Crossings

From page 7 Roberts as a cross-border vaccination site for Canadians to boost the local economy while helping out our Northern neighbors. • Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism president and CEO Sandy Ward visited the Point looking to help with short and long term solutions to the community’s economic challenges. • County parks was able to hire seasonal staff for Lighthouse Marine Park and eyed the possibility of opening the campground even if the border stayed closed. • The chamber of commerce chose to withdraw from PRCAC and the committee voted to ask the county to change the makeup of the committee to five at-large members chosen in an informal community election and representatives from the two remaining organizations – taxpayers’ and voters’ associations. • A total 664 people had received their Covid-19 vaccinations through the program run jointly by the fire department and the clinic. • Working with engineers and a project contractor, Trinity Lutheran Church came up with a $400,000 plan to stabilize the building. Fundraising picked up steam from both sides of the border, with $13,000 of the $200,000 needed to start the project raised. The sanctuary is closed until the work is complete. • The Centers for Disease Control advised Americans not to travel to Canada, even if vaccinated. • The Point Roberts health clinic began offering service seven days a week, three days open on-site, two days of telemedicine through the local clinic and weekend coverage via telemedicine through the Bellingham SuperTrack clinic • Owners of central Point Roberts properties issued violations by the county for unpermitted road building said that they were working on a farm.

June

• A proposal by local fire chief Christopher Carleton to vaccinate Canadians in Point Roberts was turned down by B.C. Premier John Horgan. • Sources at the U.S. ports of entry in Blaine told local immigration attorney the U.S. would unilaterally open its border with Canada on June 22. • An Israeli ketch circumnavigating the world had its trip cut short when it ran aground arriving at the Point Roberts Marina. • A petition started by Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce president Brian Calder to use the Point as a pilot project for a controlled reopening the U.S./Canada border garnered over 1,000 signatures from both sides of the border.

(See YIR, page 9)

County engineers to evaluate drainage issues on Point

B y M e G O ls O n

County engineers will be coming to Point Roberts to assess drainage systems for county roads and determine how they might tie into the marina’s private drainage system.

Numerous property owners approached the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) with concerns about drainage, leading to a special meeting of the committee on December 3, attended by over 30 community members.

“We had a lot of different people coming forward with concerns about the flooding on their property and on roads,” said PRCAC chair Allison Calder. During heavy rainfall in mid-November properties in OceanView Estates, along Edwards Drive and along Gulf Road suffered from flooding. Water was over the roadway at several locations in Point Roberts, including Tyee Drive, Johnson Road, Gulf Road and Edwards Drive. “Most of the water eventually goes into the basins operated by the marina,” Calder said.

In an email to Calder and members of county council, Whatcom County engineer Jim Karcher said the county’s legal department has determined that the marina “is fully responsible for maintenance of their drainage system.” An inspection team will be dispatched from the county public works department “to attempt to determine if any system operating deficiencies exist. If system deficiencies are found, the county will make a formal request of the

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marina for correction of the situation.”

While Point Roberts Transportation Benefit District (TBD) funds that have been accumulating for lack of an appropriate project could not be used to upgrade the marina’s system, those funds could be used to develop an inventory of drainage infrastructure and a drainage plan for Point Roberts, Karcher reported. The fund grows through a one-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline sold in Point Roberts to be used only for transportation-related projects. The balance is over $1 million.

“Public works will seek a qualified drainage consultant to evaluate and propose improvements to drainage facilities associated with county roadways at the Point,” Karcher wrote. “This effort would involve PRCAC members, along with maintenance and operations and engineering staff. The timeline for this effort is early January 2022.”

Calder said that the drainage plan would “Sort out what part is the marina and what part is the county,” and community participation would be crucial to help identify where drainage infrastructure, often put in many years ago and not on county maps, was located.

She added that the newest appointee to PRCAC, Brian Hunter, was coming on board at the right time for this project. Hunter, appointed to PRCAC in November, is a planning and development professional who previously served as the stormwater runoff planner for the state of Hawaii.

s Top photo: Heavy rains filled the Ocean

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year in REVIEW

A LOOK BACK

POINT ROBERTS

Taxpayers Association

For most of the past year PRTA met virtually, both for its regular board meetings and for its annual general meeting (AGM). However, in December, we did meet in person – at a Tsawwassen venue for the first time ever – to facilitate participation by our Canadian members.

