Controversial Point Roberts campground can move ahead, hearing examiner rules
A proposed campground at Point Roberts can move forward under a conditional-use permit, Whatcom County Hearing Examiner Rajeev Majumdar said Wednesday in a written ruling.
Majumdar’s decision affirmed the Whatcom County Planning and Development Department’s approval of a 166-space campground on 15.6 acres of a 46.3-acre wooded lot, after nearly two years of consideration.
The campground site sits on forested land surrounded by a housing development in Point Roberts, a community of 1,300 permanent residents on a peninsula that is two U.S.-Canada border crossings away from the rest of Whatcom County. The site was originally proposed for homes.
A hearing last week heard testimony from several neighbors who opposed the campground because they feared traffic, litter and noise from possibly hundreds of campers. Others welcomed the economic resurgence that those vacationers could bring, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting. In addition to last week’s public hearing, dozens of emailed comments were received.
A campground is a permitted use for the site, which is designated as a “limited area of more intensive rural development” and is inside the Point Roberts transitional zoning district, Majumdar said in his ruling.
To limit the impact of the campground on the surrounding neighborhood, Majumdar added several conditions, including:
- Requiring electrical hookups and prohibiting combustion generators.
- Restricting campground rentals to daily and weekly reservations to discourage long-term stays.
- Only allowing propane or natural gas campfires. Wood-burning campfires won’t be allowed.
- Disallowing construction on wetland areas within the parcel.
- Requiring a work stoppage if human remains, archaeological items or cultural artifacts are found.
Campground plans call for 136 tent sites, 18 recreational vehicle sites and 12 cabins or yurts. There will be a combined office and store, a house for a resident manager and restroom and shower facilities. The site has no official address, but documents say it is on Dogwood Way, east of Tyee Drive along Johnson Road and Mill Road.
Majumdar’s ruling can be appealed, but certain findings of fact — such as approval under the State Environmental Policy Act — cannot be challenged. Approval was issued under SEPA in April and was not appealed at that time.
