Message from Mike Sato:
I’m Mike Sato, a homeowner in the Wildflower neighborhood north of Lake Padden and a volunteer with the citizens’ group, People For Lake Padden.
The Whatcom County Council is considering reinstating the Yew Street Urban Growth Area north of the Lake Padden at its scheduled council meeting on February 28.
Volunteers at People For Lake Padden and science interns from Western Washington University have been conducting water quality testing of the lake during the past year and we will continue the sampling, as well as conducting a land use survey of the drainage to the lake, with a scheduled completion this fall.
We are working with both city of Bellingham and county staffs on these studies and are asking the County Council to postpone any decision on the status of the Yew Street Urban Growth Area designation until we can finalize the studies and present our findings to the community and to the Council. Adopting a UGA designation could increase development and affect water quality in the Lake.
I’d like to ask folks who fish and bring their families to fish in Lake Whatcom to write to the County Council before February 28 or to testify at the Council hearing on February 28 in support of People for Lake Padden’s request that any decision be postponed until solid scientific findings are available to guide the Council’s policy decisions.
The County Council will meet on February 28 at 7 PM at the County Courthouse, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham. For information on what to write or to say to the Council, contact me at msato@salishseacom.com; for information on the scientific studies, go to http://P4LP.org. Thank you!