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Work came to a near standstill for the La Conner planning commission as 2021 wound down, with successive meeting cancellations in October, November and December. The commission did not meet until Feb. 15. Davolio told commissioners that they can expect to review several project applications at their March 15 session, including the housing development proposed behind Pioneer Market and the apartment building planned for Fourth and Center streets behind The Slider Café. “After a couple of months at the end of last year where there wasn’t m...
Thank you to the voice of reason presented by the arts and parks commissions regarding the placement of a giant “Love La Conner” sign in Gilkey Square! I am baffled that anyone would want to change the character of our charming square by installing an oversized ad in the space. My initial objection arose when I saw the photo in the paper. I reached out to town council with my concerns and was contacted by a member of council who told me the story in the paper was misleading and inaccurate. However, it was confirmed that the proposed ad/...
Greater La Conner, within and beyond the town's boundaries, is blessed with a plethora of volunteers. La Conner’s arts and park commission members are the institutionalists the government and surrounding community are fortunate to have. Their missions are prescribed by the town’s municipal code. Members take their roles seriously, committing to them term after term and, like church choirs, bond with each other in purpose and friendship. They toil in general obscurity, their efforts and results occasionally noticed by the town council or loc...
The La Conner Town Council may face a difficult choice at its Feb. 22 meeting: whether to green light $21,800 in already approved hotel/motel tax funds for a 11 foot tall “Love La Conner” “marketing icon” so it gets built or whether to reject the Gilkey Square location, following recommendations from the town’s arts and parks commissions citizen advisory panels. “We did not consider it artwork but as an advertising sign,” Sylvia Strong, arts commission chair told the Weekly News Sunday. “We d...
The $41,561 in sales tax revenue reported for January to the La Conner Town Council was the second highest for that month ever, only exceeded by 2021’s $52,155. Receipts for January topped $40,000, also only for the second time, as tourists continue to make the town a preferred destination. The total is 8.4%, one-twelfth of the budgeted $492,303 for the year. That portends a strong 2022 sales tax revenue collection, as January has historically been one of the three lowest collection months, followed by March and April. These totals are based o...
For farmers evaluating Governor Inslee’s Salmon Recovery bill, the devil is in the details. Details like what exactly constitutes a Riparian Management Zone and whether the riparian buffers proposed in the now withdrawn HB 1838 will not just target salmon-bearing streams and side channels but encompass delta farmland behind Skagit River dikes. The million-dollar question: Inside those buffers, is farming permitted? The bill is clear about the need to maintain and enhance natural resource industries like agriculture and to encourage the conserva...
The newly formed La Conner Town Council began laying the foundation for 2022 by finalizing committee assignments and tightening up ordinance language related to hazardous buildings during its one-hour Zoom session last week. New Councilmember Ivan Carlson, III flagged what he termed “broad” and “subjective” terminology in an ordinance section for abating structural dangers, questioning non-tangible references to infringements upon aesthetic and sensory standards. “They’re too broad,” said Carlson. “I feel there would be unintended cons...
Demolition of the old garage behind The Slider Café on a January Sunday drew plenty of attention. What was missed, however, were conditions spelled out on the Town demolition permit allowing the structure to be torn down on property eyed as the site for a 20-unit apartment complex. Planner Michael Davolio told the La Conner Planning Commission, during their monthly Zoom meeting two days later, on Jan. 18, that a stop work order was placed on the demolition because representatives of property owners KSA Investments had not conferred with...
Changing county planning rules to permit fully contained communities (FCCs) “opens the door for making this county suburban,” said Margery Hite last Tuesday, Jan. 11, during an online Community Conversation sponsored by the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. “Growth in Skagit Valley: Our Future, Farming & FCCs” drew about 90 Zoom participants, La Conner residents among them. Hite is on the grassroots campaign ‘Right Growth, Right Place’ advisory group, which opposes permitting FCCs. She described FCCs and their likely impact on Skagit County in g...
I appreciate the inclusion of the “State of the Town” in the Jan. 5 Weekly News. It’s useful to hear the mayor’s thoughts in his own words. I hope you’ll ask him regularly for his views on other Town matters. I am, however, concerned with these words: “The Town has been working to achieve its population goals with the creation of two new subdivisions .... .” My concern is with his reference to the Town’s population goals. I was not aware that the Town had population goals and, if we do, where they came from or for how they are to be met. As a s...
Rick Dole and Ivan Carlson, III, successful election challengers, joined victorious incumbent MaryLee Chamberlain in being sworn into their La Conner Town Council positions Jan. 11. Councilmember Mary Wohleb was not on the ballot but count her among La Conner’s election winners. She was the unanimous choice to serve the next six months as La Conner’s mayor pro-tem. “This position,” Town Administrator Scott Thomas explained, “is typically filled by two council members each year. The mayor pro...
It was billed as a special meeting but played out much like similar Town of La Conner audit exit sessions of the past. And that was good news for town leaders. The one difference is the 35-minute Zoom discussion between La Conner representatives and the state auditor’s office Monday afternoon, which was conducted remotely, same as the two-year audit itself. Audit Lead Christy Fazio, and Supervisor Karyna Orcutt announced clean Accountability and Financial Statement Reports, which they and Mayor Ramon Hayes confirmed included reviews of m...
Friday La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes called a special meeting of the town council Monday, Jan. 10 to review the 2021 audit exit from the Washington State Auditor’s Office. The 3 p.m. meeting is through the Zoom platform only. The announcement did not specify if the review is of a financial or accountability audit. To join the meeting: https://us02web.zoom. us/j/87 5619 52358?pwd=K.3R4aTBga2dCV zBqMD BsOEJ zemxtZz09 Passcode: h5t0xr Phone Number: 1-253-215-8782 Meeting ID: 875 6195 2358 Passcode: 044510...
