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Mayor Ramon Hayes called for a special meeting of the La Conner Town Council for Friday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. to be held on Zoom. The meeting purpose is: 1) Approval of consent Agenda of 10/25/22 because of Tuesday’s meeting being canceled. 2) Planning Commission procedures LMC Chapter 15.130 The Oct. 25 council meeting was canceled when staff learned that a town hall staff person had been exposed to COVID-19. Access the meeting on the Town of La Conner website through the calendar or at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81773656495?p...
Once upon a time, the late Doug Caldart insisted the only parking problem in La Conner was when there were no cars here to fill spaces in front of closed and boarded up storefronts. Those days are long gone. For decades the issue has instead been there are too few parking spaces available to handle increased traffic downtown. Shortage of parking is now a major topic residents gave voice to at the La Conner Town Council hybrid meeting at Maple Hall Oct. 11. Center and Morris Street residents do not believe there is enough parking for the...
The Kenyon Disend law firm charged $5,861 to the Town of La Conner for 25.1 hours of work in September assessing the 1986 contract rezone agreement for the 306 Center Street property. Almost all the hours, 24.9, were Sept. 1-8. The firm sent their memo to Town Administrator Scott Thomas Sept. 8. Thomas reported the findings at the Sept. 13 council meeting. Over half the hours were spent on legal research on contract rezones and a 1972 court case, Durocher v. King County. Staff examined if the Town’s 1986 agreement was a legislative act and i...
The La Conner Town Council has granted $112,805 to nine area nonprofits to promote bringing tourists into the Skagit Valley. The La Conner Chamber of Commerce received the bulk of the funding, $83,000, 73.6%, to fund its operations. La Conner Live Concerts will get $9,000, 8% of the total, to manage the summer Sunday concert series in Gilkey Square, The Museum of Northwest Art, at $7,500 and the Lincoln Theatre, at $5,000, receive the next largest grants. Read the table for all funds granted. The Town of La Conner is tapping $60,456, 35% of...
Just weeks after selling his auto repair business in Burlington, Mark Hulst is revved up for his next gig. Hulst, owner of the Skagit Cellars tasting room here, has been tapped as the new executive director of the La Conner Chamber of Commerce. He succeeds Heather Carter, who stepped down in June after nine years at the helm. Hulst was introduced by Chamber board president Chris Jennings at the La Conner Town Council hybrid meeting Oct. 11. Thursday he hosted an open house at the Chamber...
The La Conner municipal code did not receive a complete facelift upon Town Planning Commission review at Maple Hall last Tuesday. But there are a few new wrinkles for the town council to consider. Perhaps the most significant development during the 90-minute public hearing, continued from Sept. 20, came when commissioners embraced town planner Michael Davolio’s proposal that they rule on conditional use permit applications and not the contracted hearing examiner. The idea floated by Davolio came near the end of the commission’s Oct. 4 mee...
The Town of La Conner’s streak of seven months of record setting sales tax receipts is broken, but barely. The $60,900 reported to the Town in September is $72 below last year’s. That is the second smallest drop among the Town’s September tax funds. While the month’s hotel/motel tax revenues of $26,546 was the second highest ever, it is $185 below last September’s record collection. Likewise, the $6,041 firetruck sales tax receipts are $15 below the month in 2021. Still, all three funds now exceed 100% of the year’s projected revenue wit...
As his job title suggests, Michael Davolio is a man with a plan. And in this case, it’s one not likely to stir debate or controversy. The La Conner Town planner has drafted a proposed impact fee ordinance that the Town Council began studying last week to bolster stressed department budgets. The plan is to add revenue to support the fire department and parks. After a lengthy discussion at its Sept. 27 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, the council asked Davolio for further research so an impact fee schedule can be adopted on a yet wider scale. The k...
An open letter to towns- people, town council, town staff and project developers: The town is growing. New construction is coming into neighborhoods. We as a town have long felt that infilling is the best way to grow rather than sprawling out into the farmlands. New projects need consistent guidelines from the town government on what specific regulations would apply to their developments. The guidelines that we would ordinarily depend on for 306 Center St. project have failed. The ensuing chaos has affected our beloved community. Although we,...
La Conner Maritime Service is a second generation La Conner family owned and operated business providing marine services since 1992. We employ about 30 individuals in living wage jobs. Several of those individuals, including myself, call La Conner home. I consider it a great privilege to work and live in such a beautiful area. Over the years our business has grown and attracted new clientele to the area, many with larger boats. With this growth we’ve realized a need for indoor space to accommodate larger boats and maintain year-round work f...
The people have spoken. But unlike at the polls, where such voices are heard in the form of marked ballot choices, Maple Hall was filled with residents and property owners expressing views on a host of pressing issues last week. Public comments filled about 30 minutes of the two-hour Sept. 26 La Conner Town Council hybrid meeting. Nearly a dozen people addressed the council at the meeting’s start, covering topics ranging from zoning changes proposed by the Port of Skagit at La Conner Marina and the lingering controversy over a three-story c...
Residents Debbie Aldrich and Linda Talman are appealing the Town of La Conner’s Sept. 20 administrative determination approving a conditional use permit for condominium units at 306 Center Street. Monday the two filed a challenge of Town Hearing Examiner David Lowell’s May decision supporting owners Brandon and Katie Atkinson. The appeal disputes planner Michael Davolio’s decision that the 1986 contract rezone is unenforceable. It notes that the Town Council decision was a legislative act amending the comprehensive plan and zoning code and i...
