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Give peace a chance was a popular refrain coined in 1969 by John Lennon. Now, La Conner’s Ollie Iversen has put a new spin on Lennon’s famous anthem of the anti-war movement. Iverson’s version is “Give Pisces a Chance.” Pisces is the zodiac sign symbolized by fish. La Conner Waterfront Park is noted for its fish slide sculpture created by the late artist and salmon advocate Tom Jay. In an impassioned plea to the La Conner Town Council at its June 27 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, Iversen convinced the panel to reverse its earlier decision...
The La Conner Emergency Management Commission is wading through short-term options to mitigate flood threats on the La Conner waterfront and in low-lying residential neighborhoods, embracing a multi-tiered plan of attack ahead of next winter’s king tides. The Town is in contact with the Upper Skagit Tribe to secure permission for placement of flood barriers on its south-end property between Caledonia and Sherman streets. A walking tour led by Public Works Director Brian Lease to strategize barrier placements on La Conner’s north end, has bee...
Greg Ellis sees big things ahead for La Conner by going small. The Shelter Bay resident and Braves Club after-school program volunteer, who submitted plans for seven full-sized homes behind Pioneer Market in 2021, now proposes constructing tiny condos there. “I want to do the best thing I can for the community,” Ellis told the La Conner Planning Commission during their 90-minute June 20 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. “There’s such a shortage of affordable housing here, especially for a workforce.” Ellis is revamping his plans for lots he has ow...
America’s national bird may stump part of a tree-thinning project at Pioneer Park. The Town of La Conner has been advised by an urban forestry services consultant that more than 40 trees in the park, a popular trail hiking and public events venue – including the annual Pioneer Picnic – have structural defects or are in decline, posing potential isolated hazards. A large winter windstorm during the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted a handful of trees in the park, some of which crashed onto the roof of its historic sheltered community kitchen build...
The La Conner Town Council will hold a special meeting 5 p.m. July 11 to prepare for a six hour retreat July 24. That starts the creation of a preliminary SWOT analysis BERK Consulting will use to shape the retreat, Town Administrator Scott Thomas said Monday. The goal of council and staff will be to develop a five-year strategic plan by the end of the year. BERK staff will take the discussion summary and combine it with the surveys residents have submitted all spring and with summaries from the meetings council’s ad hoc communications c...
Construction of the first two homes on La Conner Heights began at the start of June. The structures are visible on the property residents long called Snapdragon Hill east of Whatcom Street and south of Hill Street, near Sacred Heart Catholic Church. BYK Construction of Sedro Woolley, as Snapdragon Hills Estate, LLC, owns the property, platted as seven lots on the newly constructed High Street. The two houses under construction are each over 2,600 square feet. "I know the size seems large but a...
La Conner’s iconic fish slide may not be fin-ished, after all. Town of La Conner Parks Commissioner Ollie Iversen made an impassioned plea last week to town council members asking them to reverse their recent decision to scrap the slide due to ongoing maintenance and safety issues. The slide, a favorite at Conner Waterfront Park with locals and tourists alike, has been closed since last year. But for several years volunteer spring touchup and repair work by Iversen and former town administrator John Doyle kept it open. Their efforts involved g...
Way down. The Town of La Conner May sales tax revenues of $48,073 reported to town council by the state’s Department of Revenue are the third highest May report ever, but down $21,7923, 31%, from last year and $10,214 below 2021’s total. The Special Use Fire Tax revenues drop was a twin, the $4,797 also 31%, $2,188 below 2022, though again the third highest report for the month. Only the motel/hotel tax revenues set a record, the $12,701 $67 above 2022 total. The revenues are from March transactions, the DOR reporting on a two month lag. The...
After reading in the Weekly News about the La Conner Town Council’s decision to destroy the fish slide in Conner Waterfront Park due to money issues and other things, I have some questions. As I’m involved, of course I have some thoughts. The only real money the Town has spent so far was to hire renowned local artist/sculptor Tom Jay to design and build the slide, since then the monies spent were on some grinding wheels, epoxy-like material and paint used by John Doyle and myself, volunteering to maintain the slide and keep it looking goo...
The $36,016 reported in sales tax revenues to the La Conner Town Council in April by the state’s Department of Revenue is the second highest ever for the month, only behind 2022’s record $44,210 and only the second April above $36,000. The Special Use Fire Tax Revenues had a matching dip. The $3,594 was $802 less than last year but again the second highest total for the month. February was cold, which influenced tourist visits. It is early in the year to find trends in the reduced revenue totals. Overnight stays remained high. The $10,592 in...
La Conner Town Council members were akin to traffic cops during their May 23 nearly 90-minute hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. The council forwarded proposed local restrictions on adult businesses to state officials in Olympia while remanding for review to the town planning commission a bid by developer Greg Ellis to site tiny homes on the lots behind Pioneer Market at Whatcom and Washington streets. Mayor Ramon Hayes echoed what planning staff have previously said for restricting such businesses. “If we don’t regulate them,” said Hayes, “we o...
Now it is the La Conner Town Council’s turn to decide how best to regulate adult businesses should one or more try to locate here. Fortunately, the panel has received some grown-up advice. The La Conner Planning Commission last week unanimously approved forwarding to the Council a detailed and highly restrictive framework developed with Planning Director Michael Davolio and Assistant Planner Ajah Eills based on court rulings issued in First Amendment and freedom of expression cases. The plan limits to industrial zones on the town’s north and...
