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Ken Stern, editor and publisher of the La Conner Weekly News, seems determined to demonize the town administration, mayor and town council members in at least two areas: the Maple Avenue ballfield transaction and now parking fees for the new library. In a scathing editorial Aug.18 he paints an (incorrect) depiction of myself and fellow councilmen Bill Stokes delaying start of construction of the library by trying to extract parking fees for the code, which requires 10 excess (additional – ed.) parking spaces which future operation of the...
Is the editor of the La Conner Weekly News a crank and a scold? Does he – me – criticize the town council unfairly, randomly or casually, without cause? Do I have an agenda or a vendetta? I do, actually. Let me propose that I am just doing my job, sometimes more aware and sometimes less. My failure to pay attention earlier to all the details and the players around the sale of the Hedlin ballfield property has sharpened my focus. Then I was not on top of the issue, as your local newspaper editor has to be. What does the newspaper’s e...
The last item on the Aug. 10 La Conner Town Council agenda was a resolution for the Town to approve deferring a payment of $48,000 from the new library to the town for seven years, a fee for the building lacking 10 parking spaces required by code. Councilmember Bill Stokes immediately called to table the item, saying he needed more budget information. Planner Michael Davolio stood and explained the library could not get its permit to build without resolving the payment. Library representatives had met with the staff and Davolio had written...
RE: Application File # LU21-45CU Project Location: 623 Morris Street, Units E-1 and E-2 Mr. Davolio, Mayor Hayes, Councilmembers: I am writing for your consideration to not allow the proposed conditional use permit to change the use of two commercial units to guesthouse/guest rental for the above application file # LU21-45CU. The town of La Conner is a vibrant and diverse community with a vibrant and diverse mix of retail, commercial, residential and rental properties. It is known that the town does not have enough commercial units to keep the...
Monday Mayor Ramon Hayes issued a resolution requiring masks, social distancing and a daily health assessment for anyone entering Town Hall, Maple Hall or the Civic Garden Center, town facilities. Each requirement has a list of safety protocols to follow, with 11 for exceptions to wearing masks. The resolution lists eight statements about the persistence and threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to “the life and health of residents and visitors to La Conner as well as the economy of La Conner businesses” and the need to keep town employees safe. Tow...
On Wednesday, Aug. 11, Mayor Ramon Hayes called for a special meeting of the La Conner Town Council for 3 p.m., Aug. 14, Friday. The purpose is to discuss and vote on deferring parking fees for the new library that will be built on Morris and Sixth streets. This was on the council’s agenda Tuesday but tabled at the request of Councilmember Bill Stokes that the finance committee first consider it. The finance committee met with La Conner Regional Library representatives Wednesday. The meeting is via Zoom. Join at https://us02...
The Landed Gentry property that will become the 10 home Maple Field subdivision is an empty grassy field today, but that will soon change. By the end of August site and utility construction will begin and by the end of October it will look like a small subdivision, Brian Gentry, president of the firm, told the Weekly News last week. Gentry did not have a date for when equipment will be moved onto the property but he estimated a 60 day construction period for getting all the site work done: sewer, water, utilities and private roadways and...
Concerned letter writers are again sharing both frustrations and hopes for involvement and for influencing decision making in the La Conner community. Are residents adequately informed by government staff and elected officials? Are citizens brought into discussions, with information shared? Is there a robust give and take and a chance to shape plans or are projects presented as done deals with all the heavy lifting, or not, done by their elected council representatives? A huge opportunity was missed last year to have a community conversation...
Open letter to Mayor Hayes: On July 13 I pleaded for the restoration of Zoom to town meetings in part because of the WHO announcement (July 13th) about the danger of the delta variant. I said this to you, the council, and a crowd of 45 mostly unmasked citizens at Maple Hall. On July 15, two cases of the delta variant were announced by Dr. Howard Leibrand of Skagit County Health. I made the case for safety, for parents of little kids, and for immunocompromised citizens. I suppose you and your colleagues didn’t hear any of that. Others spoke t...
Last week’s paper closed the chapter and maybe the book on the Maple Avenue ballfield controversy. It is now in the past. Or is it? (“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” William Faulkner.) The Town’s decision has permanent effects and it may leave the council and administration open to future dispositions of public property to the benefit of private interests and real estate brokers. In the purchase and disposition of Maple Field – and as was the case with the sale of the Kirsch property – the council, the mayor and his sta...
The La Conner Town Council approved an agreement with Landed Gentry for the partial extinguishment of the easement the developer owns across the town’s Maple Avenue park property at its in-person meeting July 27, attended by some 30 masked residents. Gentry, acting as Maple Field, LLC, extinguished only the ingress and egress provisions, its right to pave across the northeast corner of the new town park. The 5-0 vote was preceded by comments from Town Administrator Scott Thomas, who called it “more of a clean-up agreement.” Town Planner Micha...
Medical experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control are calling the surge of coronavirus cases across the United States “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Almost all new cases of COVID-19 are among people who have declined to get vaccinated. Most vaccinated people testing positive, the breakthrough cases, are asymptomatic or their illness is mild. Mask mandates are again in front of us. Public health officers of most Puget Sound countries, but not Skagit, are recommending everyone wear masks in indoor public settings – res...
At a special budget workshop Tuesday La Conner’s Town Council spent 30 minutes deliberating how to spend $264,911 in federal funds from the America Rescue Plan Act. Spending is prescribed by Congress, Administrator Scott Thomas informed council in a four-page memorandum July 21 sent with Mayor Ramon Hayes’ notice of the meeting. Summarizing “Options for Use of Fiscal Recovery Funds,” Thomas wrote, “the Town will have flexibility to decide how best to use the funding to meet specific community needs.” Thomas outlined “potential uses of these...