The conditional use permit to build a three-story condominium at 306 Center Street filed by Kate and Brandon Atkinson early in 2022 has been approved by Town of La Conner Planning Director Michael Davolio, an administration determination made Sept. 20 in a four-page letter. The administration rejected the challenge brought by residents Linda Talman and Debbie Aldrich, and others, that conditions of a 1986 contract rezone agreement between the Town and then owners Donna and Gerald Blades govern the zoning. The validity of the contract rezone...
The La Conner Town Planning Commission public hearing on municipal code and zoning map changes was the talk of the town last week. That talk will continue Oct. 4. Following lengthy discussions over changes sought by the Port of Skagit at La Conner Marina and several potential development regulation updates, commissioners, upon the recommendation of planner Michael Davolio, opted to continue the Sept. 20 hearing another two weeks. Those unable to attend next Tuesday can submit written comments to Town Hall by Sept. 29 for inclusion in the...
Pressing issues in La Conner, much like a jigsaw puzzle, rarely lack for complexity. They also require patience, which along with creative problem-solving skills, was much in evidence during the latest in a series of public forum events last Monday at Maple Hall. About three dozen attendees used the 90-minute session to brainstorm many key community pieces, from how best to preserve La Conner's envied quality of life to developing strategies for fostering improved communication between...
While everyone everywhere endorses the concept of truth and reconciliation, the little town of La Conner is fast becoming a tale of two cities – or two towns – as a cadre of residents are increasingly engaged, enraged and feeling isolated from the council members representing them and charged with governing. These residents want the council to stop a three-story condominium building from going up on Center Street behind The Slider Cafe. They want council to honor a 1986 rezone agreement approved by the council that year. Citizens want cou...
Two law firms looked at the situation on 306 Center and the 1986 Contract Rezone and came up with opposite conclusions. How do lay people like the rest of us decide who is right? They were both long opinions and cited case law. I believe that my guy was right but the town, which is vulnerable to a lawsuit from the developer, believes their firm to be correct. The town holds the power card. It is called the Administrative Permit. It is used for certain planning situations (Variance and Conditional Use). It gives the planner kingly powers. And so...
On Monday night, last week, the town council communications committee held its third community outreach event. The 35 or so townspeople who attended sat in small groups at separate tables with six or seven at each. And then they chatted: about what they liked, preferred, and loved about our community and also about their concerns for the future. Each participant was heard by the others. There were lively exchanges, enthusiasm, laughter, mutual respect. And ideas captured on paper for a summary report. The communications committee deserves our...
Christmas has come early for the Town of La Conner. Town council members at their Sept. 13 meeting gratefully accepted what amounts to a gift – an offer by siblings Tom and Sybil Jenson to sell one-half acre on the southwest side of Channel Cove to the Town at a significantly reduced price on condition the property be used for the benefit of the community. The Jensons set the price at $60,000, less than one-third its assessed value. “It’s something that we can afford,” Mayor Ramon Hayes said prior to a unanimous council vote. “They mostly wa...
The La Conner Town Council voted to approve requests making public a privileged memorandum and specific email correspondence from hired outside legal counsel during a special Zoom meeting Tuesday morning, Sept. 20. The action reversed a 3-0 council vote to block access to the documents during a special session last Friday. The Weekly News is among parties that filed a public records request for the material, prepared by the Kenyon Disend law firm, in order to quote accurately and more extensively what Town Administrator Scott Thomas had...
How can the La Conner community, residents, businesses and town staff, support the town’s council so they act more effectively? They have met three times in the last week, having special meetings Sept. 16 and 19 after their regular Sept. 13 session. Their meeting this Tuesday was to reverse a poor decision they made Friday. On a small issue – opening to the public a legal memo they paid for on researching the validity of a 1986 contact refund agreement – they made the wrong decision: they voted no. Council members Rick Dole, Mary Wohleb and A...
A group of residents intend to do their civic duty and be heard at the public hearing called by the Town of La Conner Planning Commission Tuesday. The Port of Skagit submitted its recommendation last January for a new chapter creating a port industrial zone in the Town’s code. In August town planner Michael Davolio prepared a 27 page document, “Suggested 2022 Code Changes,” for the planning commission. Town residents have been preparing, also. Over 20 attended a meeting at Maggie Wilder’s Sept. 6, their second after a session at Renee and Jim...
It is mid-September. The decision train – trains, actually – are boarding. It is time to get on if you do not want to be left behind as Town of La Conner governmental entities prepare trips into 2023 – and beyond. First on the schedule is a Sept. 19 town conversation for residents to come together and talk. It is organized by La Conner Town Council’s communication committee. They want to hear from citizens and listen for celebrations, concerns, trends, hopes and ideas. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in Maple Hall. Come early the next night for the pub...
The Sept. 13 town council meeting will be over before you read this. I hope that the council will determine “who’s on first” so you know what to expect at the Sept. 20 planning commission public hearing. (This situation is described in the letter I posted on the town website. The issue is that we really don’t know what recommendations will be made for updating the town’s municipal code on the 20th and what year it will be accepted.) If you attended the council meeting or read the Sept. 21 Weekly News you will know that the town is behind on...
By Sara Young It’s an exciting time at the La Conner Marina. The Port of Skagit, which built and owns the Marina, has been considering the needs of this important property and future opportunities for more than 15 years. We’ve had a lot of great conversations with members of the community since our visioning presentation in May 2022 during the joint meeting with La Conner’s town council and planning commission. As the Port develops a vision and plan for the site, there will be more opportunities for public input. We also want to take some...