The 2021 AGM resulted in a full board consisting of nine regular directors and four alternate directors.

Our meetings provide an open forum for public discussion of issues of concern to the Point Roberts community, including full-time and part-time/seasonal residents, regardless of nationality, reflecting our inclusive membership.

During the past year, PRTA championed proposals by members that Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) in turn approved and forwarded to the county for consideration: an off-leash dogs enclosure at Lighthouse Marine Park and a one-time “garbage amnesty” to provide free disposal of large items and green waste that might especially be associated with returning Canadian property owners. Both proposals are pending: while country parks and recreation has not so far embraced the off-leash facility; Whatcom Public Works responded very positively to the refuse proposal and hopefully will work with CANDO to make it happen.

PRTA continued to lobby federal officials to re-open the border to Canadian property owners and to reduce restrictions on direct transit by Point Roberts residents to and from the rest of Washington. These changes were finally realized but clearly not at the pace we had hoped and requested.

PRTA was pleased to participate in the meeting in Point Roberts with governor Jay Inslee on July 9. On October 15, PRTA hosted (via Zoom) the eighth annual town hall meeting with our congresswoman, Suzan DelBene.

Work in progress, together with PRCAC and the Point Roberts Registered Voters Association, includes continued efforts to command a stream of earmarked county revenue for infrastructure and other needs identified by the community. – Mark Robbins

2021

year in REVIEW

A LOOK BACK

POINT ROBERTS

Dollars for Scholars

Thank you, Point Roberts!

As one of Scholarship America’s® national network of locally-based, volunteer-driven Dollars for Scholars® chapters, our mission is to mobilize our community to ensure education success for our Point Roberts post-secondary students.

Dollars for Scholars chapters like ours help hometown students achieve their educational goals by raising scholarship funds, establishing endowments, providing assistance with college readiness and the financial aid process, and distributing scholarships each year. 2021 has been an unprecedented year and the challenges have made one thing clear: Giving, kindness and support for each other are more crucial than ever.

We’re pleased to announce that the Point Roberts community donated over $18,000 in 2021 to support the students of Point Roberts. In June 2021, once again dollars for scholars increased the usual $500 scholarship to $1,200 per student, sent directly to the students’ schools.

We sincerely thank our financial partners and the many donations made in memory of Doreen Peltier, G and O Tognetti Legacy Trust Foundation Charity, Wilma Donaldson and Sally Roberts, in our 2021 fundraising campaign and we know that the recipients thank you as well.

For additional information, and to see a list of donors, please visit pointroberts. dollarsforscholars.org.

Thank you for your continued support. – Brian Calder, Pam Sarkissian, Vicki Robertson, Fern Peltier

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From page 8 • A Village Fair was organized to let the community get together safely after over a year of isolation. • Point Roberts celebrated its 175th birthday as a geographic exclave, and members of the historical society celebrated the 1846 signing of the Treaty of Washington that drew the border. • The space formerly occupied by Banner Bank at the Point Roberts Marketplace was reopened as a space for local artists and producers to sell their wares.

July

• Despite reports that it would reopen on June 22, the U.S./Canada border remained closed, and both counties announced it would stay closed until at least July 21. Looking at almost 500 days of lost revenue with the border closed Point Roberts Marketplace owner Ali Hayton announced the store would close July 15. State and federal elected representatives wrote letters to officials of both countries asking for relief for Point Roberts. • At an outdoor townhall meeting attended by county executive Satpal Sidhu and other elected officials PRCAC considered four requests for county action: A shuttle bus service on the Point, expanded highspeed internet service, a solution to flooding at Maple Beach, and the creation of a wetland mitigation bank. Sidhu offered enthusiastic support for improvements to internet on the Point and the establishment of a wetland mitigation bank. • Jessica and Bryson Basore took over as the new owners of Westwind Marine. • An 18-year-old from Shelton, Washington died after crashing his vehicle into the Maple Beach seawall at the corner of Roosevelt Way and Bayview Drive.

(To be continued next issue.)