Sidhu: “Make Point Roberts economically vibrant”

Newly elected Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu, center top, listens to a resident during a townhall meeting on February 21. Deputy executive Tyler Schroeder, top right, accompanied Sidhu. Photo by Louise Mugar By Pat Grubb

County executive says Point Roberts has lots of opportunity

While newly elected Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu is optimistic about local community and economic prospects, he says it’s up to residents to provide the vision and the initiative to achieve them. Sidhu made his remarks during a town hall meeting held February 21 at the Point Roberts community center attended by around 40 people. He was accompanied by deputy executive Tyler Schroeder.

“I want to tell everybody at the beginning of my term that I really want to do something for Point Roberts, but this is not a prescription thing where I come and tell you what I want to do. This will be something that you will have to do, you will have to come see me with your ideas,” he added. “The way I see it, Point Roberts has a lot of opportunities but there are a lot of things that are missing from a community perspective,” he pointed out.

Sidhu also stressed the need for the community to reach consensus on whatever proposals they bring to the county government citing his experience as a councilmember hearing various representatives from the Point present diametrically opposing views on the same issues. It’s difficult to know the level of support an idea has, given the conflicting arguments they hear from residents, he said.

Sidhu talked about the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) and its member constituents. “PRCAC was formed with the idea that it would be composed with members of the various groups on the Point. It worked but now it isn’t working. Some people are unhappy with it,” he said, adding that he had thought of some ideas while listening to various viewpoints. “Perhaps all of the members should be at-large members and some representatives be Canadian. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide,” Sidhu said, stressing the need to reach out to people and achieve agreement on the group’s membership. Currently, there are two at large positions, one currently empty while the other three positions are held by representatives of the Point Roberts Registered Voters Association, the taxpayers association and the chamber of commerce.

“You have to start thinking about what you would like the Point to be in 20 years from now so people will look back and say that was something good that you did,” he encouraged the audience.

Samantha Scholefield, a Canadian part-time resident, said there are Canadians who are very invested in the community and that there hasn’t been the ability to assess information from PRCAC such as minutes that would allow people to know the context behind the decisions being made by the advisory group. Later, PRCAC member Stephen Falk pointed out that PRCAC has a page on the county web site with links to meeting videos and minutes for all of its meetings.

Following Scholefield’s train of thought, Annelle Norman said it was just as important as communication inside Point Roberts was communication outside the Point and charged that the county government hadn’t done a good job communicating with residents. “One of the complaints is that we don’t get the same services as the rest of the county,” she said, adding, “We understand the logistics of crossing two borders, but we have a growing population of elderly people.”

George Wright stressed the importance of infrastructure, saying without it, we can’t have a downtown. “We need a sewer system and to focus on developing downtown – 70 percent of the land on Gulf Road won’t perk,” describing new compact sewer systems that would allow the downtown core to be developed.

In rejoinder, Sidhu said, “Actually, fiber optic is even more important than sewers. With high-speed internet access, it’s possible for people to make $100,000 a year from home.” Saltwater Café owner Tamra Hansen agreed with Sidhu, saying, “I am one of the few businesspeople in the room. Fiber optic is crucial to us. It was ok when we had Delta Cable, I was hooked up to both cable and telephone internet. Whidbey has fiber optic that runs down as far as the library; how come they can’t extend it down to the end of the road?”

Many of Sidhu’s comments concerning the issues facing Point Roberts were elaborations of remarks he made earlier that afternoon while meeting with PRCAC members. “We need to do things to make PR more economically vibrant. It has a lot of opportunity. It’s not just about money,” he said, adding, “If all we wanted was money, we’d think about a casino. But that’s not what people are interested in.”

Sidhu mentioned that he had stopped on his way to the Point to meet with the mayor of Delta and discuss how the two governments could work together to promote the interests of the two communities.

Progress is not something that the county executive can do, Sidhu said. “It has to be the community coming together. What I see missing is a sense of community consensus. When you guys work together, you get results. We had a situation at Lake Samish that took 6 or 8 months to resolve. It wasn’t until people came together, that things started to work.”

Addressing the recommended changes in Title 20 that PRCAC had forwarded to the county, Sidhu said, “When I looked at it with fresh eyes, I thought you didn’t go far enough. There are more changes you can do to your zoning, for your cottage industries. Go for the sky, whatever your dream is for Point Roberts and put it before the council. You may be surprised – you may get it.”

After Falk pointed out that the voters and taxpayers association had talked about first coming up with a vision for the Point and then making zoning changes based on that, Robbins reminded Sidhu that it all began with enforcement issues that people regarded as an emergency issue. “We all got caught up in tinkering around the edges,” he said.

Asked by Ken Calder if there was going to be an appointment to fill the vacant position on the PRCAC, Sidhu said he was not ready to do that but would be open to a temporary appointment. “We need more minds working on the problems, not fewer minds,” Calder said.

Prior to the town hall meeting, Sidhu met with members of PRCAC. From l., Allison Calder, David Gellatly, Stephen Falk, Sidhu and Tyler Schroeder. Photo by Louise Mugar