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Off the charts: the $70,383 the Town of La Conner lists in its August sales tax revenue report is the highest total ever. The August data, from the state's Department of Revenue, captures June sales, always the highest revenue month. This year's collection is 12% above 2021's and the first time over $70,000. The year-to-date total is $446,300. The town’s 2022 budget income projection will be met next month. As in 2021, collections have set records monthly, except January’s. The $19,137 in hotel/motel revenue is the highest August collection als...
The Port of Skagit’s plans for redeveloping its La Conner Marina will be discussed at the Town of La Conner Planning Commission public hearing Sept. 20. A new zoning district, Port Industrial, will be unveiled as part of 27 pages of “suggested 2022 code changes” planner Michael Davolio and town staff have been developing based on proposals from Port staff. If the planning commission agrees and the town council adopts the recommendation, a new chapter will be added to Title 15 of the town’s uniform development code: Chapter 15.42, Port Industr...
What about Langley? Mayor Scott Chaplin is bullish on this seaside town of just over 1,100 residents. Like La Conner, it is a magnet for tourists seeking fine art, eating and shopping. Unlike La Conner, Langley has Langley Creates," one of 11 certified Washington Creative Districts, a program that helps communities turn their artistic, artisanal and cultural/historical assets into economic growth. During conversation with Chaplin in August, he championed his "village-by-the sea." "Our...
All mayors love their towns and champion them. Surely that is the case in La Conner. The same with Langley, that “village by the sea,” a 90 minute drive from our town on the Swinomish Channel. Comparisons abound. There will be a side-by-side table in a future issue. Did you know their 1,200 residents fit in one mile footprint while La Conner’s 974 residents squeeze into 0.4 square miles? Those numbers come from censusreporter.org. While Mayor Ramon Hayes was first elected in 2007, Langley Mayor Scott Chaplin was appointed in 2021 when the t...
When the Town of La Conner considers amendments to its Comprehensive Plan this year, it will be lookinng at only one request, from the Port of Skagit, Planning Director Michael Davolio wrote in a summary Aug. 25. No others were received in the two month Dec. 1, 2021-Jan. 31, 2022 period for submitting amendments for 2022. In his memo, Davolio wrote “There has been some misunderstanding regarding public submittals for requested amendments. While members of the Planning Commission have encouraged members of the public to submit amendment p...
The Port of Skagit and Town of La Conner propose happily to move ahead on the Port's elaborate proposal based on a few, token, public meetings and little-to-no community understanding of the near and long term implications of the project. There is no time nor process in place for serious discussion of what we want our town and our Town to be. It is completely reactive to the Port’s vision, supported by the town administration, which is hard pressed to describe a comprehensive vision for the community. The Port knows exactly what it wants to d...
Dear town residents. The La Conner Municipal Code is in need of major revision. Current practice here is to have the planner suggest piecemeal items for the planning commission and town council. He has spent interminable mind- numbing time on sign language, for example. Not exactly the big picture. A planner-proposed code line to define tiny houses is another example. What is the big, big picture for tiny houses? Where is the vision? Well, it is in our comprehensive plan – which has general language supporting affordability and neighborhood p...
The Town of La Conner is in line for state funds to help with long-planned upgrades to its nearly half-century old wastewater treatment plant. Town Administrator Scott Thomas told council members at their hybrid meeting Aug. 23 that La Conner’s application for a Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction grant was successful. The question is just how much money will arrive here from Olympia. “Unfortunately,” he said, “we don’t know what we’ll receive in terms of the amount.” Thomas said the state legislature in its 2021-23 biennial budget set aside $9...
At the La Conner Town Council Aug. 23: Planning Director Michael Davolio presented a draft of a proposed impact fee ordinance for review. This would raise funds toward priorities such as acquisition of a fire boat and ladder truck and/or support for parks and recreation initiatives here. Impact fees are often used by municipalities to cover local match requirements tied to grant awards. “I’ve done this before in other jurisdictions,” Davolio said, “and it has worked well.” Mayor Ramon Hayes announced dedication ceremonies for the new La Conner...
Dear residents, farmers and businesses, Mark your calendars. Sept. 20 for Planning Commission and Sept. 27 for Town Council. Both involve potential code changes. The town didn’t tell you. You would have had to wait until three days before and then they will you give three minutes only for pages of changes. It’s just not right. You should get three minutes for each item. This is important. Some changes being proposed by town: 1. The planner’s proposal is to allow 15 or 10 feet of that 25 feet currently required for agriculture set back so as to...
We are all better off when everyone who lives and works in Skagit County has a safe, affordable place to call home. Healthy neighborhoods need healthy schools. Healthy schools need kids and families. Kids and families need housing they can afford. Seniors should be able to downsize in the same community where they owned a home and still afford to buy medicine and groceries. Employers and communities thrive when workers on our waterfronts, art galleries and restaurants can afford to live near where they are employed. From first responders, to...
La Conner Town Council approved a job description for a Town Permit Technician during their August 9 hybrid meeting. This position will restructure the clerical and administrative assistant position formerly held by Danielle Freiberger, who took a job with the City of Mount Vernon. The new post’s pay scale will bump up to $48,000 annually and is designed to provide support to the planning department based on job parameters crafted by staff and administrator Scott Thomas. “The new permit technician would focus more on planning than the hod...
The La Conner Town Council joined Mayor Ramon Hayes and fire chief and code enforcement officer Aaron Reinstra in accepting a plaque honoring fallen La Conner firefighter and Town Marshal John Hilsinger during their Aug. 9 meeting. Hilsinger died by electrocution while fighting a blaze at the old La Conner Shingle Mill north of town in July 1945. He was just 41 years old. Sgt. Beau Montgomery, Skagit County Sheriff's Office La Conner detachment administrator, made the presentation. Montgomery...