Anyone paging through a stack of 2021’s Weekly News will find the obvious bright spots: the Fourth of July parade, concert and fireworks, an absolutely stupendous Halloween Parade and the lighted boat parade. The most wonderful record, set month after month, was the over-the-top Town of La Conner sales tax revenue collections. Facing year two of the pandemic a year ago, the town guessed it might collect $328,202 in 2021. Way too conservative. Sales tax revenue is likely to exceed $630,000, 62% over the forecast. That surprise sales tax revenue...
The people have spoken, but the last word in La Conner’s 2021 election goes to Councilmembers Bill Stokes and John Leaver, whose terms expire as the year ends. Voters did not return them to the council table, instead choosing challengers Rick Dole and Ivan Carlson, III in November in campaigns emphasizing public and traffic safety, law enforcement, housing, protection of public open spaces and retention of La Conner’s much coveted quality of life. Stokes and Leaver – as well as longtime Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz, who resigned in...
The La Conner Town Council had a productive Dec. 14 meeting beyond agreeing to a five year agreement with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office and passing the town’s 2022 budget. Their decisions started with passing a budget amendment, adding $59,240 for unplanned 2021 expenditures. Planning related activities took another $25,000; $7,343 was needed to finish the Maple Hall elevator renovations; and weather and infrastructure needs meant $26,897 for public works staff wages and overtime. Council amended the business license fee structure dic...
The La Conner Town Council agreed, with Councilmember John Leaver voting no, to a five year agreement with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office at its Dec. 14 meeting. New to the contract is patrol and community policing services, with twice weekly pedestrian patrols on Morris and First Streets. Deputies will now handle dangerous dogs, parking, blocking rights of way and camping on public property. La Conner becoming a base in a precinct-type system may be three years away, Administrator Scott Thomas said. Mayor Ramon Hayes introduced the i...
For the first time since 2019 La Conner will have a code enforcement officer. The town council added $113,000 to the 2022 annual budget it passed at its Dec. 14 meeting – $88,000 for staff, $25,000 for a vehicle. Another $338,547 continues the contract with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. That 2.2% increase from 2021 is the first year of a five year agreement, with the contract total negotiated annually. The $437,852 in law enforcement is a 32.2% increase over 2021 and 8.0% of the $5.49 million in expenditures. Last year no funds w...
In a two-page memorandum to La Conner’s town council Dec. 6, planner Michael Davolio provided a status update on the proposed 20-unit apartment development at 306 Center Street. This followed 12 correspondences from residents by the Dec. 1 deadline in response to the town’s November public notice of preliminary determination of non-significance. A thirteenth letter came Dec. 8. Davolio noted council members “have been inundated by comments from residents regarding this proposal.” To briefly summarize comments, artist Maggie Wilder shared...
Longtime Shelter Bay manager David Franklin dropped a metaphorical bomb of his own on Pearl Harbor Day with the surprise announcement of his resignation as manager of the local residential community. In his Dec. 7 missive Franklin announced he is stepping down Jan. 28 from the high-profile role he has filled here for eight years. Franklin, with more than two decades experience in community and resort management, wrote that he is “leaving Shelter Bay for a new opportunity and a new chapter in my career.” Franklin told the Weekly News on Mon...
There was a grand convergence in last week’s edition: Reporting on the Swinomish Planning Commission upholding the Tribal planning department's $92,513 fine against the Shelter Bay board of directors and resident Steve Swigert meshed with the Weekly News annual subscription drive delivering the paper to every address in the La Conner school district. That includes some 900 homes in Shelter Bay. Credit the Shelter Bay Community's staff for sending its members an email with the planning commission's decision and order. Everyone could read the 1...
Before the La Conner Town Council approves the 2022 annual budget Dec. 14, it will hold a public hearing during its Tuesday meeting. The hearing is listed under unfinished business near the start of the 6 p.m. meeting. The council will then vote on an ordinance to approve the 2022 budget. The meeting will be over Zoom only. Council will vote on its 2022 agreement with Skagit County Sheriff’s Office immediately before the public hearing. The agreement is for the years 2022-2026 with $338,547 “the cost for contract services provided from Jan...
The rest of the story Recently the town posted a green announcement on the property on Center Street in the back of Sliders – raising alarms in town – because of the scope of the oversized proposal and the shoddiness of the application. Since then many letters have been written – ten of them posted on the town website through Dec. x. The deadline for the letters was Dec. 1 but that doesn’t matter. After the deadline, the mayor called four of the citizens who wrote letters. He told one that she didn’t need to send her let...
La Conner town’s council is posed to pass the town’s 2022 annual budget at its Dec. 14 meeting. At their Nov. 23 meeting, held on Zoom only, members, the mayor and staff seemed in general agreement on the items they discussed. No resident was present or spoke during the budget public hearing agenda segment. Discussion centered on social infrastructure, first the need to catch up with equipment for the fire department. The department budget will be raised to about $175,000 from October’s $144,596 initial amount. Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra and m...
The La Conner Weekly News is being delivered to every home in the La Conner school district for its annual subscription drive. Dear subscribers, the newspaper you need and trust is being shared this month with your neighbors and friends. The Weekly News will be improved as more people read it, serving its function of informing and knitting the community together. That has been the functions of newspapers in La Conner since the Puget Sound Mail started publishing here in 1879. The Weekly News is not a direct descendant of that paper but it...
