KGMI News
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A plan to redevelop the Aloha Motel property on Samish Way is on hold following gridlock in the state legislature.
Republicans currently controlling the state Senate refused to pass a capital budget after Democrats refused their fix for the Hirst Decision, a state Supreme Court decision affecting water rights.
Without a capital budget, affordable housing projects around the state aren’t being funded. The Bellingham Herald reports the Aloha Motel project is one of them.
The city condemned the motel because of crime and drug use, then sold it to the Bellingham Housing Authority for redevelopment.
But the authority’s executive director says its funding is in jeopardy without a capital budget, and because of uncertainty over provisions of the Republican tax bill being debated in Washington D.C.