March 8 - 14, 2018
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Birch Bay library group talks fundraising, page 3
Northwest Birding Festival
How did your elected officials vote? page 17
Daylight saving time begins on March 11
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Starbucks signs lease to open a location in Blaine
Special pull-out Section
Behind the scene of public records bill veto How negotiations between the governor’s office, lawmakers and media organizations stopped the legislation B y J o s h K e l e t y , WNPA O ly m p i a N e w s B u r e a u
(See Open records, page 2)
s Mike Hill (holding his phone) shows plans of ‘Skye Hill Station’ to members of the Blaine Economic Development Advisory Committee during a tour of the building on March 6. He confirmed that representatives with Starbucks signed a lease for the space this week.
Photo by Stefanie Donahue
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e It’s official – representatives with Starbucks have signed a lease to open a new location in Blaine. Developer Mike Hill confirmed the news on March 6 to city staff and community members during a private tour of two commercial properties he’s building on Peace Portal Drive. The properties are located next to Hill’s Chevron, 568 Peace Portal Drive, which he’s owned for over two decades.
Hill said the new Starbucks location will encompass approximately 2,650 square feet and will feature a drive-thru as well as indoor and outdoor seating. The building, which he’s calling ‘Skye Hill Station’ after his wife Skye, will also bare a number of distinguishing features, including a 48-foot-tall lighthouse, an indoor spiral staircase and an outdoor fireplace, he said. Next door, Hill is building an approximately 1,500-square-foot visitor information center, which the Blaine Chamber of
School district hosts public update on stadium project By Oliver Lazenby The Blaine school district hopes to build a new stadium at Blaine High School in time for the 2019-2020 school year and install field turf the following summer. The district presented their timeline during an informational meeting about the stadium on March 1. The stadium and field turf would be funded by a $12 million school levy that voters will consider on the April 24 special elections ballot. The stadium is estimated to cost $3.1
million and the field turf $1.21 million. Under the timeline presented, the stadium would be designed between May and July 2018. At that point, there will likely be more opportunities for public comment on the design, district superintendent Ron Spanjer said. The district held the meeting to learn what questions the community had about the project, Spanjer said. The stadium project, not including field turf was on the district’s 2015 bond proposal but was put on hold when bids for
the project came in over budget in 2016. Since then, it’s generated a lot of interest, Spanjer said. The preliminary plans for the stadium include seating for 1,800-1,900, updates to the concessions and restrooms and relocating the seating to the north side of the field. Meeting attendees questioned whether the lights would be updated (not in the current plan), how much access (See Stadium, page 3)
Commerce intends to relocate to from its location at 728 Peace Portal Drive. “It will look nice and it will be nice,” Hill said as he was leading the tour this week. “It’s going to be a lot different.” Moving forward, Hill said he hopes to complete construction of the ‘Skye Hill Station’ and see Starbucks open for business before July. He said, “Starbucks is really pushing to open this thing up.” Construction of the new visitor’s center will likely be complete as early as April, Hill said, but it’s likely to open later.
INSIDE
When Governor Jay Inslee vetoed Senate Bill 6617 late on March 1, he had some time to spare – but not much. The governor had until 11:59 p.m. to decide whether or not to sign the controversial bill, veto it entirely, partially veto it or let it pass without his signature. He faced the prospect that legislators could override his veto with a supermajority vote, a reasonable threat considering that the bill had been passed with an overwhelming majority on February 23. District 42 legislators Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale), Luanne Van Werven (R-Lynden) and Vincent Buys (R-Lynden) were among the many legislators who voted in favor of the bill. It wasn’t until 9 p.m. on March 1 that Inslee’s office sent out a press release stating that the governor had vetoed the legislation, which would have immediately exempted the state legislature from public disclosure law. According to the press release, the decision was made after the governor had secured an agreement between lawmakers and media organizations for a compromise. “The public’s right to government information is one we hold dearly in Washington,” Inslee said in a written statement. “Transparency is a cornerstone of a democratic government.” The bill, which would have also retroac-
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