News - Local News

POSTED: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Birch Bay church, Whatcom County planners settle wetlands dispute

BIRCH BAY — The county hearing examiner gave thumbs up to a large new church in Birch Bay after county planners and the church resolved a dispute over its effect on wetlands.

Birch Bay Bible Community Church plans to build a new church at the corner of Blaine and Bay roads, a building that will total more than 41,000 square feet after its second phase of construction.

The project had been delayed because the church wanted to fill low-grade wetlands and improve others on a neighboring property, but county planners said the law required first avoiding the wetlands, which would have meant shrinking and redesigning the project.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, hearing examiner Michael Bobbink said he likes the agreement, which allows the project as previously envisioned. He said he will approve a conditional-use permit, and will recommend to the County Council approving a development agreement, both of which are needed for the project.

Church Pastor Rick Eshbaugh said he was grateful for the agreement. He had pledged to not shave his beard until the project was approved, and it has been about 2˝ years since he shaved it.

His gray beard is now four to five inches long. He plans to shave it at a church fundraiser Nov. 22.

Eshbaugh said it was a tough process for an organization that’s not accustomed to building things and navigating land-use laws.

“It has felt a little bit like sucking a steak through a straw,” he said, laughing. “With or without the bone.”

Planners and the church resolved the dispute by having the church qualify to follow an “alternative mitigation plan,” which provides flexibility beyond the standard regulations.

“A lot of the work was just documenting why they could not avoid the wetlands,” said Oliver Grah, natural resources division manager at the county’s planning department.

They then had to do all they reasonably could to avoid wetland damage, he said. In the end, the church will create, enhance and rehabilitate more wetlands than are there, and the new wetlands, which the church must monitor for a decade, will replace the environmental functions of the filled ones, Grah said.

The first phase of the project, which involves a sports field and 22,000-square-foot building with a sanctuary, classrooms and offices, will begin in March and end a year later, according to a county staff report. The second phase, which includes construction of a 588-seat sanctuary and other facilities, will be done within the next eight years.