Why There Is a Need for a Mechanism Like BBWARM (Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resources

Why BBWARM? 7-07

Why there is a need for a mechanism like BBWARM (Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resources Management District).

While the responsibility for stormwater management has always rested with WhatcomCounty, the County has never been able, or has never chosen, to afford even routine maintenance of the existing, in some cases over 50 years old, facilities; simply making minimal repairs after property damage has taken place. County has established the Birch Bay UGA (urban growth area) to allow rapid residential growth and taxes have continued to go up but stormwater continues to be funneled into the old, existing stormwater facilities without regard for the ability of those facilities to handle either the quantity or deal with the quality.

County rules/laws exist regarding dumping on the beach, allowing live stock in creeks and the like, but County has never even pretended to enforce these rules/laws with any kind of consistency or regularity. The experience of Drayton Harbor which was closed to commercial and recreational shell fish harvest for about 10 years, is that water quality is a watershed-wide issue, not just a shoreline issue (dairy manure spills, failing septic systems in addition to the concentration of growth close to the water).

The purpose of BBWARM is to assign responsibility to a specific and dedicated entity to provide oversight and dedicated funding from rates as well as acting as the administrator of grants and the like. All is to be under the local control of property owners within the designated watershed and responsible for annual review of funding, maintenance, operation, retrofit, improvements and expansion, new development supervision, project prioritization, education and enforcement without sharing/competing with the rest of Whatcom County.

BirchBay is an extremely popular vacation, holiday, swimming, clamming and crabbing area and the economy of the area has been dependant on tourism for about 100 years. The population of BirchBay can triple to quadruple (3 to 4 times greater) on a given nice summer weekend with visitors for the day or overnight from around the County, the U.S. and Canada. No matter what or how, taking control and improving the situation is going to cost money and to allow the situation to deteriorate further will only make fixing it that much more expensive, again look at the experience of DraytonHarbor.

Important facts: 1] The Birch Bay Water & Sewer District has served the Birch Bay UGA for many years and the last neighborhood to hook up to sewer did so in 2006. 2] There are 2 beach and roadside cleanups by volunteers in the community, one in Spring and one in Fall plus a July 5th beach cleanup of fireworks debris. County pays for the dumpster to haul away the trash. 3] There are 6 Mutt Mitt stations along Birch Bay Drive provided and installed by County and the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce. It costs upwards of $1,000 per year to supply the stations with bags and volunteers provide the labor to keep them supplied, BBWARM will provide a dependable funding source for the bags. Blaine Bay Refuse provides the pickup year-round at no charge. 4] WhatcomCounty provides trash cans along Birch Bay Drive in Summer and pays for the twice-a-week pickup. 5] The BirchBay Chamber provides the port-a-lets in Summer along Birch Bay Drive. A developer has agreed to provide permanent public rest rooms in the central Bay within the next couple of years. A developer has provided the Jackson Road end public rest room in Summer for a number of years. 6] New development is required to employ/install the latest in stormwater management techniques and facilities including appropriate low impact development (LID).

Based on the mix of rural and urban populations in the Birch Bay watershed, the majority of fees for BBWARM will be collected from the unincorporated urban growth area because that is where the majority of the people are; that is where the majority of property owners are; that is where the majority of impervious surfaces are; that is where the majority of development will take place; and that is where the majority of the problems are located.

Stormwater Management implementation subcommittee/BBWARM meetings, always open to the public, have taken place and continue to take place on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7pm at the BirchBayBibleCommunityChurch. As always, the public, especially residents and property owners in the BirchBay watershed, are encouraged to attend and participate in these meetings. The ordinance establishing BBWARM has been passed by County Council, a consultant has been hired and the decision-making process has commenced. You can have a say in the outcome if you choose to participate.