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Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low near 35F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low near 35F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Costing over $1.5 million, the Pierce Quint ladder truck will be built over the next two years in Wisconsin and arrive in time for the City of Lynden’s next fire insurance rating, Mayor Scott Korthuis said. (Courtesy photo)
Costing over $1.5 million, the Pierce Quint ladder truck will be built over the next two years in Wisconsin and arrive in time for the City of Lynden’s next fire insurance rating, Mayor Scott Korthuis said. (Courtesy photo)
LYNDEN — A new fire truck is ordered for Lynden.
Costing over $1.5 million, the Pierce Quint ladder truck will be built over the next two years in Wisconsin and arrive in time for the city’s next fire insurance rating, said Mayor Scott Korthuis. Though a crazy price to pay, it will help keep up an optimal fire rating for Lynden, the mayor said.
The city’s previous ladder truck was surplused as worn-out a few months ago.
Fortunately, the new engine has not only a 107-foot aerial reach, but also pumping capability to replace a pump truck that also needs to retire in a few years. “We are going to replace two apparatus with one, when our fire station is running out of stalls,” Korthuis said.
The lack of a ladder truck can be tolerated for two years because there are at least four others in the county, including one in the surrounding North Whatcom Fire & Rescue district.
• The Lynden City Council passed an extensive package of Comprehensive Plan and zoning revisions and updates. Much of it relates to taking a year-long look at mixed-used development where commercial and residential goals intermingle.
Out of it, a “mixed use overlay” -- a more flexible variation of zoning -- is applied to six commercial centers in Lynden: downtown, Fairway Center, Bender Plaza, Lynden Market Square (the Tractor Supply area), Lynden Towne Plaza and Marketplace at Lynden (Safeway area).
In short, the Mixed Use Overlay is meant to provide “a compatible mix of multifamily housing, neighborhood commercial business, and semi-public open spaces on eligible commercial zoned properties,” new text reads.
A new West Lynden Gateway subarea, the city’s eighth, is created for planning purposes. It extends from the southwest entrances to Lynden, on Guide Meridian and Birch Bay-Lynden roads, all the way northeast to include the Fairway Center.
The shift of several spots in northeast Lynden from commercial to residential development is acknowledged.
The council ventured a bit into the future of land use in designated Urban Growth Area along Birch Bay-Lynden Road. Although some is foreseen as suitable for housing, the council chose to keep quite a bit of land in mind for expansion of industry south from where is now mostly along West Main Street.
“To give us some options,” said councilor Gary Bode, although the city also will remain open to what actually arises in time, he added.
“This would affect the zoning options for these parcels when, and if, they come into the city via annexation. It would not have an immediate effect (rezone) on the properties at this time,” according to Planning Department notes.
Countywide, an update of growth management planning happens in 2025.
Council members thanked Planning Director Heidi Gudde for all the work done in 2022 to revise and clean up many parts of the city code related to zoning and land use.
• A parcel of about 22.8 acres was rezoned to Industrial for J.D. Bargen Industries to continue to plan for growth of the Lynden Door campus in west Lynden.
• Out of 19 bids received, for $660,000 DeKoster Engineering won the job of doing stormwater improvements on the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds. The project is primarily funded through a state Ecology grant.
DeKoster will install about 1,000 feet of new storm pipe, two large infiltration units, and other conveyance pieces.
• In 2023 Welch Ecological Services of Bellingham will monitor the city’s compliance with its federal stormwater permit.
• More specifically, the Whatcom County Health Department will inspect about 20% of Lynden’s businesses, or about 58, for source control of potential pollution.
• Aaron Apps is reappointed to serve another four-year term on the Design Review Board.