We will digest all we’ve heard tonight and act on them,” Kremen said. He also promised a similar meeting quarterly, and said the next one would be in July.