It could have been the perfect weather or the Guitar Festival that steered residents away from the Citizen Engagement Opportunity in the La Conner Swinomish Library conference room last Saturday, May 20. About ten people came to it, including La Conner Town Councilmembers MaryLee Chamberlain and Rick Dole. The relaxed setting encouraged public discussion of pre-selected topics: sustainable businesses; open spaces, infrastructure needs; public safety; and density development and growth. The gathering was put on by the council’s communications c...
Discussions are going on among La Conner residents advocating for development of a community garden at Jenson Field, as some are calling the property south of Pioneer Park and west of Maple Avenue Sybil and Tom Jenson sold to the Town of La Conner last September. When council voted to make the purchase, Mayor Ramon Hayes called it a gift: the $60,000 price was less than one-third its assessed value. At that council meeting resident Debbie Aldrich promoted the importance of green space and play areas for children after the loss of the Hedlin...
It is a tough choice for the residents of our little town – the citizens of La Conner – to make. The community was given a gift, nearly, when Sybil and Tom Jenson sold the Town of La Conner a half-plus acre of property under Pioneer Park and west of Maple Avenue. Residents now have to discern, discuss and debate the best way to use that sliver of land. The top choices are keeping it as a green space – organized into a community garden, as some are advocating – or building starter homes for first time buyers. This could sprout into a tiny ho...
La Conner residents are invited to attend a citizen engagement opportunity at the La Conner Swinomish Library Saturday, May 20, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. sponsored by the town council’s communications committee....
With long-awaited warm weather hinting of summer arrival, La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes told Town Council members that tighter fitting fashions will be the coming style at their May 9 Maple Hall session. “We’re going to have to tighten our belts this fall,” Hayes predicted, referring to next year’s budget, despite robust sales and hotel-motel tax revenues. “There will be pressure on our budget negotiations,” said Hayes. “Costs are rising, and we see inflation across the board. And labor costs are on the rise.” Councilmember MaryLee Chamber...
Town officials aren't turning a blind eye to the prospect of peep shows coming to La Conner. That's why, with a six-month moratorium now in place, they're hustling to enact restrictions limiting where adult businesses can operate – at a safe distance from residential areas and the school campus. But finding such a location in a town hemmed in geographically is easier said than done. Industrial zones on the north and south ends of La Conner could be designated for adult businesses. Two sites a...
A perennial issue topped the agenda of a rare short La Conner Town Council meeting last Tuesday. As had the town’s planning commission a week earlier, most of council’s 40-minute April 25 session emphasized downtown parking and traffic congestion. The parking topic likely would have consumed even more Council time – as it has for springs and summers over decades – were it not that many at the meeting wanted to attend the much-anticipated Matika Wilbur book launch at Swinomish at 7 p.m. Even longtime La Conner resident Linda Talman, an attende...
It is time to decide to run for mayor or a town council seat in La Conner or for school district director, Fire District 13 commissioner and cemetery district 1 positions. Filing by mail for elected offices has started. File online or in person May 15-19. Get a Skagit County candidates guide with information on office qualifications and candidate filing instructions at the Skagit County Elections website. Offices without a fixed annual salary have no filing fee. Voting for the primary election closes at 8 p.m. Aug. 1. Only races with three or...
I have always said that as long as my daughter Victoria was in La Conner schools, I was happy to be mayor. That season has come to an end, and it is time for La Conner to choose a new representative to lead the community. May 15 through 19 interested candidates will have the opportunity to file with the county’s elections office for both the mayor’s position and two other town offices. As a result, the La Conner Weekly News asked me to write a short, 500-word piece on what qualities the next mayor should possess. I agreed to provide input recog...
The wheels of justice are said to grind slowly. But when it comes to planning for future local transportation needs, Town of La Conner officials, relatively speaking, are putting the pedal to the metal. Two years after the transportation section of the comprehensive plan was updated, Planning Director Michael Davolio, Assistant Planner Ajah Eills and planning commissioners are looking at parking in revisiting that element of the land use plan. Davolio conducted an inventory of available parking spaces on First Street and found there are 307...
The memories of severe saltwater flooding that deluged La Conner in December remain firmly etched in the minds of residents and business owners here, perhaps no more so than former council member and planning commissioner Bill Stokes. But Stokes, unanimously chosen to chair the Town’s new six-member emergency management commission at its first meeting April 19, is focused more on the future than the past. “We’ll talk about everything that can cause an emergency,” Stokes said. “That includes fires, tsunamis and earthquakes. “Our current goal,” h...
The Town of La Conner won’t be caught with its pants down while drafting rules regulating adult businesses. Its Town Council last Tuesday unanimously adopted a six-month emergency moratorium on development applications within commercial, commercial transition and residential zones while controls addressing adult-oriented businesses are enacted. The action stems any attempt to locate here before specific regulations are adopted. “The moratorium,” planner Michael Davolio said, “will address anything that might come up in the interim.” Restricti...
The $40,187 reported in sales tax revenues to the La Conner Town Council for March by the state’s Department of Revenue is the second highest ever, only behind 2022’s record $44,210. It exceeds $40,000 for only the second time and is 20% above 2021, the third highest March report. The Special Use Fire Tax Revenues also dipped from 2022, by $314, 7.4%, below $4,000, barely, to $3,924, but still the second highest ever March total. Tourists still stayed overnight, creating record revenues for the Town’s hotel/motel tax, $8,083, the highest March...