All of a sudden the windfall hits home. Last night the La Conner town council and staff started a discussion over spending almost $265,000, half of which has already been deposited into the 2021 general fund. What to do with the money? First, though, a recognition that a trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there has trickled down from the other Washington. Like every municipality in this state, and probably across the nation, La Conner is benefitting from decisions the Biden administration and congressional Democrats made early this...
Mayor Ramon Hayes issued an executive order Monday, July 26 that people attending “all special and regular La Conner Town Council meetings shall be required to wear a facemask, regardless of vaccination status.” Seven statements of fact are listed in support of the decision, starting with “COVID-19 case rates have increased in recent weeks, and there have been increased outbreaks and hospitalizations in the month of July.” The order notes sources of transmission, from churches and weddings to council meetings. It identifies tourists and “re...
On Wednesday, July 21, Mayor Ramon Hayes called for a special meeting of the La Conner Town Council for 5:30 p.m., July 27. The purpose is a council budget workshop (discussion). The meeting is in Maple Hall. Town Administrator Scott Thomas sent the council and mayor a four page memorandum summarizing “Options for Use of Fiscal Recovery Funds.” He wrote: “La Conner has been allocated $264,911 (distributed half in 2021 and the other half in 2022) of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds authorized under the America Rescue Plan...
July’s first town council meeting on the 13th gave the 45 residents attending plenty to discuss. There were two public hearings and a discussion on policing and safety. The latter brought Skagit County Sheriff’s Office staff Undersheriff Chad Clark, Chief of Field Operations Chris Baldwin, and La Conner detachment Sgt. Jeff Willard into attendance. Administrator Scott Thomas framed the town’s need for law enforcement services as both a planning and budget issue. Councilmembers had a five page report outlining “Options for Public Safety Service...
To expand on the Maple Avenue property scorecard in last week’s Weekly News, for the record: 1. La Conner buys the Maple Avenue ballfield property from the Hedlin family. 2. La Conner creates a restrictive covenant protecting for the public “in perpetuity” 24,000 square feet. 3. La Conner creates three easements; one crosses the park parcel. 4. La Conner sells the remaining ballfield property, and the easements, to Landed Gentry. 5. As Maple Field, developer Landed Gentry presents an agreement for partial extinguishment of the park-crossing eas...
To be heard by our town administration, we were told by our town lawyer, Scott Thomas, to write to La Conner Weekly News. There seems to be a blocked pathway for citizens to reach our town administrators. Citizen letters of critical concerns go unanswered. So, if letters to the editor is the line of communication our town lawyer suggests, we should expect a reply to this letter via the same route. In the matter of exchanging clear information and concerns between our town administrators and their citizens, let the echo chamber of Maple Hall be...
The future use of the Maple Ball field and the statutory warranty deed, restrictive covenant and the 4,000 square feet missing from the park are really important community matters. But, back up a bit to decisions on use of this valuable publicly acquired property. If the ballfield had to go, I do not believe that market rate housing proposed by the developer and the Town result in a valued public purpose – which of course is the fundamental reason for Town action. And this failure in purpose applies not just to the Hedlin ballfield, but...
Dear Citizens, A contract was given to the council for discussion at the last minute last week so you are probably unaware of it. That is par for the town’s inability to provide transparency. Basically, the developer has proposed some outrageous language. The Easement Release Maple Ball Field agreement the town council received from Landed Gentry and discussed at their July 13 meeting gives no apparent advantage to the town. Encourage your favorite council member to vote against signing it. The deal is – Gentry would get what they said t...
Two Town panels have their work cut out for them as they address ways to enhance leisure time opportunities for La Conner area residents. Members of the planning and parks commissions on Tuesday jointly took initial steps toward updating the parks and recreation element of La Conner’s comprehensive plan, a process they hope to complete in draft form by September for Town Council and state review. “Every year,” Town Planner Michael Davolio said last week in a memo to members of the two commissions, “the Town undertakes the task of updating one o...
The Town of La Conner collected $55,900 in sales tax revenue in June, 10% and $5,000 above 2017’s $50,818, the previous highest June report. After six months, La Conner’s sales tax receipts are $283,565, 86% the amount budgeted for 2021, averaging $47,261 monthly. These are by far the highest monthly and year-to-date collections in the past five years. If the trend continues, the annual sales tax revenue will top $550,000. The 2021 town budget estimated $328,202 will be collected. That may be exceeded next month. April sales are made dur...
To the Editor, The average home in La Conner consumes 324 cubic feet of water each month, and pays a sewer bill of $53.41 per month. The average inflow and infiltration (ground water) is 37.76% at the sewer plant. If I&I could be reduced by 50%, the bill for sewer service could be reduced to $40.72. At 25% the bill would be $42.69, and at 10% it would be $43.68. There is a 97% correlation between rainfall and I&I. Maybe some of the homes have their roof drains connected to the sewer. That is a no-no. The Town Council allocated $50,000 in 2020,...
Last night’s La Conner town council meeting, the first in-person community discussion in 16 months, promised to be a crowded, long and loud affair as pushback by area residents again put before council demands that the Town follow the commitments it made for a 24,000 square feet park for public use and open space when it bought the Hedlin family’s Maple Avenue property in April. On the council agenda was “Release of Easement – Maple Ball Field.” Council approval will mean terminating the easement across a portion of this new park, p...