A lot has changed in 50 years. But some of the best things in life have not. Tom and Judy Zimmerman celebrated their 50th anniversary on Aug. 13 during an open house hosted by their daughter and son-in-law Kelsey and Lance Stevens. The Zimmermans have been community leaders in La Conner over the past five decades – he as a fire chief and Dunlap Towing skipper and she as a council member and La Conner Elementary School teacher. Those attending the festivities were treated to good food and good memories in equal measure. Many of those memories w...
The Town of La Conner collected $53,917 in sales tax revenue in July, the highest July total ever, 3.6% above 2021’s previous high. It is the third straight month above $50,000 collected, as last year. The $375,917 generated for 2022 is the highest January-July total ever and 76.4% of the annual sales tax revenue estimated in the annual budget. If sales tax collections match 2021’s pace, with September’s report the Town will exceed it 2022 revenue estimate of $492,303. The past six monthly collections are again the highest monthly and year...
Young and old alike are invited to Pioneer Park on Aug. 4 to attend the 118th annual Pioneer Picnic and honor the Nelson family for their leadership in Skagit County agriculture, industry and public service. The event begins at 11:15 a.m. with a barbecue salmon dinner prepared by the “Good Girls” and served by members of the Civic Garden Club. Coffee and beverage concessions will be provided by the Sunrise Food Bank, with proceeds supporting its service projects. Lunch is $20 and includes a comm...
In Nov. 1982 Gerald Blades name is listed on the deed for parcel P74143, 306 Center Street, the 15,246 square feet, 0.35 acres on the north side of The Slider Café.. Blades sold it in 2003, with 313-315 Morris Street, parcel P74144, to Ntinos Trapalis for $600,000 Trapalis sold the two lots in 2005 to 313 Morris Street Ventures LLC for $593,802. Last August Brandon Atkinson, as KSA Investments LLC., bought the southern parcel, P74143, from that company for $570,000. Zoning history The July 9, 1985 La Conner Town Council meeting has this...
La Conner Town council members and meeting attendees felt the heat during the July 26 in-person session. This time, though, the heat was related more to weather than the various hot topics the council has dealt with this year. “Let’s get out of this heat,” Mary Wohleb implored immediately after Mayor Ramon Hayes gaveled adjournment. It was a unanimous sentiment. Before Hayes wielded his gavel, those in the audience chipped away at key issues that will not soon melt away. Gary Nelson, a local builder, lifelong La Conner resident and forme...
La Conner’s Town Council will have to decide the fate of the 306 Center Street condominium project by determining if a 1986 contract rezone agreement signed by town officials and then property owners Donna and Gerald Blades is valid and enforceable. Hearing examiner David Lowell issued his decision on the four May reconsideration requests challenging the 306 Center Street condominium project last Wednesday, July 20, but found he did not have the “additional information” in the materials of record to determine the site’s zoning requirements. He...
KRBD Public Radio Ketchikan could soon have a new city manager. Its City Council voted Saturday to start negotiations with Delilah Walsh of Las Cruces, New Mexico, ending a three-month search. Walsh is the utilities director for the city of Las Cruces. Mayor Dave Kiffer says that made her a good fit to manage both Ketchikan’s city government and the publicly-owned water, electric and telecom provider, Ketchikan Public Utilities. “First of all, she’s got experience in both utilities and in government. So that’s what we were looking for, and to b...
For nearly a decade Heather Carter was a regular presence at La Conner Town Council meetings, presenting a monthly Chamber of Commerce report. Carter has moved on to head CASA, the Camano Island animal shelter. In her place, longtime La Conner business owner Chris Jennings, the Chamber’s board chair, updated council members last week, during what is the business community’s busiest time of year. Jennings noted that while the economy here has bounced back nicely from the COVID-19 pandemic – 2021 was a banner year for sales tax revenue and...
It likely will take a larger scale operation to fix the popular fish slide at Conner Waterfront Park beneath the Rainbow Bridge. At the July 19 Town Council meeting, Mayor Ramon Hayes and council members endorsed having the 13-foot sculpted slide professionally assessed to determine if it can be saved. Weather blistering makes annual repair work necessary to its surface and interior by volunteers John Doyle and Ollie Iversen. Doyle, a retired Town administrator, and Iversen, a Town parks...
Town Administrator Scott Thomas is one of five finalists for the top managerial post in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Weekly News learned on Monday. Thomas, an attorney who for more than two decades has served as city attorney for four cities in Washington state, succeeded John Doyle as La Conner’s chief administrator in January 2018. He is interviewing for the dual jobs of city administrator and general manager of the southeast Alaska community’s publicly owned utility, according to Ketchikan radio station KRBD. It posted the city’s news relea...
Another election season – year – is underway. Ballots are in the mail for the Aug. 2 primary. Your best ballot casting options are the county drop boxes at the La Conner Regional Library on Morris Street and on the Swinomish Reservation at their social services building. Please vote. You are what democracy looks like. For that reason the Weekly News is once again endorsing you, citizens of greater La Conner, this election. Your most crucial votes are the statewide offices of secretary of state, U.S Senator and the 2nd Congressional...
The crowd lining First Street for La Conner’s Fourth of July parade on Monday either stood for the 30-minute event or were seated on benches, in camp chairs, and along curbs. But the best seats were reserved for Gable Wilkins and his gold medalist Special Olympics teammates. They rode on La Conner Hook & Ladder’s vintage ’41 Ford fire engine, leading the parade. Fire Chief and Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra coordinated what was truly a special appearance by the team members, one much...