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New border lights: Government comes up with yet another way to spend tax dollars

The full complement of the International Boundary Commission and a Coast Guard commander were at the Point Roberts community center to hear any public questions or concerns about a proposal to change how the border is marked across Boundary Bay.

“We’re going to change the way we mark the bay,” said U.S. boundary commissioner Dennis Schornack.

The All Point Bulletin was the only public attending the February 21 public meeting and Coast Guard waterways analysis and management system coordinator John Barberi explained the modifications to the border markings, scheduled to proceed this summer.

“It’s antiquated equipment, the towers have been out there since the ’30s,” Barberi said. Today there are four markers establishing where the border lies as it crosses Boundary Bay: two on the Point Roberts/ Tsawwassen side and two on the Blaine/ White Rock side. During the day someone out on the water can tell they are on the border when they line up graphical “ranges” mounted on towers on and near the shore and at night they would line up pairs of lights. Boundary Bay weather often makes it impossible to see across the bay, or even to see both markers in the set of range markings.

The proposal is to replace the ranges with a line of flashing yellow lights across the bay.

The primary change will be the addition of four three-legged piling structures in the center of the bay, mounted with yellow boards and flashing yellow lights. On land the range towers at Maple Beach and adjacent to Monument Park will be eliminated and replaced with flashing yellow lights and boards at a height of 15 feet; the large tower near the port of entry will be the only land-based marker remaining on the Point. The offshore markers on the east and west sides of the Point will be modified from fixed green and white lights to flashing yellow.
“It’ll be much more visible,” Schornack said. “It has to be obvious so that people know where it is.” Sullivan added a more visible border would help law enforcement in an area with issues ranging from smuggling to fishery violations.

Making the border visible and obvious is the name of the game for the International Boundary Commission, one commissioner and a deputy appointed from each the U.S. and Canada, working with engineers from both countries to keep the 20-foot wide stripe of boundary “vista” “entirely free of obstruction and plainly marked for the proper enforcement of customs, immigration, fishing and other laws of the two nations.” Through their efforts, the commission website touts, the 5,525-mile long border between the U.S. and Canada is “tranquil, undefended but not uncared for.”

Barberi said another reason to replace and remove some of the older boundary structures is safety. “It’s such a safety hazard the contractors won’t even climb on it,” he said. “The old towers are a real eyesore,” Sullivan added.

The proposed changes were advertised for 30 days closing November 24, 2006 in the U.S. Coast Guard Notice to Mariners and Barberi said “we got no feedback pro or con about the proposals.”

Schornack said work on the project will start this summer. With an $180,000 projected budget, Barberi said the ‘changes are cheaper than replacing what we have now.”

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